I own files but cannot delete them

Hello maia170,

Thank you for posting to Apple Support Communities.

Where specifically are the files you are trying to delete? Some locations and system files are unable to be deleted or if owned by another program, like a cloud service.

If you believe it is something you should be able to delete, start your Mac in safe mode and try deleting the same files as in this mode it can prevent software that might be interfering with the permissions of your Mac: Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Let us know the result.

Take care.

Where are these files located? You can only modify files located within your own home user folder. If the files are located in the "/Users/Shared" folder, then you would need admin privileges to modify permissions of files you don't own.

If these files are located within your home user folder, then is that folder (or parent folder) being synced with iCloud or some other cloud file syncing service?