1. Independent Personal Pronouns.
In Ge’ez, Personal Pronouns are called መራሕያን ( marāhyān ) ; literally ‘the leaders’.
pronouns are crucial in Ge’ez language for understanding the structures of the sentences, phrases, clauses, the relationship between different words and a whole sentence .
unlike modern English, Ge’ez personal pronouns are inflected for gender, number, case and tense.
1st person independent personal pronouns (I / We)
I subjective ,& singular – አነ (ˈana)
We subjective,& plural – ንሕነ (nehna)
2nd person independent personal pronouns ( you )
You subjective, singular,& masculine – አንተ (ˈanta)
You subjective, plural,& masculine – አንትሙ (ˈantemu)
You subjective, singular,& feminine – አንቲ (ˈanti)
You subjective, plural,& feminine – አንትን (ˈanten)
3rd person independent personal pronouns (He / She)
He subjective, singular,& masculine.– ውእቱ (weˈetu)
They subjective, plural,& masculine – ውእቶሙ (weˈtomu ) /
እሙንቱ (ˈemuntu)
She subjective, singular,& feminine – ይእቲ (yeˈeti)
They subjective, plural, feminine. – ውእቶን (weˈton) /
እማንቱ (ˈemāntu)
Ge'ez independent personal pronouns functions
1. Independent personal pronouns used as a subjective and helps us to avoid repetition of the noun for we used them instead of a noun, here they must be before the verb.
Example; ንሕነ አንበብነ (nehena ˈanbabena) – we read
2. If the personal pronouns are after the noun or after the phrase, they used as “verb to be” form like He is, You are, He was, We were..etc.
Example; ብእሲ አነ (b’esi ˈana) – i am a man.
He is/was – ውእቱ (we’etu )
They are/were (masculine plural) – ውእቶሙ (weˈtomu)
She is/was – ይእቲ (yeˈeti)
They are/were (feminine plural) – ውእቶን (we’ton)
you are/was (masculine singular) – አንተ (ˈanta) –
ˈYou are/were (masculine plural) – አንትሙ (ˈantemu)
You are/was (feminine singular) – አንቲ ˈanti
You are/were (feminine plural ) – አንትን (ˈanten)
I am/was – አነ (ˈana)
We are/were – ንሕነ (nehena)
3. The personal pronouns might be used as demonstrative adjectives “That and Those”and they must be before the noun to qualifies the noun.
Example; ይእቲ ብእሲት ( yeˈeti bˈesit ) – that woman.
1.That, masculine – ውእቱ (weˈetu)
2. Those, masculine – ውእቶሙ (weˈtomu )
3. That, feminine – ይእቲ (yeˈeti)
4. Those, feminine – ውእቶን (weˈton)
1.1 Nominative Personal Pronouns.
Ge’ez nominative personal pronouns in the traditional schools are called “ድርብ መራሕያን” ( dereb marahyan ) – “fold leaders”, because they served as both intensive pronouns (without adding the intensifier “self”) and subjective pronouns.
1st person nominatve personal pronouns
I, myself – ለልየ (laleya)
We, ourselves -ለሊነ (lalina)
2nd person nominative personal pronouns
You, yourself (singular,& masculine) – ለሊከ (lalika)
You, yourself (singular,& feminine) – ለሊኪ (laliki)
You, yourself (plural,& masculine) – ለሊክሙ (lalikmu)
You, yourself (plural,& feminine) – ለሊክን (laliken)
3rd person nominative personal pronouns
He, himself – ለሊሁ (lalihu)
She, herself – ለሊሃ (lalihā)
They, themselves (masculine) – ለሊሆሙ (lalihomu)
They, themselves (feminine) – ለሊክን (laliken)
1.2 Accusative Personal Pronouns
Accusative personal pronouns are called in Ge’ez “ተስሓቢ መራሕያን” (tashabi marahyan) – “trailer leaders”, for they pulled and served as object of a verb.
1st person accusative personal pronouns
Me– ኪያየ (kiyaya)
Us – ኪያከ (kiyaka)
2nd person accusative personal pronouns
You, yourself (singular,& masculine) – ኪያከ (kiyaka)
You, yourself (singular,& feminine) – ኪያኪ (kiyaki)
You, yourselves (plural,& masculine) – ኪያክሙ (kiyakemu)
You, yourselves (plural,& feminine) – ኪያክን (kiyaken)
3rd person accusative personal pronouns
He, himself – ኪያሁ (kiyahu)
She, herself – ኪያሃ (kiyāha)
They, themselves (masculine) – ኪያሆሙ (kiyahomu)
They, themselves (feminine) – ኪያሆን (kiyahon)
1.3 Possessive Personal Pronouns.
there are three forms of possessive pronouns in Ge’ez based on number and gender of the relative pronouns.
ዘ (za) for masculine,& singular.
እንተ (ˈenta) for feminine, & singular.
እለ (ˈella) for common gender.
1st person possessive personal pronouns
Mine – ዚአየ ziˈaya (masculine)
እንቲአየ ˈentiˈaya (feminine)
እሊአየ ˈeliˈaya (common)
Ours – ዚአነ ziˈana (masculine)
እንቲአነ ˈentiˈana (feminine)
እሊአነ ˈeliˈana (common)
2nd person possessive personal pronouns
Yours (singular,& masculine) ፡
ዚአከ ziˈaka (masculine)
እንቲአከ ˈentiˈaka (feminine)
እሊአከ ˈeliˈaka (common)
Yours (singular,& feminine) :
ዚአኪ ziˈaki (masculine)
እንቲአኪ entiˈaki (feminine)
እሊአኪ eliˈaki (common)
Yours (plural, & masculine) ፡
ዚአክሙ ziˈakmu (masculine)
እንቲአክሙ ˈentiˈakmu (feminine)
እሊአክሙ ˈeliˈakmu (common)
Yours (plural, & feminine) ፡
ዚአክን ziˈaken (masculine)
እንቲአክን ˈentiˈaken (feminine)
እሊአክን ˈeliˈaken (common)
3rd person possessive personal pronouns
His (singular,& masculine) ፡
ዚአሁ ziˈahu (masculine)
እንቲአሁ ˈentiahu (feminine)
እሊአሁ ˈeliahu (common)
Her (singular,& masculine) ፡
ዚአሃ ziˈāha (masculine)
እንቲኣሃ ˈentiˈāha (feminine)
እሊኣሃ ˈeliˈāha (common)
Theirs (plural, & masculine) ፡
ዚአሆሙ ziˈahomu (masculine)
እንቲአሆሙ ˈentiahomu (feminine)
እሊአሆሙ ˈeliahomu (common)
Theirs (plural, & feminine) ፡
ዚአሆን ziˈahon (masculine)
እንቲአሆን ˈentiahon (feminine)
እሊአሆን ˈeliahon (common)
2. Relative Pronouns
1. singular,& masculine – ዘ (za)
2. singular, & feminine – እንተ (ˈenta)
3. plural, & common – እለ (ˈela)
Note: the relative pronouns ዘ ፣ እንተ and እለ may be used with other pronouns, as we have seen above in possessive pronouns and again it may be prefixed with pronouns, nouns and verbs. example ዘዚአሁ (za-ziahu) – his himself, ዘአዳም (za-ˈadam) – Adam’s , ዘአእመረ (za-ˈaemara) – he who knows
- ዘ (za) – may be used for the feminine singular and for the masculine and feminine plural. example: ዘይእቲ ሀገር (za-yˈeti hagar) -which her city , ዘውእቶን ሀገር (za-we’ton hagar) -which their city..
- ዘ (ze) – usually prefixed or it may be get by itself. example ዘለአከ (za-laˈaka) – he who sends, ዘ ፡ ግብረ (za gebra) – such a work.
- እንተ (ˈenta) – may be prefixed to the 3rd person masculine and feminine in perfect and imperfect verbs. for example: እንተ ገብረ (enta gabra) – he who does, እንተ ትገብር (ˈenta tgaber) – she who will do.
- እለ (ˈela) -prefixed to the plural nouns, pronouns, perfective and imperfective verbs.
3. Demonstrative Pronouns
This singular,& masculine – ዝ (ze) / ዝንቱ (zentu)
This singular,& feminine – ዛ (za) / ዛቲ (zati)
These plural,& masculine – እሉ (ˈelu) / እሎንቱ (ˈelontu)
These plural,& feminine – እላ (ˈelā) / እላንቱ (ˈelāntu)
That singular, masculine – ዝኩ (zeku) / ዝኲቱ (zekwtu)
That singular,& feminine – እንትኩ (ˈentku) / እንታክቲ (ˈentākti)
Those plural,& masculine – እልኩ (ˈeleku) / እልክቱ (ˈelektu)
Those plural,& feminine – እልኩ (ˈeleku) / እልክቱ (ˈelektu)
4. Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns in Ge’ez language are used for persons or things about which questions are asked.
They are: what, who, which, whose, where and when.
The interrogatives are used both in direct and indirect questions.
The enclitic – ኑ (-nu) ; may be suffixed on the interrogatives.
The enclitic -ኑ (-nu) and sometimes -ሀ (-ha) may be used as a sign of question mark. for in Ge’ez, there is no question mark.
1. Who ?
who? for masculine singular – መኑ (manu)
who? for feminine singular – መኑ (manu)
who? for plural common – መኑ (manu)
2. what ?
what? for masculine singular – ምንት (ment)
what? for feminine singular – ምንት (ment)
what? for common plural – ምንት (ment)
what? for neuter – ሚ (mi)
The accusative form for all common gender and numbers is the same – ምንተ (menta)
The plural of ምንት (ment) – ምንታት (mentāt)
3. whom ?
whom? for masculine singular – መነ (mana)
whom? for feminine singular – መነ (mana)
whom? for common plural – መነ (mana)
4. which ?
which? for common gender and common numbers – አይ (ˈaye) / አያት (ˈayāt)
The accusative of which? – አየ (ˈaya) / አያተ (ˈayāta)
5. whose ?
whose? for masculine singular – ዘ መኑ (za-manu)
whose? for feminine singular – እንተ መኑ (ˈenta-manu)
whose? for common plural – እለ መኑ (ˈella-manu)
6. when ?
when? – ማእዜ (māˈzē) / ማእዜኑ (māˈzē-nu)
7. Where ?
where? – አይቴ (ˈaytē) / አይቴኑ (ˈaytē-nu)