Pronouns: view article

There are eleven personal pronouns that represent various persons and numbers. There are singular pronouns and plural pronouns, including both inclusive and exclusive for the first person pronouns, and the third person is split into separate pronouns for the animate, inanimate, and abstract classes of nouns.

All pronouns decline as though they were indefinite singular nouns. The first and second person pronouns decline as though they were animate nouns, while the third person pronouns decline according to their class.

[edit] [top]Substantive Possessives

Substantive possessive pronouns (e.g. “ours” or “yours”) can be used as an adjective with a copula. In this case, they decline to match the referent’s class and number. These substantive possessives are formed by adding <-:ar> to the appropriate possessor prefix, where the symbol <:> indicates that the preceding vowel is doubled. For example, “mine” would be minnar while “yours (plural)” would be nussar.

boji trieðäs minnar
/b̪oji t̪ɾieðæs min:ɑɾ/
b-oji
be-IND.PRES.3S.PTV trie-ðäs
dog-DEF.SG.PTV minnar
mine.AN.SG.POSI
the dog is mine

minnarboji trieðäs
/min:ɑɾb̪oji t̪ɾieðæs/
minnar-b-oji
mine.ANAnimate (gender/class)
alive, moving.SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.POSIPositive (class)
standard adjective-be-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.3SThird person singular (person)
neither speaker nor addressee.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns trie-ðäs
dog-DEFDefinite
"the".SGSingular (number)
one countable entity.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns
the dog is mine

Substantivals can also be declined directly as a noun. When used this way, they are almost always declined as definite nouns.

øjødboiz minnarðään
/øjød̪b̪oi̯z min:ɑɾðæ:n/
øjød-b-oiz
red-be-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns minnar-ðään
mine-ANAnimate (gender/class)
alive, moving.DEFDefinite
"the".PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns
mine are red

Substantivals can additionally be declined as a noun by adding the appropriate possessor prefix to determiners (e.g. “that” and “those”), numbers (e.g. “one”), or quantifiers (e.g. “some” and “many”). This is generally done to signal some sort of qualification or quantification. These words are almost always declined as indefinite nouns.

øjødboiz minšykroðan
/øjød̪b̪oi̯z minɕykɾoðɑn/
øjød-b-oiz
red-be-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns min-šykro-ðan
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned-that-INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns
(those of) mine are red

øjødboiz mintulgeðan
/øjød̪b̪oi̯z mint̪ulgeðɑn/
øjød-b-oiz
red-be-INDIndicative mood (mood)
a common form of realis.PRESPresent tense (tense)
current.3PThird person plural (person)
neither speaker nor addressee, they/them.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns min-tulge-ðan
1SFirst person singular (person)
speaker, signer, etc.; I.POSSGPossessed (case)
marks being owned-some-INDEFIndefinite
a nonspecific referent.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few.PTVPartitive (number)
'some of' or for mass nouns
some of mine are red

[edit] [top]Non-Personal Pronouns

There are several other pronouns beyond the personal pronouns.

Reciprocal Pronoun

There is a single reciprocal pronoun, sembe, which can be translated as “each other” or “one another”. It signifies that two or more agents act reciprocally upon each other.

Reflexive Pronoun

There is a single reflexive pronoun, brogu, which can be translated as “self”. Unlike in English, it does not decline to indicate whose self (e.g. “myself” vs “yourself”); rather, this is understood within the context of the sentence.

Relative Pronouns

The main method of relativizing a clause is by using verb participles. However, in more complex relative phrases, this construction is sometimes impossible. For these cases, there exist two relative pronouns. Any clause that relativizes an oblique argument must use one of the relative pronouns.

English contrasts restrictive vs. non-restrictive relativization using commas in writing and pauses in speech.

Tandi, on the other hand, uses different lexical pronouns. Restrictive relative clauses (e.g. “The man who lives in this house is gone”) are formed using the pronoun ter. Non-restrictive relative clauses (e.g. “The man, who lives in this house, is gone”) are formed using the pronoun sor. Unlike in English, non-restrictive relative clauses do not need commas or any change in prosody.

Relative pronouns are declined to match the class and number of its referent in the matrix clause, and its grammatical case in the embedded clause.

Interrogatives and Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used in place of the normal usage of their referent. The syntax and intonation of the sentence do not normally change, though many speakers may add vocal emphasis to the pronoun.

Answering a non-yes/no question can involve answer ellipses. In such a case, only the focused constituent is provided, declined into the proper case.

Yes/no questions are asked by adding the clitic to the beginning of a verb. If a different word within a question is the focus of the question, the clitic can be prefixed to that word.

Tandi has no words corresponding to “yes” or “no”. To respond to a yes/no question, you can either repeat the verb (to indicate affirmation) or negate the verb, or you can do the same with the pro-verb gril to mean “I do [it]” or “I don’t [do it]”.

[edit] [top]Correlatives

		Interrogative	Proximal	Distal	Existential	Elective	Universal	Negative	Alternative
		um-	ly-	šy-	tul-	we-	ju-	fyn-	ry-
Determiner & Pronoun	-kro	umkro	lykro	šykro	tulkro	wekro	jukro	fynkro	rykro
Location	-sai	umsai	lysai	šysai	tulsai	wesai	jusai	fynsai	rysai
Time	-pir	umpir	lypir	šypir	tulpir	wepir	jupir	fynpir	rypir
Manner	-kur	umkur	lykur	šykur	tulkur	wekur	jukur	fynkur	rykur
Reason	-bjur	umbjur	lybjur	šybjur	tulbjur	webjur	jubjur	fynbjur	rybjur
Quantity	-ge	umge	lyge	šyge	tulge	wege	juge	fynge	ryge

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