karaktärens

Karaktärens is the possessive form of the Swedish noun karaktär, meaning the character. It is used to indicate that something belongs to or is associated with a particular character, such as a literary or fictional figure, or to discuss attributes of a person’s character in a broader sense.

Formation and usage: The possessive suffix -s is attached to the noun to form possessives. The base singular indefinite is karaktär, with the definite form karaktären and the possessive karaktärens. For the plural, the possessive becomes karaktärernas. Examples include karaktärens utveckling (the character's development) and karaktärernas motiv (the characters' motives). When followed by another noun, the phrase functions as a determiner, as in karaktärens bakgrund or karaktärernas relationer.

Practical notes: The form is common in literary analysis, film critique, and discussions of personality or behavior within a narrative. It can refer to possessions, traits, or actions linked to a character. While pronouns like hans (his) or hennes (her) can also express possession, the -s form is frequently preferred in descriptive or analytic writing.

Etymology: Karaktär derives from the French or Latin caractère, adopted into Swedish with a general suffix -s to create possessives for common nouns. The combination karaktärens is therefore a standard grammatical construction used to attribute something to a specific character.