Friday 18 February 2011

Understanding Sambahsa Pronouns 2

Hi again! This time, our focus will be on understanding the pronouns in the third and fourth categories in Sambahsa. So let's begin with the third category or His-Her pronouns.

Imagine a ten-year-old who starts playing with the computer of his elder sister. What will be the reaction of the elder sister: "Hey! It's my computer!" or "Hey! It's I computer!"?

Again, it wouldn't be I computer but my computer because that's how English works. I-We pronouns change into His-Her pronouns when you want to show you own something or have a relation to someone, as in 'my brother' or 'my friend.'

The same happens in Sambahsa too! So the sister of the ten-year-old would say this in Sambahsa:

Hey! Tod est mien computer.
Hey! That's my computer.

Hey! Tod est noster* computer.
Hey! That's our computer.

Hey! Tod est tien computer.
Hey! That's your (one person's) computer.

Hey! Tod est voster* computer.
Hey! That's your (a group's) computer.

Hey! Tod est eys computer.
Hey! That's his computer.

Hey! Tod est ir computer.
Hey! That's their computer.

Hey! Tod est ays computer.
Hey! That's her computer.

Hey! Tod est ir computer.
Hey! That's their computer.

Hey! Tod est ids computer.
Hey! That's its (say a robot) computer.

Hey! Tod est ir computer.
Hey! That's their computer

Hey! Tod est el computer.
Hey! That's his (an alien's) computer.

Do you remember an alien is someone whose gender isn't known? If not, having a quick look at  Understanding Sambahsa Pronouns 1 will help you.

Hey! Tod est ir computer.
Hey! That's their computer.

* = Notice that in English I haven't written that is but have used its short form: that's. In Sambahsa, noster and voster have their short forms too: nies and vies. There is no difference whatsoever in their meanings and it's all upon you to decide which form to use.

Here's a table of His-Her pronouns:

Mien- My; Noster or Nies - Our

Tien - Your; Voster or Vies - Your

Eys - His; Ir - Thier (males)

Ays - Her; Ir - Their (females)

Ids - Its; Ir - Their (robots')

Els - X's (alien's) ; Ir - XX's (aliens')

Okay! So let's move on to the fourth category of pronouns or To-him To-her pronouns. Suppose Fatima comes to you to ask for a book and you give her the book. How would you put that in English: 'I gave Fatima a book.' or 'I gave a book to Fatima.'?

In this case, both sentences are correct. In Sambahsa, when someone receives something or is directly affected by what you do, there's a special pronoun for that someone. Grammarians would express it this way: the recipient of direct object.

Don't worry if you don't understand that. The following sentences will help you get clearer about these fourth category pronouns:

Is daht mi un buk.
He gives (to) me a book.

Is daht nos un buk.
He give (to) us a book.

Is daht tib un buk.
He gives (to) you a book.

Is daht vos un buk.
He gives (to) you (you are a group) a book.

Is daht ei un buk.
He gives (to) him a book.

Is daht ibs un buk.
He gives (to) them (males) a book.

Is daht ay un buk.
He gives (to) her a book.

Is daht iabs un buk.
He gives (to) them (females) a book.

Is daht ei un buk.
He gives (to) it (a robot) a book.

Is daht ibs un buk.
He gives (to) them (robots) a book.

Is daht al un buk.
He gives (to) X (an alien) a book.

Is daht im un buk.
He gives (to) XX (aliens) a book.

To is redundant in English sentences but in Sambahsa, it's shown by the use of fourth category of pronouns or To-him To-her pronouns.

Again, here's a table of these pronouns:

Mi - (to) Me; Nos - (to) Us

Tib - (to) You; Vos - (to) You

Ei - (to) Him; Ibs - (to) Them

Ay - (to) Her; Iabs - (to) Them

Ei - (to) It; Ibs - (to) Them

Al - (to) X; Im - (to) XX

And with this, we are done with the simple pronouns. In the subsequent posts I'll try to explain Demonstrative (this, that) pronouns and Interrogative (who, what) pronouns.

5 comments:

  1. Well, I'm back (I am waiting for the mother whom I will have to help...)

    There is just one major flaw:
    In Sambahsa, the definite article "the" and the 3° person personal pronoun are the same words EXCEPT for the genitive and the possessive pronoun. The reason for this is that there would be a risk of confusion between "of the" and "his/her/its/their".
    The forms "ios/ias/al/iom/iam/im" are the genitive "of the"
    The 3° person personal pronouns are as follows:
    "his" = "eys"
    "her" = "ays"
    "its" = "ids"
    (undetermined singular): "els"
    "their" = "ir"

    When the possessive pronoun refers to the subject of the sentence, it is "sien" = "one's"

    Most phrases are good.
    Just correct: "he gives to it a computer" = "is daht ei un computer"
    (neutral and masculine share the same pronouns at the dative and genitive, as in IE)
    "He gives to X (alien) a book" = "is daht al un buk"
    The table at the end contains more mistakes than the phrases; but you'll find what's wrong thanks to the examples above.
    If you want & can, you can copy-paste the tables from here : http://sambahsa.pbworks.com/w/page/27811783/Sambahsa-declension-in-English

    Tabrick ! (congratulations !)

    Olivier

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  2. @mundialecter Thank God you told me about all these mistakes. Else I would've kept on learning wrong pronouns and telling others to do the same. Now, I've done the corrections.

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  3. Well done !
    I suggest for you, if you think you're gonna keep on studying Sambahsa, to print the Grammar page with the table of pronouns. There are many pronouns, but since they are used very often (and serve as definite articles too), one soon begins to remember them; that's why it may be useful to have always this table at one's disposal.

    Khauris wehrg !

    Olivier

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  4. I have created a useful table which is almost essential for any student of Sambahsa, it allows you to instantly find the meaning of all the pronouns and articles (a sophisticated system in Sambahsa):

    http://joyoflanguages.blogspot.com/2010/05/sambahsa-guide-to-pronouns-and-articles.html

    Good luck with Sambahsa, it is a nice language!

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  5. Dank spollay Robert !

    In the "Sambahsa grammar in English", I had already put a link to it, and that's why I recommend everyone studying Sambahsa to have a look at the (relatively readable) table of pronouns and the informations around it.
    Eto has started a page for Sambahsa on Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambahsa-Mundialect
    If you have a Wikipedia account, you are welcomed to support and improve it !

    Olivier

    ReplyDelete