Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

These are the personal pronouns:

n, mo — I
ki — you (one person)
o — he, she, it
yen — we (excluding the listener)
kin — we (including the listener)
unù — you (two or more people)
yo — they
jì — himself, herself, itself, themselves

Pronouns have three forms: plain, negative subject, and possessive. The third person singular is the only category that actually distinguishes all three.

Personal Pronouns	Plain	Negative Subject	Possessive
1st Person Sing.	n / mo	imo	mo
2nd Person Sing.	ki	iki	ki
3rd Person Sing.	o	ita	yà
1st Exclusive Plur.	yen	iyen	yen
1st Inclusive Plur.	kin	ikin	kin
2nd Person Plur.	unù	inù	unù
3rd Person Plur.	yo	iyo	yà
Reflexive	jì	—	jì

Third person pronouns
O can mean “he”, “she”, or “it”. However, when speaking of inanimate objects or abstract concepts, it is better to drop the pronoun entirely, and not use o or yo.

Babì ne mo la zà sài. O i dogo wale.
“I won’t buy this pig. It is too small.”
Nunsìn ne mo la zà sài. I dogo wale.
“I won’t buy this shirt. It is too small.”

Mo la zà sài o.
“I won’t buy it.” (Animate)
Mo la zà sài.
“I won’t buy it.” (Inanimate)

Inclusive and exclusive pronouns
Lio Sabalè has two words for “we”: yen and kin. Yen is exclusive and kin is inclusive.

The exclusive pronoun, yen, does not include the listener. It means “we but not you”. The inclusive pronoun, kin, does include the listener. It means “you and me” or “we, including you”.

The reflexive pronoun
The reflexive pronoun, jì, is a third-person pronoun. It means “himself”, “herself”, “itself”, or “themselves”. It can also be possessive, meaning “his own”, “her own”, “its own”, or “their own”.
For the first and second persons, the normal pronouns serve as reflexive pronouns.

Plain form
Plain pronouns are used as subjects and objects of verbs. They indicate who does what and to who.

O i don kà kedu.
“He/she should take the lead.”
Yen zà nen tala o.
“We will follow him/her.”

Mo i kene.
“I am well.”
Ki jan te mo ma?
“Do you recognize me?”

The first-person pronoun mo becomes n when it comes before any consonant other than l.

N ja bara àtolo.
“I will go and greet the guests.”

Mo la fe kà mon ne.
“I don’t want to stay here.”

Negative subject form
The negative subject pronouns are used whenever the pronoun is the subject of a negative statement. They indicate who did not do something.

O de won mo. → Ita la won mo
“He/she sees me.” → “He/she does not see me.”

Yo làì. → Iyo ma làì.
“They came.” → “They didn’t come.”

Ki i gàran e mie. → Iki man gàran e mie.
“You are good at dancing.” → “You are not good at dancing.”

Possessive form
The possessive pronouns show that the pronoun is the possessor of a noun. They come after the noun that they possess.
The only pronouns that have a unique possessive form are o and yo. They both become yà, which can mean “his”, “her”, “its”, or “their”.

suma → suma ki
“name” → “your name”

nna → nna mo
“mother” → “my mother”

ìban durun → ìban durun yà
“hometown” → “his/her/their hometown”

The suffix -wu
This is the “logophoric” suffix. It can be added to the plain form of third-person pronouns: o, yo, ita, iyo → owu, yowu, itawu, iyowu.

It shows that the subject pronoun of a “dependent clause”—in a quote, after a conjunction, or after a relative pronoun—refers back to someone in the main clause, and not to someone new.
This suffix is optional, not obligatory.

Sofià ko o sagi ja lè.
“Sophia said that he/she (someone else) has left.”
Here, o could refer to someone besides Sophia.

Sofià ko owu sagi ja lè.
“Sophia said that she (Sophia) has left.”
Here, owu definitely refers back to Sophia, not to anyone else.

Sofià ko itawu mè sagi ja.
“Sophia said that she (Sophia) has not left.”
Again, itawu definitely refers back to Sophia herself.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are words like “this, that, these, those,” which refer to someone or something located in space, specifying whether it is near or far.

These are the demonstrative pronouns:

one — “this”
ono — “that”
yone — “these”
yono — “those”

To modify a noun with these demonstratives, the pronouns are separated, e.g. o lile ne “this town”, yo lu no “those people”.

o … ne — “this X”
o … no — “that X”
yo … ne — “these X’s”
yo … no — “those X’s”

o cìnbaro ne
“this news”

o ifusawu no
“that raincloud”

yo sima ne
“these boundaries”

yo kotolòn no
“those debates”