Unit 5 – Subject Pronouns

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Unit 5 – Subject Pronouns

5.1 Dialogue

       
A. ni ʔə čxʷ ʔiməx? ‘Did you walk?’
B. ʔəwə, ni cən x̌ʷənxénəm. ‘No, I ran.’
A. ni ʔə čxʷ łciw̓s? ‘Are you tired?’
  ʔi łeʔ ʔəmət. ‘Let’s sit down.’
B. hay čxʷ q̓aʔ. ‘Thank you.’
  ni ʔə čxʷ nem̓ ya:ys? ‘Did you go to work?’
A. ʔəwə, ni cən ʔəw̓ ʔitət ʔal̓. ‘No, I just slept.’

5.2 Subject pronouns

cən ‘I’ ct ‘we’
čxʷ ‘you’ ce:p ‘you (pl)’

Put the pronoun after the first auxiliary or verb of the sentence.

     
ʔəmət cən ceʔ. ‘I will sit down.’
nem̓ cən xʷiwəl. ‘I am going down onto the bighouse floor.’
nem̓ ct ceʔ həyeʔ. ‘We will go leave.’
nem̓ ct ʔiməx. ‘We are going to walk.’
m̓i čxʷ ya:ys. ‘You are coming to work.’
t̓iw̓iʔəł ce:p ceʔ. ‘You will pray.’

5.3 Two auxiliaries: ʔi and ni

In the following examples, the subject pronoun follows the auxiliaries ʔi and ni. ʔi signals that the event happens in present space or present time. ni signals that the event was removed in space or time. It is sometimes pronounced as nə.

     
ʔi cən ʔəw̓ ʔəy̓ ʔal̓. ‘I am alright.’ (now)
ʔi ʔi ʔə təʔí. ‘It is here.’
ni ʔə čxʷ ɫciws? ‘Are you tired?’
ni ct ɫciws. ‘We are tired.’
ni ʔə čxʷ ʔiməx? ‘Did you walk?’ (action completed)
ni ʔə čxʷ nem̓ ʔəmət? ‘Did you go sit down?’ (over there)
ni ct ʔiməx. ‘We walked.’
ni ct łx̌iləx. ‘We stood up.’
ni ct həyeʔ. ‘We left.’
ni ct nem̓ ʔəmət. ‘We went to sit down.’
ni ce:p nem̓ ʔiməx. ‘You (pl) walked.’
ni čxʷ qʷel. ‘You talked.’

5.4 ʔə question particle

To form a question, place the interrogative particle ʔə immediately after the first auxiliary or verb. Note that ʔə precedes the pronoun.
Pronunciation tip: Contract the auxiliary ʔi and the question particle ʔə to ʔi: and ni and ʔə to ni:.

     
ni ʔə čxʷ wəł łciw̓s? ‘Are you tired?’
ni ʔə čxʷ ʔiməx? ‘Did you walk?’
ni ʔə čxʷ ʔəłtən? ‘Did you eat?’
nem̓ ʔə čxʷ ʔəmət? ‘Are you going to sit down?’
qʷel ʔə čxʷ ceʔ? ‘Will you talk?’
ni ʔə ce:p t̓iləm? ‘Did you (pl) sing?’
ni ʔə ce:p q̓ʷəyə́ləx? ‘Did you (pl) dance?’

HOMEWORK 7: Subject pronouns

A. Translation.

  1. I worked.
  2. Did you stand up?
  3. We talked.
  4. Did you listen?
  5. I called out.
  6. I went to sit down.
  7. We ran.
  8. Did you (pl) go work?
  9. We went to play.
  10. Did you sing?

B. Answer. Answer with a full sentence and translate.

1 ni ʔə čxʷ ʔiməx? A: ni cən ʔiməx.
  ‘Did you walk?’ ‘I walked.’
     
2 ni ʔə ce:p ʔəmət?  
3 ni ʔə čxʷ qʷel?  
4 ni ʔə čxʷ t̓iləm?  
5 ni ʔə ce:p ya:ys?  

5.5 ʔəw̓…ʔal̓ qualifier

By adding the particles ʔəw̓ before the verb and ʔal̓ after the verb, you can express the meaning of ‘just’ or ‘quite’.

     
ni ʔə čxʷ ʔəw̓ ʔiməx ʔal̓? ‘Did you just walk?’ (as opposed to getting a ride)
ni cən ʔəw̓ ʔənəxʷ ʔal̓. ‘I just stopped.’
ʔəw̓ ʔayəm čxʷ ʔal̓! ‘Just go slow!’ (‘Just take it easy!’)

5.6 ‘he/she/it’

No special marking is needed to express third person subjects of intransitive verbs. Just use the plain verb. Unlike English, Hən̓q̓əmín̓əm̓ makes no distinction in gender when it comes to person marking. So the sentences below have subjects that can be translated as ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, or ‘them’, depending on the context.

     
ni ʔəmət. ‘He/she/it sat down.’
ni nem̓ ya:ys. ‘He/she went to work.’
ni q̓ʷəyə́ləx ʔiʔ t̓iləm. ‘He/she danced and sang.’
ni ʔə ʔəmət? ‘Did he/she/it sit down?’

5.7 ʔe:łtən ‘they’

No special marking on the verb is needed to express a third person plural subject. But the pronoun ʔe:łtən can be used after the verb to make it clear that more than one person is doing the action.

     
ni ʔəmət ʔe:łtən. ‘They sat down.’
ni nem̓ ya:ys ʔe:łtən. ‘They went to work.’
ni ʔə t̓iləm ʔe:łtən? ‘Did they sing?’

HOMEWORK 8: More Subject Pronouns

A. Translation.

  1. I just listened.
  2. We just worked.
  3. He/she went to work.
  4. Did he eat?
  5. He stopped and listened.
  6. Did they go sit down?

B. Ask a question and translate.

1 ni cən ʔiməx. Ask: ni ʔə čxʷ ʔiməx?
  ‘I walked.’ ‘Did you walk?’
     
2 ni ct ʔənəxʷ.  
3 ni nem̓ ya:ys.  
4 ni ct t̓iw̓iʔəł.  
5 ni t̓iw̓iʔəł ʔe:ltən.  
6 ni cən nem̓ həw̓áləm̓.  

HOMEWORK 9: Pronouns Review

A. Transformations.
If the example involves a singular pronoun, put it in the plural and, if it involves a plural pronoun, put it in the singular. And translate, please.

  1. ni cən xʷiyné:m.
  2. ni ct ʔəw̓ ya:ys ʔal̓.
  3. ni ʔə ce:p nem̓ ya:ys?
  4. ni ʔəw̓ ʔəłtən ʔal̓.
  5. ʔənəxʷ ct ceʔ.
  6. ni ʔə ʔəmət ʔe:łtən?
  7. ni ʔə čxʷ łx̌iləx?
  8. t̓iləm ʔə čxʷ ceʔ?

B. Sentence Scramble.
Rearrange the words to form a correct sentence and translate.

  1. ʔə nem̓ ce:p ʔiməx̌ ʔəw̓ ʔal̓ ni?
  2. ya:ys ʔə ʔe:łtən nem̓ ni?

Unit 5 Interactive Workbook