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The following quoted sentence is a dialogue, spoken by a therapist to the male protagonist from the series 'The Affair'.

These feelings you have for Alison (male protagonist’s wife) judging you, not trusting you, that they really have more to do with your not trusting yourself.

Why is "your" used here and not "you"? Is there any difference between "with you" and "with your" in this context?

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  • Are you watching it with subtitles? Maybe it's a type mistake in the subtitle.
    – Ali Nategh
    May 27, 2020 at 20:35
  • There wasn’t any mistake. The subtitles and the verbals matched perfectly.
    – Prince ßádhWoloski
    May 27, 2020 at 20:53
  • It's correct. It's equivalent to "more to do with your lack of trust in yourself". "Not trusting yourself" is functioning as a noun here.
    – Micah Windsor
    May 27, 2020 at 21:48
  • Okay but what rules are applied in this context?
    – Prince ßádhWoloski
    May 27, 2020 at 22:26

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There is no difference in the meanings. The clause "your not trusting yourself" is a gerund-participial clause. When it is a complement or object, as it is here, it can take either a genitive (your) or accusative (you) subject.

See this reference: Google Books "A Student's Introduction..."
"Here, and in most other complement functions, we find both genitive and non-genitive subjects."

There are some guidelines about the choice that are visible there at the link to Google Books.

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