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 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- 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
| 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 |
Examples
| High Valyrian | English |
| Bisi vali īlvyz zentyssy issi | These men are our guests |
Bisi is a plural and nominative demonstrative pronoun to agree with vali that gives bisi both its gender and its animacy.
Īlvyz is plural, nominative, and solar; it taking its solar gender from the solar zentyssy.
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) |