Dothraki Pronouns

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Personal Pronouns

There is a pronoun that can be used in place of both 2nd person singular yer (you) and 2nd person plural fesi. It is shafka, and it is used in public situtations and when indicating respect. It triggers a plural agreement in verbs (technically this is a third person plural agreement, though that does not differ from the second person in diegetically modern Dothraki). The third person singular me can stand for he, she or it, there is no difference based on gender.

1st person 2nd person 3rd person
singular plural singular plural formal singular plural
Nominative anha kisha yer yeri shafka me mori
Accusative anna kisha yera yeri shafka mae mora
Genitive anni kishi yeri yeri shafki mae mori
Allative anhaan kishaan yeraan yerea shafkea maan morea
Ablative anhoon kishoon yeroon yeroa shafkoa moon moroa

Demonstratives

Dothraki demonstratives jin, haz and rek work as both demonstrative modifiers and demonstrative pronouns.


Demonstrative modifiers come before the noun they modify, and are invariable:

Haz ifak affesa anna."That foreigner makes me itch." (singular animate nominative)
Kisha vatthasaki rek ifakis."We will defeat those foreigners." (plural animate accusative)
Anha vastok jin jolini."I will speak of this pot." (singular inanimate genitive)


As pronouns, though, demonstratives have both inanimate and animate versions. Inanimate version is in nominative marked with /-i/ suffix and animate version with /-ak/. Both versions decline as nouns of their respective types:

Sani jolini vekhi jinne, vosma anha zalak haz."Here are many pots, but I want that one." (singular inanimate accusative)
Sani lajaki vekh jinne, vosma anha addriv hazakes disse."Here were many warriors, but I only killed that one." (singular animate accusative)

When there isn't any particular noun a demonstrative refers to, it usually defaults to the inanimate form, but for humans the animate version is still used:

Hrazef driva. Anha nesak haz."The horse is dead. I know that." (the demonstrative does not refer to horse, but to the idea that the horse is dead, so it is singular inanimate accusative)

Proximity

Languages usually use different demonstratives according to how close the object in question is. So does Dothraki. Jin is a proximal demonstrative and is used when the object is either metaphorically or literally near to speaker. Haz is a medial demonstrative. It is used when an object is closer to adressee than to speaker. Rek is a distal demonstrative and is used when an object is close to neither speaker nor adressee. Modern english only distinguishes between proximal this, which is close equivalent to jin, and distal that, which covers the scope of both haz and rek. English has, though, had a third demonstrative, yon (or slightly more modernly, yonder). It has been used for farther away objects and with it the english system more closely resembles the dothraki.

There are a few further nuances. Jin carries a strong sense that the speaker has the object within their reach - that they are holding the object or can take it if needed. Haz is then the closest object that is out of reach, no matter the distance to adressee. An object closest to adressee may then even default to rek. When used abstractly, to refer to sentences and topics, demonstratives basicly tell, whose idea, whose topic, whose utterance the speaker is referring to. Demonstratives can, though, also communicate speaker's attitude towards the referent.

Proximal Medial Distal
Animate Inanimate Animate Inanimate Animate Inanimate
singular plural singular plural singular plural
Nominative jinak jinaki jini hazak hazaki hazi rekak rekaki reki
Accusative jinakes jinakis jin hazakes hazakis haz rekakes rekakis rek
Genitive jinaki jinaki jini hazaki hazaki hazi rekaki rekaki reki
Allative jinakaan jinakea jinaan hazakaan hazakea hazaan rekakaan rekakea rekaan
Ablative jinakoon jinakoa jinoon hazakoon hazakoa hazoon rekakoon rekakoa rekoon

Relative Pronoun and Interrogative Pronoun

Relative clauses start with relative pronoun fin. This is basically the same word that is also used as an interrogative pronoun, to start questions of the type "who" or "what". As relative pronoun it has slightly peculiar declination pattern.

Animate Inanimate
singular plural
Nominative fin fini fini
Accusative fines finis fin
Genitive fini fini fini
Allative finnaan (rel.)
finaan (int.)
finea finaan
Ablative finnoon (rel.)
finoon (int.)
finoa finoon

Relevant Information elsewhere

Person Pronouns - Dothraki Blog
Demonstratives - Dothraki Blog
Relative Clauses - Dothraki Blog