Mirad Grammar/Pronouns

Pronoun Categories

Pronouns are words that substitute for explicit nouns. For example, the pronoun I stands for the person standing at this place. The pronoun this stands for the thing or person nearest. The pronoun big one stands for a person or thing of some stature.

In this grammar, pronouns are divided into three categories:

• personal pronouns
• deictic determiners
• deadjectival pronouns

Deictic determiners like who?, this, that, such a, all, anything are discussed in a later chapter called Determiners.

Deadjectival pronouns are discussed in the chapter on Adjectives, because they are basically pronouns built from an adjective or adjective stem, such as:

• fia....good
• fiat....a good guy
• fias....a good thing
• ha gwa fiasi....the best ones

This chapter discusses personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns

In Mirad, personal pronouns can be classified by the following features:

• person

• 1st
• 2nd
• 1st & 2nd hybrid
• 3rd

• specificity

• person-specific
• generic
• reciprocal
• reflexive

• gender

• gender-neutral
• masculine
• feminine

• case

• subject
• direct object
• indirect object

• animacy

• animate
• inanimate

• other

• emphatic
• possessive

The chart below shows the principal personal pronouns, but does not include hybrid, reciprocal, emphatic, and possessive forms.

Personal Pronouns

PERSON	TYPE	ANIMACY	GENDER	SINGULAR	PLURAL
1st	Specific	Animate	Neutral	at....I, me	yat....we, us
2nd				et....you	yet....you, you all
3rd				it....he, she, him, her	yit....they, them
			Masculine	wit....he, him
			Feminine	iyt....she, her
		Inanimate	Neutral	is....it	yis....they, them
	Generic	Animate		ot....one, they	yot....people
	Reflexive			ut....self	yut....selves

Animacy

If a Mirad pronoun ends in -t, the pronoun is animate. If the pronoun ends in -s, the pronoun is inanimate.

The Mirad 3rd person specific animate pronouns it (he/she), iyt (she), wit (he), and yit can refer to any animate or pseudo-animate creatures such as animals, babies, dolls, angels, gods, or monsters. However, Mirad it cannot refer to non-animate things such as tables, ideas, abstractions, plants, etc. Instead, the 3rd person inanimate pronoun is (singular) or yis (plural) is used. A deictic determiner (this/that, these/those) can also be used in such cases, as discussed in the chapter on Determiners, eg.:

• Eta dom se via. At iyfe is.....You house is beautiful. I like it.
• Ata dyun se Pierre. Is se Feroda.....My name is Pierre. It's French.
• Tej se vira, oy is uje gra ig.....Life is wonderful, but it ends too soon.
• Teaxu hua amaryop. Has se via.....Look at that sunset. It (=the thing) is beautiful. In this case, is and the determiner has are synonymous.

If the English word they or them refers to inanimate objects, concepts, or abstractions, then the Mirad 3rd person inanimate plural pronoun isi is used, eg.:

• At ujba dyeer ha dyesi. Isi sa gla fia.....I finished reading the books. They were very good.

Note that the endings -t and -s alternate regularly in the language for things and persons.

Gender

Personal pronouns are gender-neutral, except that the 3rd singular animate pronoun it (he/she) can be made to express gender by prefixing w for masculine or inserting y before the final t for feminine. This is optional and only used where needed to differentiate referents.

• it....he/she/him/her
• iyt....she/her
• wit....he/him
• ita....his/her
• iyta....her
• wita....his
• iut....himself/herself
• iuyt....herself
• wiut....himself
• iuta....his/her own
• iuyta....her own
• wiuta....his own

In rare cases, distinguishing other personal pronouns for gender might be possible:

• wat....I/me, as a male
• eyt....you, a female

Number

All plural personal pronouns begin with y:

• yat....we, us
• yet....you (all)
• yit....they, them (m. or f.)
• yot....people
• yut....themselves

Plural personal pronouns do not express gender.

Case

Personal pronouns in Mirad do not express case with inflected forms such as he vs. him or she vs. her, or they vs. them in English. Rather, the position in the sentence or prepositions do the job.

• Et teate at.....You see me. (subject)
• At teate et.....I see you. (direct object)
• Yat teate yit.....We see them. (subject)
• Yit teaate yat.....They see us. (direct object)
• Du at din.....Tell me a story. (indirect object)
• Buu is bu at.....Give it to me. (indirect object)

Tell me a story. can also be expressed in Mirad as Du din bu at. (Tell a story to me.). Some verbs in Mirad like der (to tell), buer (to give), and uper (to come) have a built-in dative notion and do not require the preposition bu (to) if the object pronoun immediately follows the verb.

Expressing Pronouns with Quantitative Elements

Here are some possible personal pronouns with quantitative elements:

• awat bi yat....one of us
• ewat bi yet....two of you
• Hyaewat bi yit....both of them
• hya yat....we/us all
• anay wet....only you (m.)
• duhot bi yet?....who of you?
• Hyawas se fia.....Each one is good.

The above terms involve deictic determiners, which are discussed in the chapter on Determiners, as well as numbers, discussed in Numbers.

Generic Pronouns

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 hyoj.....They/People say you never lie.

Hybrid Pronouns

Mirad offers two special hybrid 1st & 2nd person 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.

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 Pronouns

PERSON	SINGULAR	PLURAL
1st specific animate	aut....myself	yaut....ourselves
2nd specific animate	eut....yourself	yeut....yourselves
3d specific animate	iut....himself/herself	yiut....themselves
3d specific inanimate	ius....itself	yius....themselves
3d generic animate	out....oneself	yout....people themselves

Reflexive pronouns do not have gendered forms, because they hearken back to personal pronouns which can be gendered.

The above reflexive pronouns can be adjectivized, as in the following:

• auta tam....my own house
• yiuta byen....their own way
• iusa volz....its own color

These in turn can be pronominalized, as in the following:

• At bese yub bi autati.....I stay nearby my own (people).
• Eutas se ga fia.....You own is better.
• Iyt bexe iutasi.....She has her own things.

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.
• Tru eut!....Know thyself.
• Yat yeyfe tadser.....We should get married.
• Iyt vey tojbo iut.....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.
• At aut voy movie.....I myself do not smoke.

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 reflexive correspondent, eg.:

Emphatic Personal Pronouns

PERSON	GENDER	SINGULAR	PLURAL
1st	neutral	at aut....I myself, me myself	yat yaut....we ourselves, us ourselves
2nd		et eut....you yourself	yet yeut....you yourselves
3rd		it iut....the person him or herself	yit yiut....they themselves
	masculine	wit iut....he himself	wit wiut....they themselves
	feminine	iyt iut....she herself	yit yiut....they themselves

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

Examples:

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

Reciprocal Personal Pronouns

The animate reciprocal personal 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, but refers to sentient beings.

• 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.

The inanimate reciprocal personal pronoun....one another, each other is translated with hyuis, which is a hybridization of hyus (the other thing) and hyis (the same thing. This is an invariable pronoun and does not express gender or number, but refers to inanimate objects, concepts, and abstractions.

• Meri glexag yanpyexe hyuis.....Planets sometimes crash into each other.
• Syaagiri dale bay hyuis hyaj.....Computers talk with one another all the time.

This reciprocal pronouns can sometimes be used as a prefix, eg.:

• Yat yefe hyuitifer.....We must love one another.
• Hyuitfiyz....mutual respect
• Hyuisloyexen....mutual destruction.

Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

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
• hyuit....one another    → hyuita....one another's

In turn, these possessive adjectives can be pronominalized with singular and plural forms referring to things. The following chart shows these forms:

Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

Adjective	Pronoun
	Singular (thing)	Plural (things)
ata....my	atas....mine	atasi....mine
auta....my own	autas....your own	autasi....your own
aeuta....your and my own, our own	aeutas....your and my own, our own	aeutasi....your and mine, our own
eta....your	etas....yours	etasi....yours
euta....your own	eutas....your own	eutasi....your own
ita....his/her	itas....his/hers	itasi....his/hers
iuta....his/her own	iutas....his/hers own	iutasi....his/hers own
wita....his	witas....his	witasi....his
wiuta....his own	wiutas....his own	wiutasi....his own
iyta....her	iytas....hers	iytasi....hers
iuyta....her own	iuytas....her own	iuytasi....her own
hyuita....one another's	hyuitas....one another's	hyuitasi....one another's
isa....its	isas....its	isasi....its
iusa....its own	iusas....its own	iusasi....its own
ota....one's	otas....one's	otasi....one's
outa....one's own	outas....one's own	outasi....one's own
yata....our	yatas....ours	yatasi....ours
yauta....our own	yautas....our own	yautasi....our own
yaeta....your and ours	yaetas....yours and ours	yaetasi....yours and ours
yaeuta....your and our own	yaeutas....yours and our own	yaeutasi....yours and our own
yeta....your	yetas....yours	yetasi....yours
yeuta....your own	yeutas....your own	yeutasi....your own
yita....their	yitas....theirs	yitasi....theirs
yiuta....their own	yiutas....their own	yiutasi....their own
yisa....their	yisas....theirs	yisasi....theirs
yiusa....their own	yiusas....their own	yiusasi....their own
yota....people's	yotas....people's	yotasi....people's
youta....people's own	youtas....people's own	youtasi....people's own

Examples of possessive adjectives and pronouns in use.

• 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.
• At tre wita twed.....I know his father.
• 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.
• Hia vafil bayse iusa toleuz.....This wine has its own taste.

In rare cases, inanimate possessive pronouns like, say, yatasi (our own [things]) can be animated by changing the s to a t, yielding yatati (our own [people]), as in Ha Feromati ife vafil. Yatati gey.....The French people love wine. Ours do too.

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 hosav 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, the inanimate personal pronoun is can be used.

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

Deictic determiners like this and that can also be used. Read more about that in the chapter on Determiners.

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 yazmel.....It is not easy to climb this mountain. ( = Is not easy...)