Pronoun - IALA

 We will discuss about Pronoun in authoritative Interlingua

Table of Pronouns

Numeral | Subject | Direct/Indirect Object | Reflexive | Pre-Possesive | Post-Possesive | Prepositional ->

1. (I) | io | me | me | mi | mie | con me

2. (You) | tu | te | te | ti | tie | con tie

3. (He/she/it) | ille/a/o | le/a/o | se | su | sue | con ille/a/o

4. (We) | nos | nos | nos | nostre | nostre | con nos

5. (You all) | vos | vos | vos | vostre | vostre | con vos

6. (They) | ille/a/o | les/as/os | se | lor | lore

7. (One) | On/uno | uno | uno/se | - | de uno | con uno

Note:

1) Direct and Indirect Objects have the same form of pronoun.

2) Pre-possesives are before the nouns. These ones are the most used.

3) Prepositional means they are used with prepositions.

4) You can use ipse (itself, etc.) for all non reflexive pronoun sometimes.

5) Ille/Illa are only for real sexes of animate beings. Illo is for inanimate being (no sexes at all). Illes can be for mixed males and females group.

6) Specific gender possesives will be covered below.

7) 'One' means indefinite pronoun and will be covered below.

Polite You

Polite you or Tu-Vos form is formed by using Vos for singular you. It is very formal and rarely used daily.

Example:

Tu es mi amico 'you are my friend' (normal)

Vos es mi amico 'you are my friend' (polite)

Vos es mi amicos 'you all are my friends' (plural)

Pronominal Genders

Genders in Interlingua are based on the real sexes. So, grammatical genders are not expressed through the pronouns at all.

Example:

Le femina, illa es belle 

"the woman, she is beautiful'

Le homine, ille es belle

'the man, he is handsome'

Le libro, illo es belle

'the book, it is beautiful'

Unstressed 'il'

Unstressed 'il' is a form of helper pronouns that only serve to help fill the subject. The sentence is usually a simple statement about situation. It can be omitted sometimes and the sentence becomes like an acclamation.

Example:

il niva / niva

'it snows'

il face frigido / face frigido

'it is cold'

Il es ver que callos es penose

(Que callos es penose, es ver)

'it is true that corns are painful'

'that corns are painful, is true'

Indefinite Subject

We use On as an indefinite subject to mean 'one' or 'people in general'. We use Uno for the other pronomial cases.

Example:

Quando on se promena in iste parco, altere promenatores collide frequentemente con uno

'When one takes a walk in this park, other walkers frequently bump into one'

Possesives

We use possesives when we want to show whose possession is something. These are generally like in English.

Example:

Mi fratre e tu soror celebra lor nuptias

'My brother and your (thy) sister celebrate their wedding'

Mi fratre e le fratre tue es bon amicos

'My brother and your brother are good friends'

Mi fratre e le tue es bon amicos

'My brother and yours are good friends'

Patre nostre, qui es ...

'Our Father, Who art ...'

mi matre or le matre mie

 'my mother/the mother of mine'

Ille labora nocte e die pro le suos

'He works night and day for his (people)'

Specific gender possesives

These are possesive for the third personal pronouns with specified gender. The form is su + noun + de ille/a/o for singular. And, lor + noun + de ille/a/o for plural. Sometimes, you can omit Su/Lor as well and just use the noun + de construction.

Example:

Ille e illa velia tote le nocte al lecto de su (or del) moriente patre de illa

'He and she are sitting up all night at her dying father's bedside'

Mi patre e le suo (or le) de ille es amicos

'My father and his are friends'

Reflexive Pronouns

The most usual usage of reflexive pronouns are to denote the meaning of action toward oneself. 

Example:

Illa se face indispensabile

'She makes herself indispensable'

Io me vide como alteros me vide

'I see myself as others see me'

The other use is to express intransitive verbs:

Iste libros se vende al magazin de Bloomingdale

'these books sell/are sold at Bloomindale's shop'

Iste libro se vende multo ben

'this book sells very well'

Tal cappellos se vide frequentemente

'Such hats are often seen/make themselves seen'

Placement of Pronouns

Subjects are before the verbs except for questions and imperative. Objects are between the Subject and the Verb generally. For questions and imperatives, we will discuss them at Verb - IALA.

Example:

Io les surprendeva

'I surprised them'

Pro surprender les io debeva currer

'In order to surprise them I had to run'

(infinitive phrase, infinitive + object)

Dirigente se verso le oriente, illa precava

'Turning toward the east, she prayed'

Io collabora con illes

'I collaborate with them'

Monstra lo a ille

'Show it to him'

(imperatives, verb + object)

For sequential verbs especially with auxiliary verbs, the object must be before or after the whole verbal sequence:

Io ha surprendite les or io les ha surprendite

'I have surprised them'

Io va surprender les or Io les va surprender

'I will surprise them'

Sequential pronouns

When there are indirect and direct objects placed before the verbs, the indirect one must precede the direct object.

Example:

Illa me lo dice

'She tells (it to) me'

Illa me lo ha dicite or Illa ha dicite me lo

'She has told (it to) me'

Pro dicer me lo illa debeva telephonar

'To tell (it to) me, she had to telephone'

Reflexive pronouns must precede all other objects whatever they are:

Illa se nos monstra

'She shows herself to us'

Io me lo dice

'I tell (it to) myself'

When there are direct and indirect objects especially with verbal sequence, the indirect object must be before the verbal sequence while the direct object must be after the sequence:

Io le face batter le

'I make him beat him'

Io le face batter

'I make him beat'

Io face batter le

'(I make beat him) I have him beaten'

Accusative vs Dative

Accusative (direct object) and Dative (indirect object) have the same form. The only difference is in the preposition for the Datives like A (to). When both objects are after the verb, usually the indirect object is after the direct one. But, it precede the direct one when both are before the verbs and the preposition is dropped.

Example:

Io inviava un telegramma a mi granpatre

'I sent a wire to my grand-father'

Io lo inviava a mi granpatre

'I sent it to my grandfather'

Io le inviava un telegramma

'I sent him a wire'

Io le lo inviava or Io lo inviava a ille

'I sent him it' or 'I sent it to him'

Relative pronouns (que qual)

The RELATIVES are que and qual. The former is primarily a pronominal relative, the latter is an adjectival relative.

Example:

Le ultime traino que pote portar me ibi a tempore parti in cinque minutas

'The last train that can get me there on time will leave in five minutes'

Ille fuma opium, qual vitio ille ha acquirite durante le guerra

'He smokes opium, which vice he acquired during the war'

Le qual form

When we have Le + Qual, this compound will act pronominally instead of adjectivally. The plural form is Le + Quales.

Example:

Le cavallo e le asino le qual non esseva sellate curreva a velocitate equal

'The horse and the donkey which (latter) was not saddled ran at equal speed'

Le cavallo e le asino le quales non esseva sellate...

'The horse and the donkey which were not saddled...'

The cases of relative pronouns

The FUNCTIONS OF CASES - with both que and qual - are carried by the prepositions de (for the genitive, possesive) and a (for the dative). There is a special genitive relative, cuje 'whose,' and a form qui 'who, whom' which is used only for persons and only as subject or after a preposition.

Example:

Le documentos que le spia portava con se esseva multo importante

'The documents which the spy carried with him were very important'

Le documentos con que le spia escappava esseva multo importante

'The documents with which the spy escaped were very important'

Le documentos de que le spia habeva copias esseva multo importante

'The documents of which the spy had copies were very important'

Le documentos cuje importantia esseva dubitose incriminava le spia

'The documents whose importance was dubious incriminated the spy'

Le documentos del quales le spia habeva copias...

'The documents of which the spy had copies...'

Le documentos, le importantia del quales esseva dubitose...

'The documents whose importance was dubious...'

Le spia qui portava le documentos esseva habile

'The spy who carried the documents was skillful'

Le spia que le agente de policia habeva vidite portava con se le plus importante documentos

'The spy whom the policeman had seen carried with him the most important documents'

Le spia de qui le policia habeva establite le identitate...

'The spy whose identity the police had established...'

Le spia cuje identitate le policia habeva establite... (the same as above)

Demonstratives

Demonstratives are iste (this) and ille (that). The adjectival demonstrative are used before the nouns.

Example:

iste homine e ille femina

'this man and that woman'

ille homine e iste femina

'that man and this woman'

iste tabula e ille libro

'this table and that book'

ille tabula e iste libro

'that table and this book'

Pronominal demonstrative have -e/a ending for masculine and feminine animate beings. And, -o ending for inanimate being. The plural form is made with additional -s ending.

Isto es un libere pais

'This is a free country'

Que es isto? Que es illo?

'What is this? What is that?'

Istes es mi studentes

'These are my students'

Istas es mi filias

'These are my daughters'

(Woman speaking)

Io es una de illas qui crede que le matrimonio es sancte;

'I am one of those who believe that matrimony is sacred'

(Man speaking)

Io es uno de illes qui crede...

'I am one of those who believe that matrimony is sacred'

Note:

1) You can use Celle as Ille including for -e/a/o ending. But you must be consistent. So better stick to one.