Pronouns

Уӕ райсом хорз, everyone.

Pronouns are the words we use to express the viewpoint from which a story is seen or understood, 'I, you, we, they'. There are several different forms of the pronouns, and some can only be used under certain circumstances, such as the short form only being used with direct and indirect objects. In usual fashion, I am referring to Abaev's writing as my primary source, others will be cited as needed.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns come in three forms: full, short (enclitic), and reflexive-personal.

Full Form, First Person (singular)

Nominative - Ӕз (дӕн), 'I (am)'.

Genitive - мӕн Inessive - NIL

Dative - мӕнӕн Adessive - мӕныл

Allative - мӕнмӕ/мӕмӕ Equative - мӕнау

Ablative - мӕнӕй Comitative - мeмӕ

Second Person (singular)

Nominative - ды (дӕ), 'you (are)'.

Genitive - дӕу Inessive - NIL

Dative - дӕуӕн Adessive - дӕуыл

Allative - дӕумӕ Equative - дӕуау

Ablative - дӕуӕй Comitative - дeмӕ

Third Person (singular)

Abaev states that the singular form here is the same as the demonstrative pronoun for distant objects, in the singular. In English this would be rendered as something along the lines of 'that (person) over there'.

Distant Objects/3rd Person (that, they):

Nominative - Уый

Genitive - уый

Dative - уымӕн

Allative - уымӕ

Ablative - уымӕй

Inessive -уым

Adessive - ууыл

Equative - уыйау

Comitative - уыиимӕ

First/Second Person (plural)

In both cases, the nominative and genitive have the same form

First Person:

Nominative - Мах, 'we'.

Genitive - мах Inessive - NIL

Dative - махӕн Adessive - махыл

Allative - махмӕ Equative - махау

Ablative - махӕй Comitative - махимӕ

Second Person:

Nominative - Сымах, 'you'.

Genitive - сымах Inessive - NIL

Dative - сымахӕн Adessive - сымахыл

Allative - сымахмӕ Equative - сымахау

Ablative - сымахӕй Comitative - сымахимӕ

Third Person Plural

The third person plural form is characterized by the stem 'у-', and is identical to the demonstrative pronoun for distant objects, in the plural.

Close Objects (these) Distant Objects (those, they plural):

Nominative - адон Nominative - Уыдон

Genitive - адоны Genitive - Уыдоны

Dative - адонӕн Dative - уыдонӕн

Allative - адонмӕ Allative - уыдонмӕ

Ablative - адонӕй Ablative - уыдонӕй

Inessive -адоны Inessive - уыдоны

Adessive - адон Adessive - Уыдон

Equative - адонау Equative - Уыдонау

Comitative - адонимӕ Comitative - Уыдонимӕ

Short Form (enclitic, singular)

Abaev writes that the short form is used only as a direct or indirect object with predicates, but their genitive case also carries the possessive function. There is no nominative case-ending in this form.

First Person: Second Person: Third Person:

Genitive - мӕ дӕ йӕ, ӕй

Dative - мын дын йын, ын

Allative - мӕм дӕм йӕм, ӕм

Ablative - мӕ дӕ дзы

Inessive - мӕ дӕ дзы

Adessive - мыл дыл йыл, ыл

Equative - NIL NIL NIL

Comitative - мeмӕ дeмӕ йeмӕ

Plural

First Person: Second Person: Third Person:

Genitive - нӕ уӕ сӕ

Dative - нын уын сын

Allative - нӕм уӕм сӕм

Ablative - нӕ уӕ сӕ, дзы

Inessive - нӕ уӕ сӕ, дзы

Adessive - ныл уыл сыл

Equative - NIL NIL NIL

Comitative - нeмӕ уeмӕ сeмӕ

Reflexive-Personal

The reflexive-personal forms are created by joining the genitive case of the short form to the reflexive-pronoun 'хӕдӕг' (when writing in the nominative case), and 'хи (ц)' (when writing in an oblique case).

Singular

First Person: Second Person: Third Person:

Nominative - мӕхӕдӕг дӕхӕдӕг йӕхӕдӕг

Genitive - мӕхи дӕхи йӕхи

Dative - мӕхицӕн дӕхицӕн йӕхицӕн

Allative - мӕхимӕ дӕхимӕ йӕхимӕ

Ablative - мӕхицӕй дӕхицӕй йӕхицӕй

Inessive - NIL NIL NIL

Adessive - мӕхиуыл дӕхиуыл йӕхиуыл

Equative - мӕхийау дӕхийау йӕхийау

Comitative - мӕхиимӕ дӕхиимӕ йӕхиимӕ

Plural

First Person: Second Person: Third Person:

Nominative - нӕхӕдӕг уӕхӕдӕг сӕхӕдӕг

Genitive - нӕхи уӕхи сӕхи

Dative - нӕхицӕн уӕхицӕн сӕхицӕн

Allative - нӕхимӕ уӕхимӕ сӕхимӕ

Ablative -нӕхицӕй уӕхицӕй сӕхицӕй

Inessive - NIL NIL NIL

Adessive - нӕхиуыл уӕхиуыл сӕхиуыл

Equative - нӕхийау уӕхийау сӕхийау

Comitative - нӕхиимӕ уӕхиимӕ сӕхиимӕ

Possessive Pronouns

Abaev states that possessive pronouns come in five forms: 1) short, 2) full, 3) reflexive-possessive, 4) full substantival, and 5) reflexive-possessive substantival. Substantivals are things, whatever they may be, that have substance, as opposed to things that are 'apparent' such as tense, feelings, etc. Substantives are words or groups of words that function as nouns.

Short Possessive Pronouns

The short form is identical with the genitive of the short (enclitic) personal pronouns:

Singular: Plural:

My - мӕ Our - нӕ

Your - дӕ Your - уӕ

Their - йӕ Their - сӕ

Full Possessive Pronouns

Singular: Plural:

My - мӕн Our - мах

Your - дӕу Your - сымах

Their - Уый Their - Уыдон

Reflexive-Possessive

The reflexive-possessive form of the possessive pronouns is identical with the genitive reflexive-personal form of the personal pronouns:

Singular: Plural:

My own - мӕхи Our own - нӕхи

Your own - дӕхи Your own - уӕхи

Their own - йӕхи Their own - сӕхи

Full Substantival

The full substantivals are built from the second (full) forms of the possessive pronouns by adding the suffix '-он':

Singular: Plural:

My - мӕнон Our - мӕхон

Your - дӕууон Your - сымахон

Their - Уыйон Their - Уыдоныон

Reflexive-Possessive Substantival

The reflexive-possessive substantival forms are built from the third person (reflexive-possessive) forms by the addition of the suffix ''-он':

Singular: Plural:

My own - мӕхион Our own - нӕхион

Your own - дӕхион Your own - уӕхион

Their own - йӕхион Their own - сӕхион

Important Notes:

1. The first (short) form functions only attributively and consequently does not inflect for case: мӕ Бӕх 'my horse', мӕ Бӕхы 'my horse's ', etc.

2. The second and third forms function attributively and predicatively, and do not inflect for case either:

   1. мах Бӕх 'our horse', attributive.

   2. ацы Бӕх мах у 'this horse is ours' - Lit. 'this horse ours be(is), predicative.

   3. нӕхи Бӕх 'our own horse'.

   4. ацы Бӕх нӕхи у 'this horse is our own'.

3. The fourth and fifth forms function substantively, and are declined like substantives (nouns).

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4. Some nouns require a preceding possessive pronoun, namely body parts and kinship terms (family):

   1. One cannot say 'I hurt an arm' къух ныццавтон; one must say 'I hurt my arm' мӕ къух ныццавтон.

In the matter of attributive versus predicative terminology, just remember that predicative nouns come after 'linking verbs' such as 'be, was, been, is, am'. Predicative nouns (adjectives too because they usually stem from Ossetian nouns) add more information to the clause. Attributives are placed before the noun they modify, as in the examples above.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Singular:

Close Objects: Distant Objects:

Nominative - А/ай, 'this'. Nominative - Уый, 'that'

Genitive - ай Genitive - уый

Dative - амӕн Dative - уымӕн

Allative - амӕ Allative - уымӕ

Ablative - амӕй Ablative - уымӕй

Inessive - ам, 'here' Inessive -уым, 'there'

Adessive - ауыл Adessive - ууыл

Equative - айау Equative - уыйау

Comitative - аимӕ Comitative - уыиимӕ

Plural:

Close Objects: Distant Objects:

Nominative - Амӕ, 'these'. Nominative - Уыдон, 'those'

Genitive - адон, адоны Genitive - уыдон

Dative - адонӕн Dative - уыдонӕн

Allative - адонмӕ Allative - уыдонмӕ

Ablative - адонӕй Ablative - уыдонӕй

Inessive - адоны Inessive - уыдоны

Adessive - адоныл Adessive - уыдоныл

Equative - адонау Equative - уыдонау

Comitative - адонимӕ Comitative - уыдонимӕ.

With regards to the demonstrative pronouns, Abaev continues: "The forms of the inessive singular ам, уым, have taken on, as we see, the meanings of the adverbs 'here', 'there'. From them, special agglutinative forms of the inessive plural can be formed: амыты 'in these places', уымыты 'in those places'. Besides, similar forms of the plural sometimes are built with other case forms of the singular, with the adessive case ауылты 'along these places', ууылты 'along those places'; уымӕты 'till that, to such limits'. In the plural, together with the forms адон, уыдон, the forms адӕттӕ, уыдӕттӕ are used with the meaning 'these and their like'.

If the demonstrative pronouns occur with a substantive, as modifiers, they are strengthened by the particle -цы: Ацы 'this', уыцы 'that'. In this case, as with every modifier, they do not inflect for case and number.

The pronoun а, in some fixed combinations is used as a modifier without the particle -цы; а лӕппу 'this youth', а уалдзӕг '(during) this spring'.