Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Mirad are by nature animate and refer to people and other animate, sentient, or "pretend" creatures, such as dogs, angels, gods, puppets, babies, gods, and monsters.

This chapter deals specifically with personal pronouns and not so much with deictic (demonstrative and indefinite) pronouns like who, those, any, and whatever, treated in detail in the chapter on Determiners.

Personal animate pronouns can be of the following types:

• specific....Referring to a specific person or group of persons, such as he, you, or me.
• generic....Referring to "one" in general or "they", people in general
• reflexive....Referring back to the same person, such as myself, yourself, or themselves.
• emphatic....Particularizing a person or persons, such as I, myself, or she, herself.

Notice that personal pronouns, and indeed all pronouns, are devoid of distinctions of CASE, such as nominative, objective, dative, etc. as in many languages (including English, in the distinction between I and me, for example). The words for we and us are the same in Mirad. Pronouns do, however, have adjectival (or possessive) forms, such as my or his.

: The chart below shows the gender-neutral animate personal pronouns, which are gender-neutral.  The distinction of gender, if needed, can be expressed with extended personal pronouns.

"Gender-neutral Animate Personal Pronouns"

PERSON	TYPE	SINGULAR	PLURAL
1st	SPECIFIC	at....I, me	yat....we, us
2nd		et....you	yet....you, you all
3rd		it....he, she, him, her	yit....they, them
3rd	GENERIC	ot....one, they	yot....people
3rd	REFLEXIVE	ut....self	yut....selves

A distinction of gender can be expressed only in the third, singular animate specific pronoun, which otherwise can express he, she, him, her neutrally. To express specifically he/she, interject a y before the final t. To express specifically a male (he/him), prepend the pronoun with w:

• iyt....she/her
• wit....he/him

The Mirad third person specific pronoun it can refer to any animate or pseudo-animate creatures such as animals, babies, dolls, angels, gods, monsters". However, Mirad it cannot refer to non-animate things such as tables, ideas, abstractions, etc. A deictic (demonstrative) pronoun is used in such cases, as discussed in the chapter on Determiners.

The third person generic pronouns ot and yot are used as in English one and they, people (meaning unspecifed persons), as in the following examples:

• Ot yefe xer ha yakwas.....One must do what is expected.
• Yot de van et vyode hoj.....They/People say you never lie.

As mentioned earlier, Mirad has no cases, so position in the sentence or prepositions are used, eg.:

• His se av et. ....This is for you.
• Hus nyuf se bi yat.....That parcel is from us.
• Du at din ayv eta tej.....Tell me a story about your life.

In the last example, the verb der (tell) has an inherent to built in its meaning, so no preposition to is needed before the pronoun at. Direct and inderect object pronouns in Mirad work syntactally just as in English.

Mirad has a special two special hybrid pronouns, aet and ayet, which mean, respectively, I and you (dual) and I and you (plural). These are used only where the situation calls for it, eg.:

• Aet yeyfe tadser.....You and I should get married.
• Ayet efe yanbeser.....You people and I need to stick together.

The above two pronouns, like the others, can be made into possessive adjectives with the suffix -a:

• aet → aeta....our
• ayet→ ayeta....our

These, in turn, can be nominalized:

• aeta → aetas....ours, aetasi....ours (the things of you and me)
• eyeta→ ayetas....ours, ayetasi....ours (the things of you people and me)

Reflexive Personal Pronouns

Reflexive personal pronouns like English myself, yourself, etc. are formed by postfixing a u just before the final t. Reflexive personal pronouns are invariable for gender. Translating iut as herself depends on the context.

Reflexive Personal Pronouns

PERSON	SINGULAR	PLURAL
FIRST PERSON	aut....myself	yaut....ourselves
SECOND PERSON	eut....yourself	yeut....yourselves
THIRD PERSON SPECIFIC	iut....himself/herself	yiut....themselves
THIRD PERSON GENERIC	out....oneself	yout....people themselves

Examples of personal pronoun usage:

• At yafe teater aut be ha sinzyef.....I can see myself in the mirror.
• Iyt yubteaxa iut.....She examined herself.
• Treu eut!....Know thyself.
• Yat yeyfe tadser.....We should get married.
• Iyt vey tojboiut.....She may kill herself.
• Ot yefe ifer out.....One must love oneself.
• Yot glaxag voy ife yout.....People often don't love themselves.
• Yet ufe yeut.....You (people) hate yourselves.
• Yet yeyfe yovser yeut.....You people should be ashamed of yourselves.
• Yat ufe yet.....We hate you.
• Upu eker bay yat.....Come play with us.

The reflexive pronoun ut....self can sometimes be prefixed (with no variation in gender or number) to a verb to form a reflexive version of that verb, or it can be prefixed to other parts of speech to mean auto-, or self-, eg.:

• tojber....kill → uttojber....commit suicide
• vyixer....clean → utvyixer....wash up, clean oneself, self-clean
• exer....function → utexer....function automatically, self-run
• izber....pilot → utizber....auto-pilot, self-drive
• exut....operator → utexut....automaton
• deber....rule → utdebea....autocratic, self-ruling
• tejdin....biography → uttejdin....autobiography
• fider....praise → utfider....boast   (= self-praise)

Emphatic Personal Pronouns

Emphatic personal pronouns can be formed by following the personal pronoun with the singular determiner hyit (the very one)or the plural determiner hyiti (the very ones), eg.:

Emphatic Personal Pronouns

PERSON	SINGULAR	PLURAL
FIRST PERSON	at aut....I myself, me myself	yat yaut....we ourselves, us ourselves
SECOND PERSON	et eut....you yourself	yet yeut....you yourselves
THIRD PERSON	it iut....the person him or herself wit iut....he himself iyt iut....she herself	yit yiut....they themselves

Note: Gender is not express in personal reflexive pronouns. Only the personal specific pronouns express gender, and then only optionally.

Examples:

• At aut voy vyatexe Tot.....I myself don't believe in God.
• At jateate yet yeut be hua dezzamos.....I foresee you yourselves on that stage.
• Iyt iut voy sa hum.....She herself was not here.

Reciprocal Personal Pronouns

The reciprocal pronoun....one another, each other is translated with hyuit, which is a melding of hyut (the other person) and hyit (the same person). This is an invariable pronoun and does not express gender or number.

• Yat yefe ifer hyuit.....We must love one another.

This reciprocal pronoun can be converted to a pronominal determiner by suffixing a, as in hyuita....one another's, mutual, reciprocal:

• Yat tobweti yefe fiyzaxer hyuita fwasi.....We guys must respect one another's wishes.

Note the following:

• hyuita....mutual, reciprocal
• hyuitif....Mutual love
• huitan....mutuality, reciprocity
• hyutin....altruism
• atin....egoism
• utyena....selfish
• utifa....egoistic
• utifat....egoist
• utufa....self-loathing
• utin....egotism
• utina....egotistic
• utinat....egotist
• ha at....the ego
• ha it....the id
• ha ut....the self
• ha aybat....the superego
• ha hyut....the other
• hyutifa....altruistic
• hyutifat....altruist
• hyutufa....xenophobic

Pronominal Determiners

Pronominal determiners, which can also be referred to as possessive adjectives, are derived from pronouns by adding the adjectival ending a to the end of the pronoun, as follows:

• at....I, me    → ata....my
• aut....myself    → auta....my own
• yat....we, us    → yata....our
• yaut....ourselves    → yauta....our own
• iut....himself/herself    → iuta....his/her own

Basic Pronominal Determiners

PERSON	TYPE	SINGULAR	PLURAL
1st	SPECIFIC	ata....my	yata....our
2nd		eta....your	yeta....your
3rd		ita....his/her iyta....her wita....his	yita....their
3rd	GENERIC	ota....one's	yota....people's

The above forms are gender-neutral and are the most commonly used pronominal determiners. Here are some examples:

• Ata tej se fia.....My life is good.
• Yata twed.......Our father...
• Ota fyadili yeyfe ser dola.....One's prayers should be silent.
• At voy teata ita dyes.....I did not see his/her book.

Pronominal Determines like "my own, your own...":

Pronominal Determiners Like my own

PERSON	TYPE	SINGULAR	PLURAL
1st	SPECIFIC	auta....my own	yauta....our own
2nd		euta....your own	yeuta....your own
3rd		iuta....his/her own	yiuta....their own
3rd	GENERIC	outa....one\'s own	youta....people\'s own

The above pronominal determiners an be substantivized as pronouns by adding the suffix s....thing possessed, or si....things possessed, as follows:

Sample Substantivized Pronominal Determiners

ATTRIBUTE	SINGULAR SUBSTANTIVE	PLURAL SUBSTANTIVE
ata....my	atas....mine	atasi....mine, my things
eta....your	etas....yours	etasi....yours
auta....my own	autas....my own	autasi....my own (things)
iyta....her	iytas....her own	iytasi....hers, her things
wita....his	witas....ours	yatas....ours, our things
yata....our	yatas....ours	yatasi....ours, our things
outa....one's	outas....one's own	outasi....one's own (things)

Examples:

• Yat yefe ovmasber yatasi.....We must protect our own [pl. things].
• Etasi naze ga vyel atasi.....Yours are worth more than mine.
• Biku yeutasi.....You guys, mind your own business (= things).
• Yat toybeti fe ayser yauta nig.....We gals want to have our own space.

Translating various uses of it in English

When translating English it referring to animate creatures such as babies, animals, dolls, angels, ghosts, and monsters, the Mirad third person animate personal pronouns it he/she/it, iyt she, or wit he is used, eg:

• At eke bay ha epet avhas hu at iyfe it / iyt / wit.....I play with the dog because I like it / her / him.

When translating English it referring to an inanimate object or abstraction, a Mirad deictic "thing" determiner like has (the thing), his (this), or hus (that) is used, eg:

• At teasa ha dyezun ay at iyfa has gla.....I saw the movie and I liked it (= the thing) a lot.
• Ha mes sa yija oy at voy ta hus.....The door was open but I didn't know it (= that).

The possessive forms of has is hasa....its, for example:

• At iyfe ha dyes ay at ife hasa abdyun.....I like the book and I love it's (= the thing's) title.

If the pronoun they/them is just a plural of it referring to an object or abstraction, then the pronoun hasi is used.

• Ha sini se via ay at ife hasi.....The pictures are beautiful and I love them.

The possessive form of hasi....they/them is hasia....their, eg.:

• Ha tefi se via oy hasia naxi se otwa.....The hats are beautiful, but their prices are unknown.

If it introduces a non-previously-mentioned abstraction in English or has no antecedent, then the it is left unexpressed in the Mirad equivalent sentence. For example:

• Mamilo.....It will rain. ( = Will rain.)
• Se fia van et upa.....It is good that you came. ( = Is good that you came.)
• Sa via jub bay et.....It was a beautiful day with you. ( = Was a beautiful day...)
• Voy se yuka yaprer hia meb.....It is not easy to climb this mountain. ( = Is not easy...)

Referring to Third Persons

The definite, proximal, distal deictic determiners can be used for third person pronouns. These forms can be animate or inanimate, masculine or feminine, singular or plural, definite, proximal (near to the speaker) or distal (remote from the speaker). The general forms of these specifiers are given in a previous section, but they are elaborated here for their use as third person pronouns:

Deictic Determiners Used to Express Third Persons

		THING	PERSON	FEMALE	MALE'....
DEFINITE	SINGULAR PLURAL POSSESSIVE	has....it/this/the thing hasi....they/them/these/the things hasa....its/this/the thing's	hat....the person/he/she/him/her hati....the people/they/them hata....the person's/his/her	hayt....she/her hayti....they/them/the females hayta....her/the female's	hwat....he/him/the male person hwati....they/them/the males hwata....his/the male's
PROXIMAL	SINGULAR PLURAL POSSESSIVE	his....it/this/this thing hisi....they/them/these/these things hisa....its/this/this thing's	hit....this person/he/she/him/her hiti....these people/they/them hita....this person's/his/her	hiyt....she/her hiyti....they/them/these females hiyta....her/this female's	hwit....he/him/this male person hwiti....they/them/these males hwita....his/this male's
DISTAL	SINGULAR PLURAL POSSESSIVE	hus....it/this/that thing husi....they/them/these/those things husa....its/this/these thing's	hut....this person/he/she/him/her huti....these people/they/them huta....this person's/his/her	huyt....she/her huyti....they/them/those females huyta....her/that female's	hwut....he/him/that male hwuti....they/them/those males hwuta....his/that male's

Mirad does not force you to indicate gender in animate pronouns. The gender-neutral forms in the PERSON column are ordinarily sufficient. The forms in the MALE and FEMALE column are optional and used only when a distinction is needed.

Here are some examples using the above pronouns:

• Huyt voy se tadxwa.....She (that woman) is not married.
• At hoj teataye hiti.....I have never seen them (these people).
• Huytiasi se ga aga vyel atasi.....Theirs (= the things of those females) are bigger than mine.
• Hom et koxa has?....Where did you hide it (the thing)?
• Hoyen et ijtra it (or: hat)?....How did you meet him (or: the person)?
• At traye huyt yagjob.....I've known her (=that female) for a long time.

The above pronouns answer the questions hos?....what?, hosi?....what things?, hot?....who(m)?, or hoti?....what persons?, but there is another set of deictic selective pronouns that answer the questions hoat?....which one?, hoayti?....which ones (of the females mentioned)?, hoas?....which one/thing?, and hoasi?....which ones/things?

Selective Deictic Pronouns

SELECTIVES	THING	THINGS	PERSON	PERSONS
DEFINITE	haas....the one	haasi....the ones	haat....the one	haati....the ones
PROXIMAL	hias....this one	hiasi....these	hiat....this one	hiati....these
DISTAL	huas....that one	huasi....those	huat....that one	huati....those

Here are some examples using these deictic selective pronouns:

• Duven et fu hias ey huas?....Would you like this one or that one?
• Huayt se haat.....She (that female person) is the one.
• At iyfe hiasi ga vyel huasi.....I like these more than those.

Compare the following two examples:

• Hoas et fu? Hias.....Which one would you like? This one. (SELECTIVE)
• Hos et fu? His.....What would you like? This. (SPECIFIC)

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns are presented in the chapter on Free Relative Clauses.