User:Aegon/High Valyrian Tutorial/1-6

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Lesson 6| Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Pronouns are nouns which are used instead of another noun ('pro', in place of 'noun', noun.)

There are three categories of pronouns which are divided up into persons: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In addition, pronouns can be singular or plural. They are declined like all other nouns.

Person Singular Plural
1st I we
2nd you y'all
3rd he/she/it they

Table of Personal Pronouns in all of their cases: I, you, he/she/it, we, y'all, they

Note: you is the singular of the plural y'all, itself a contraction of you all - it is a perfectly grammatically correct second person plural pronoun in English, useful for distinguishing you (singular) from you (plural). After spending time working with folks who spoke the Southern U.S. English regional dialect, the versatility and usefulness of the pronoun y'all became abundantly clear, as the second person plural pronoun is rarely used in the local dialect.

High Valyrian has two third person personal pronouns: ziry, for lunar and solar nouns and ūja, for terrestrial and aquatic nouns. Generally, ziry is used for animates and ūja for inanimates. However, there is flexibility and ūja may be used for animates as well. This linguistic feature is useful for sentences where you are keeping track of two generic participants like the following example of one who had something stolen and a thief:

Explanation- David's dragon is bigger than your dragon.
High Valyrian: Ūja hen zirȳ mirros laodios(1), jāhon qilōnarion morghon kesos(2).
English: He from him something [if, should] [he] steal his punishment death [will] be.
  • (1) laodigon, to steal (v-fin.). laodios, (3s. prs. subj.).
  • (2) sagon, to be. kesos, (3s. fut. subj.).

In English, who is being executed? The thief or the one who had something stolen? Your brain knows even though the sentence doesn't! If there was a passage written like this, you would likely be confused. In High Valyrian, it is clear ūja is the thief to be executed.

The subjunctive will be covered later. For now recognize that it may be translated as 'should' or 'if' and conveys a hypothetical action or an action that may not occur. The future subjunctive is then used second to complete the cause → effect flow of this sentence.

Singular Plural
Case 1st Person 2nd Person 3nd Person 3nd Person 1st Person 2nd Person 2nd Person
Nominative nyke I ao you ziry he/she/it ūja he/she/it īlon we jeme y'all pōnta they
Accusative yne me avy you ziry he/she/it ūī he/she/it īlōn us jemī y'all pōnte them
Genitive yno of me of you zijo of him/her/it ūō of him/her/it īlo of us jemo of y'all pōnto of them
Dative ynot for me aōt for you zijot for him/her/it ūjōt for him/her/it īlot for us jemot for y'all pōntot for them
Locative nykē on me on you zirȳ on him/her/it ūjā on him/her/it īlō on us jemē on y'all pōntā on them
Instrumental ynoma with me aōma with you zijosy with him/her/it josa with him/her/it īloma with us jemme with y'all pōntosa with them
Comitative ynoma with me aōma with you zijomy with him/her/it joma with him/her/it īloma with us jemme with y'all pōntoma with them
Vocative nykys me aōs you zirys him/her/it ūjus him/her/it īlos us jemys y'all pōntus them

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives indicate possession of a participant in a sentence like 'my sister' or 'your bicycle.' These modify nouns; they take the gender of the noun which they modify and agree in case and number.

High Valyrian English
ñuh-a ys on or my
aōh-a ys on or your
zȳh-a ys on or his/hers, its
jāh-a ys on or his/hers, its
īlv-a ys on or our
jev-a ys on or y'alls
pōj-a ys on or their

Reflexive

Singular Plural
Case 1st Person 2nd Person 3nd Person 3nd Person 1st Person 2nd Person 2nd Person
Reflexive nykēla myself aōla youself zirȳla himself/herself/itself jāla himself/herself/itself īlōnda ourselves jemēla y'alls self pōntāla themselves

The reflexive means something like 'myself, yourself, your own' and is used to provide added emphasis to a sentence participant. It declines and is used like like a typical first lunar noun; it may be either a subject or an object per the following examples:

High Valyrian English
Hēzīr, brōza jevi jemēle iderēbilātās. From this day forward, you will choose your own names.
Jemēla zȳhys perzī ondurilāt? Will you take up her flames yourselves?
Nykēla avy ossēninna. I will kill you myself.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns indicate location relative to the speaker; in English are 'this', for that which is near (proximal), and 'that' for that which is far (distal). In High Valyrian, these words are class I adjectives that also distinguish the animacy of a modified noun. Like possessive adjectives they take the gender of the modified noun and agree in case and number like a typical adjective.

For animate nouns (like 'this mother' or 'that father') we have:

High Valyrian English
bis-a ys on or this
bon-a ys on or that

Note that the animacy of animals is up to the speaker.

For inanimate nouns (like 'this table' or 'that sword') we have:

High Valyrian English
kes-a ys on or this
kon-a ys on or that

Substantive Form

The substantive form is a noun and occurs when no noun is explicitly stated for an adjective to modify; thusly, the adjective must become a noun. Like the adjectival forms above, they distinguish animacy and also abstraction. All adjectives may be transformed into nouns via substantive forms; this will be covered later. For now, recognize that type I substantives convey concrete, countable items and type II substantives convey abstract uncountable items. Type I looks like -y and -ir; type II looks like -os and -ion.

Note that these substantives do not take the gender of a noun, as they are nouns themselves.

For animates:

High Valyrian English
bisy (2lun. subst. I) this (concrete)
bisir (5aq. subst. II) this (abstract)
bony (2lun. subst. I) that (concrete)
bonir (5aq. subst. II) that (abstract)

For inanimates:

High Valyrian English
kesy (2lun. subst. I) this (concrete)
kesir (2lun. subst. II) this (abstract)
kony (2lun. subst. I) that (concrete)
konir (2lun. subst. II) that (abstract)