Pattern · Meaning & Expression· Possession & Existence

Possession

How do languages say “I have X”?

Possession looks like one notion, but languages package it in strikingly different ways. Some use a transitive HAVE-verb. Others say something closer to “at me, X is” (locational), “to me, X is” (dative), “I-with X” (comitative), or “as for me, X exists” (topic). The same language often picks a different strategy depending on what is possessed — inanimate, animate, kin, body-parts — so Possession is one of the great showcases of typological diversity.

Strategies

HAVE-transitive

[I] [have] [X]

A dedicated transitive verb whose subject is the possessor. Typical of European languages and Mandarin 有.

English · I have XFrench · j'ai XSpanish · tengo XItalian · ho XGerman · ich habe XMandarin Chinese · 我有 XVietnamese · tôi có XBasque · X daukatAinu · ku=kor X

Locational possession

[at/to me] [X] [be / EXIST]

No HAVE-verb. The possessor surfaces as a locative, adessive, or dative phrase, and the possessed item is the subject of an existential or copular predication.

Russian · у меня есть XLatin · mihi X estWelsh · mae X gennyfArabic (MSA) · عندي X ʿindī XHebrew (Modern) · יש לי X yesh li XHindi · मेरे पास X है mere pās X haiFinnish · minulla on XKorean · 나에게 X가 있다 na-ege X-ga issda

Topic possession

[me TOP] [X NOM] [be / EXIST]

The possessor is marked as the topic; the possessed item is the grammatical subject of an existential. Common in Japanese and Korean.

Japanese · 私は X がある / いる

Comitative possession

[I] [with] [X]

The possessor is the subject of a comitative or “be-with” predicate. Common in many Atlantic-Congo languages — Swahili fuses the pronoun and the comitative particle.

Swahili · ni-na X

Genitive-existential

[my X] [EXIST]

The possessor is marked on the possessed noun (genitive or possessive suffix); the predicate is an existential. Turkish and Hungarian are textbook examples.

Turkish · benim X-im varHungarian · van X-em

Geographic distribution

Each dot is one attested language, coloured by the strategy it uses. Click a dot for the surface form.

HAVE-transitive Locational possession Topic possession Comitative possession Genitive-existential

Marker positions are approximate cultural centres — they are not territorial claims. Tiles: OpenFreeMap · © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Language comparison

Language	Strategy	Expression	Note
English Indo-European › Germanic	HAVE-transitive	I have X	Stassen 2009
French Indo-European › Romance	HAVE-transitive	j'ai X	Stassen 2009
Spanish Indo-European › Romance	HAVE-transitive	tengo X
Italian Indo-European › Romance	HAVE-transitive	ho X
German Indo-European › Germanic	HAVE-transitive	ich habe X
Mandarin Chinese Sino-Tibetan › Sinitic	HAVE-transitive	我有 X	same 有 yǒu as the existential Heine 1997
Vietnamese Austroasiatic › Vietic	HAVE-transitive	tôi có X
Basque Basque (isolate)	HAVE-transitive	X daukat	eduki / *edun: transitive HAVE-verbs; ergative-absolutive agreement on the verb
Ainu Ainu (isolate, critically endangered)	HAVE-transitive	ku=kor X	kor “have, own”; 1SG agent prefix ku= Tamura 2000
Russian Indo-European › Slavic	Locational possession	у меня есть X	at me.GEN EXIST X Stassen 2009 Freeze 1992
Latin Indo-European › Italic (historical)	Locational possession	mihi X est	dative of possessor + copula
Welsh Indo-European › Celtic	Locational possession	mae X gennyf	comitative preposition gan + pronoun suffix
Arabic (MSA) Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	Locational possession	عندي X ʿindī X	ʿinda “at, with” + 1SG suffix
Hebrew (Modern) Afro-Asiatic › Semitic	Locational possession	יש לי X yesh li X	EXIST + dative; the canonical case study for non-HAVE possession Stassen 2009
Hindi Indo-European › Indo-Aryan	Locational possession	मेरे पास X है mere pās X hai	literally “near me, X is”
Finnish Uralic › Finnic	Locational possession	minulla on X	adessive case on the possessor
Korean Koreanic	Locational possession	나에게 X가 있다 na-ege X-ga issda	dative possessor + existential 있다
Turkish Turkic › Oghuz	Genitive-existential	benim X-im var	genitive possessor + possessive suffix on noun + var Stassen 2009
Hungarian Uralic › Ugric	Genitive-existential	van X-em	van + possessive suffix on the possessed noun
Japanese Japonic	Topic possession	私は X がある / いる	animate/inanimate split inherited from the existential Clark 1978
Swahili Atlantic-Congo › Bantu	Comitative possession	ni-na X	ni- (1SG) + -na “with”

Examples

Toggle between Natural / Literal / Gloss to see how each language conceptualises the same idea.

“I have water.”

A mass-noun possession test. The strategy splits are dramatic: HAVE-transitive in Romance, Germanic, and Mandarin; locational in Russian (у меня есть), Latin, Welsh, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Finnish, Korean; genitive-existential in Turkish and Hungarian; topic in Japanese; comitative in Swahili.

English

I have water.

Natural: I have water.

French · français

J'ai de l'eau.

Natural: I have water.

Spanish · español

Tengo agua.

Natural: I have water.

German · Deutsch

Ich habe Wasser.

Natural: I have water.

Mandarin Chinese · 普通话

我有水。

wǒ yǒu shuǐ.

Natural: I have water.

Vietnamese · tiếng Việt

Tôi có nước.

Natural: I have water.

Basque · euskara

Ura daukat.

Natural: I have water.

Ainu · アイヌ・イタㇰ aynu itak

Ku=kor wakka.

クコㇿワッカ

Natural: I have water.

Russian · русский

У меня есть вода.

U menya yest’ voda.

Natural: I have water.

Latin · lingua Latina

Mihi aqua est.

Natural: I have water.

Welsh · Cymraeg

Mae dŵr gennyf.

Natural: I have water.

Arabic (MSA) · العربية

عندي ماء.

ʿindī māʔ.

Natural: I have water.

Hebrew (Modern) · עברית

יש לי מים.

yesh li mayim.

Natural: I have water.

Hindi · हिन्दी

मेरे पास पानी है।

mere pās pānī hai.

Natural: I have water.

Finnish · suomi

Minulla on vettä.

Natural: I have water.

Korean · 한국어

나에게 물이 있다.

na-ege mul-i issda.

Natural: I have water.

Turkish · Türkçe

Benim suyum var.

Natural: I have water.

Hungarian · magyar

Van vizem.

Natural: I have water.

Japanese · 日本語

私は水がある。

watashi wa mizu ga aru.

Natural: I have water.

Swahili · Kiswahili

Nina maji.

Natural: I have water.

References

Clark 1978
Clark, Eve V. (1978).

Locationals: Existential, locative, and possessive constructions.

In Greenberg, Joseph H. (eds.), Universals of Human Language, Vol. 4: Syntax. Stanford University Press. 85–126.
Freeze 1992
Freeze, Ray (1992).

Existentials and other locatives.

Language. 68(3): 553–595. doi:10.2307/415794
Heine 1997
Heine, Bernd (1997).

Possession: Cognitive Sources, Forces, and Grammaticalization.

Cambridge University Press.
Heine & Kuteva 2002
Heine, Bernd; Kuteva, Tania (2002).

World Lexicon of Grammaticalization.

Cambridge University Press.
Stassen 2009
Stassen, Leon (2009).

Predicative Possession.

Oxford University Press.
Tamura 2000
Tamura, Suzuko (2000).

The Ainu Language.

ICHEL Linguistic Studies, Vol. 2. Sanseido, Tokyo.