Lesson 5 – Singular Pronouns

Let’s learn how to say ‘I, you, he, she and it’ and ‘mine, yours, his, hers and its’ in Adnyamathanha.

Singular pronouns refer to one person. Singular pronouns in English include ‘I, me, you, he, she, it’. In Adnyamathanha the singular pronouns change form depending on how they are used in a sentence, so you’ll need to learn the different forms and how to pick the right one for your sentence.

Let’s learn four different forms of the singular pronouns in Adnyamathanha: nominative, ergative, accusative and possessive.


Nominative pronouns

Nominative pronouns are used in sentences which have a subject (a person or thing which is doing the action of the sentence) and a verb (the action of the sentence), or a subject and an adjective (describing word).

Adnyamathanha also uses short form pronouns sometimes, so instead of putting the full pronoun in you can add the short verb pronoun to the end of a verb.

Adnyamathanha full pronoun
Short form pronoun
English
ngai 
-ai 
nhina 
 
you  
vanha 
-wa 
he/she/it 

Sentence examples: Remember to pay attention to the short form pronouns!

Ngukandai.
I am going.
Ngai ngukanda.
I am going.
Nhina nakunda.
You see.
Vadindawa.
He/she/it is not here.
Vanha vadinda.
He/she/it is not here.
Vari-nga marngianggawa.
He/she/it swam at the creek.

Ergative pronouns

Ergative pronouns are used in sentences which have a subject (a person or thing doing the action), a verb (the action of the sentence) and an object (a person or thing that is receiving the action of the sentence). The Ergative is used as the subject of this type of sentence.

Adnyamathanha full pronoun
Short form pronoun
English
ngathu 
 
nhundu 
 
you 
valu 
-alu 
he/she/it 

Here are some sentence examples:

Ngathu wadna nguthanda .
I am making a boomerang.

Wadna means boomerang and ngutha- means to make/prepare and nda means it’s happening now

Nhundu kiki ambada.
You are making a cake

kiki means cake, amba- means to cook and da means it’s happening now

Valu nguthaangga aka walka.
He/she prepared a blood pudding.

ngutha- means prepare, aka walka means blood pudding and -angga means it happened in the past


Accusative pronouns

Accusative pronouns are used in sentences which have a subject (a person or thing doing the action), a verb (the action of the sentence) and an object (a person or thing that is receiving the action of the sentence). The Accusative is used as the object of this type of sentence.

Adnyamathanha full pronoun
Short form pronoun
English
ngai 
-ai 
me 
nhina 
-ina 
you 
vanha 
-wa 
him/her/it 

Here are some sentence examples:

nhundu ngai urndaanggu.
You hit me.

urnda- means to hit and anggu shows that it happened in the past

Coffee nhungkukai idla.
Give me a coffee.

Coffee means coffee, nhungku- means give, and the idla is for emphasis

Nhanga nhina?
How are you?

Nhanga means how

Yakiing’ina.
You might get burnt.

yakii means to burn and ng shows that something might happen 

Ngathu andyianggu vanha busanga.
I took him/her on the bus.

andyi- means to bring/take, anggu shows something happened in the past and busanga means on the bus


Posessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to show that something belongs to someone/something

ngatyu
my, mine
nhunggu
your, yours
vardnundyaru
his/hers/its

NOTE: Some words like body parts, shadows, footprints and family members will not necessarily use the possessive pronoun, instead they might take one of the other pronouns such as the nominative as they are obviously possessed by the speaker.

 

Here are some example sentences:

Ngatyu vilhali aldhaaldha yakarti.
My younger sibling is a happy child.

vilhali means younger brother/sister, aldhaaldha means happy and yakarti means child

Nhunggu mutuka inhaadi.
This one is your car.

Mutuka means car and inhaadi means this

Vardnundyaru yartanga ivi andyianggalu.
On his land he had a sheep.

Yarta means country/land, -nga means on, ivi means sheep, andyi- means to have, -angga means it happened in the past and -lu  means he/she/it

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