Interchangeability of свою and нашу

Question

Given the phrase:

мы любим нашу семью

It seems that one can also write:

мы любим свою семью

Can I always replace нашу with свою? Is the former more formal than the latter?

Related also https://russian.stackexchange.com/questions/14107/when-to-not-use-%d1%81%d0%b2%d0%be%d0%b9 — V.V., Nov 18 '17 at 23:39

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 18 '17 at 19:18

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In this particular example there is a subtle difference which may matter or not depending on the context.

Мы любим нашу семью. - We altogether love our family.

Мы любим свою семью. - Each of us loves his family.

In the latter case by "us" you can imply not the members of your family, but members of your group (ethnic, religious, political etc.), each loving his particular family.

answered Nov 18 '17 at 19:18

AlexVB

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When talking to a child, should I use the first sentence then? – Trey Nov 18 '17 at 19:24
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@Trey, yes, when talking to a family member I would use "наш". – AlexVB Nov 18 '17 at 19:40

Interchangeability of свою and нашу

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