Pronouns

The independent personal pronoun can be used only in the nominative case. When a pronoun is in an oblique case, it is expressed by a suffix added to a verb, noun or particle. The same suffixes are used for both the accusative case and genitive except in the first person singular. As direct object appended to a verb the first person singular is ni نِ. The suffixes are very likely the independent pronoun but with k ك instead of t ت in the second person.

1. The simplest pronoun is dhaA , but more common is the compound hEdhaA. The inflections of dhaA can be found by cutting off the prefix ha

2. That.

dhaAka dhaAnika dhay-nika

taAka tiyka taAnika tay-nika eawlaYEeika

4. More common in the singular are dhElika (masc.) and til-ka (fem.).

4. A demonstrative pronoun preceds its noun and, as it is by nature definite, the noun must be definite also.

5. But if the noun has a pronominal suffix, the demonstrative follows it.

6. If the noun is indefinite you have a sentence.

7. When the predicate of a sentence is definite is definite, the pronoun of the third person is put bewteen the demonstrative and the predicate.

8. In sentences like these, the demonstrative is a nominative absolute and the real sentence is the personal pronoun plus the predicate.

.9. man- ‘who?’ maA ‘what?’ These are indeclinable.

10. maA when combined with the preposition li is often abbreviated limaA or lima .

12. maA and man- are also used as indefinite pronouns and then they behave like conditional particles.

13. eayyuN , eayyat_uN ‘which of’ is always followed by a genitive or pronominal suffix.