User:Aegon/High Valyrian Tutorial/1-6
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 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 standard English.
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:
| Explanation- Should he steal something from him, his punishment will be death. | |||||||||
| 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.
Zirȳ is in the locative because of the preposition hen; hen zirȳ constitutes a prepositional phrase.
Jāhon is a singular and nominative possessive adjective in agreement with the terrestrial qilōnarion, from which the possessive adjective takes its gender.
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 can be used in tandem with the present subjunctive to convey a cause → effect (present subjunctive → future subjunctive) flow like 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 | aō | 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 | aō | 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 |
Examples
| High Valyrian | English |
| Ñuhe zokle, ñuhi azanti, ñuhon lenton, ñuhor qintrā jorrāelan | I love my wolf, my knight, my house, and my turtle |
This sentence shows the first person possessive adjective declined in all four grammatical genders with the coordinative vowel lengthening in the final element of the list to indicate 'and.'
Reflexive Pronouns
A reflexive pronoun means something like 'myself or yourself' 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.
| High Valyrian | English |
|---|---|
| nykēla | myself |
| aōla | yourself |
| zirȳla | himself/herself/itself |
| jemēla | himself/herself/itself |
| īlōnda | ourselves |
| jemēla | yourselves |
| pōntāla | themselves |
Examples
| High Valyrian | English |
|---|---|
| Hēzīr, brōza jevi jemēle iderēbilātās. | From this day forward, you will choose your own names. |
This example uses a possessive adjective to modify a reflexive pronoun to say 'your own.'
Three additional examples of reflexive pronouns:
| High Valyrian | English |
|---|---|
| Jemēla zȳhys perzī ondurilāt? | Will you take up her flames yourselves? |
| Nykēla avy ossēninna. | I will kill you myself. |
| Aōle lykemās, perzītsos. | Calm yourself, little flame. |
Demonstrative and Interrogative 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.
interrogative pronouns are question words, like 'who, what, when, where, and why.' In High Valyrian, the interrogative pronouns behave identically to demonstrative pronouns except as class II adjectives; thusly, it makes sense to learn their forms together.
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 |
| spar-e ior | which |
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 |
| skor-e ior | which |
Examples
| High Valyrian | English |
| bisi vali īlvyz zentyssy issi | these men are our guests |
Bisi is a plural and nominative demonstrative pronoun that agrees with vali from which bisi takes both its gender and its animacy.
Īlvyz is plural, nominative, and solar; it taking its solar gender from the solar zentyssy.
| High Valyrian | English |
| Iōnos kono qubo korzoti hakos | Jon is annoyed because of those low-quality swords |
Here, the demonstrative pronoun kono is plural, locative, and lunar; it takes its number, case, and gender from qubo korzoti, the poor-quality swords that annoy Jon, to agree.
Korzoti is locative because the verb hakogon is one of the verbs that takes locative arguments. In this case, the locative specifies what is bothering the subject, Jon.
| High Valyrian | English |
| bonys azantys geltose jomīsos daor | that knight is not wearing a helmet |
Bonys is a demonstrative adjective taking animacy and gender from azantys. If you recall, jomīsagon, to wear, takes an instrumental, geltose, as the item worn.
This is the first example of a negation thus far. They are formed using the subjunctive followed with daor.
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 also distinguish animacy while adding 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; they only take animacy for agreement.
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) |
| sparos (3sol. subst. I) | who (concrete) |
| sparion (3ter. subst. II) | who (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) |
| skoros (3sol. subst. I) | what (concrete) |
| skorion (3ter. subst. II) | what (abstract) |
Examples
| High Valyrian | English |
| kesy īlva vīlībāzma sīr issa | this is our war now |
Kesy is a type I substantive noun that takes its inanimacy and tangibility from vīlībāzma and does not modify another; it stands alone.
Īlva is a possessive adjective declined nominative, lunar, and singular to agree with vīlībāzma.
| High Valyrian | English |
| kesir gīmī | you know this |
Kesir is a type II substantive noun that has nothing to base animacy or tangibility on, for it is conveying an abstract concept.
Interrogative Pronouns
| High Valyrian | English |
|---|---|
| sparos (3sol. subst. I) | who (concrete) |
| sparion (3ter. subst. II) | who (abstract) |
| skoros (3sol. subst. I) | what (concrete) |
| skorion (3ter. subst. II) | what (abstract) |
| skorī (indeclinable) | when |
| skoriot (3ter. loc.) | where |
| skoro syt (postp. phrase) | why |
| skorȳso (3ter. inst.) | why, because |
| skorkydoso (indeclinable) | how |
| skorlūs (3sol.) | how |
| skorverdon (3sol.) | how many → gen. |
Relative Pronouns
Essentially, a relative pronoun forms an adjectival phrase that describes the head noun. For examples in English:
| The man(1) that(2) spoke to the queen(3) went to the market. |
| notice how 'spoke to the queen' serves as an adjective to 'the man.' |
| The knight(1) who(2) defends the kingdom(3) is resting at the inn. |
| notice how 'defends the kingdom' serves as an adjective to 'the knight.' |
- (1) head noun.
- (2) relative pronominal adjective.
- (3) relative clause.
| clause |
|---|
| lua |
|---|
| head noun |
|---|