Tagalog:Pronouns

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Unlike many languages, but similar to many of the Austronesian languages, Tagalog has many pronouns.

Contents

Personal Pronouns

Here's an overview of the various Personal Pronouns

  Absolutive (ang) Ergative (ng) Oblique (sa)
1st person singular ako ko akin
1st person dual kita/kata nita/nata kanita/kanata
1st person plural inclusive tayo natin atin
1st person plural exclusive kami namin amin
2nd person singular ikaw (ka) mo iyo
2nd person plural kayo ninyo inyo
3rd person singular siya niya kaniya
3rd person plural sila nila kanila

As a general rule of thumb, the proper way of saying the second person singular of any pronoun is by using some particle (depending on what kind of pronoun it is), and the second person plural. For example, the formal way to say Kumusta ka? is Kumusta po kayo?, kayo being the second person personal (absolutive) pronoun. Also, first person dual pronouns are not used anymore in Modern Tagalog. The word kita is used when the first person singular does an action on the second person singular. In other words, kita = ko ka (ikaw).

For simplicity's sake, here's a better way of classifying the pronouns:

Absolutive Pronouns

Absolutive pronouns, also known as the subject pronouns, are the pronouns for the subject of a sentence. In english, this is I, you, he, she, it, we, you all, and they. Here are the ones in Tagalog:

Absolutive Pronouns
  Singular Plural
1st person ako tayo, kami
2nd person ikaw, ka kayo
3rd person siya sila

Grammar Notes: There is also the pronoun kita, which used to be a dual pronoun, but now is used to replace the phrase ko ikaw. The pronouns tayo and kami are the inclusive and exclusive 1st person plural pronouns, respectively. The difference between ikaw and ka is that the first is generally used at the beginning of a sentence while the latter is used in the middle or end.

Possessive Pronouns

There are two types of possessive pronouns, the ones that go before the modified noun (oblique) and the ones that go after it (ergative).

Ergative Pronouns
  Singular Plural
1st person ko natin, namin
2nd person mo ninyo
3rd person niya nila

Grammar Notes: The pronouns natin and namin are the inclusive and exclusive 1st person plural pronouns, respectively.

Oblique Pronouns
  Singular Plural
1st person akin atin, amin
2nd person iyo inyo
3rd person kanya kanila

Grammar Notes: The pronouns atin and amin are the inclusive and exclusive 1st person plural pronouns, respectively.

Accusative Pronouns

Similar to the Object Pronouns in Spanish (both direct and indirect), the Accusative Pronouns are the ones that connote that an action is done to someone/something. The basic construction of the accusative pronouns are:

sa + oblique pronoun

Accusative Pronouns
  Singular Plural
1st person sa akin sa atin, sa amin
2nd person sa iyo sa inyo
3rd person sa kanya sa kanila

Demonstrative Pronouns

In addition to the personal pronouns, there are also ones that are not-so-personal. In English, we say this, these, that, and those. In Tagalog, it is similar. The chart below is organized in a strange fashion, so to keep it easy to understand:

These are written in the absolutive case:
This = Close to the speaker
That = Close to the listener
That over there = Far from both

Demonstrative Pronouns
Proximity Target Absolutive Ergative Oblique Locative Comparative Existential
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
Close Speaker ito ang mga ito nito ng mga ito dito sa mga ito nandito ganito heto
Listener iyan ang mga iyan niyan ng mga iyan diyan sa mga iyan nandiyan ganyan ayan
Far Both iyon ang mga iyon niyon ng mga iyon doon sa mga iyon nandoon ganoon ayon

Grammar Notes: In order to effectively pluralize a demonstrative statement, you must repeat the first syllable of the root plus add ang/ng/sa + mga before the singular demonstrative pronoun. It's possible to repeat the ma- prefix instead of the first syllable of the root, yet that is not proper Tagalog.

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Introduction · Sounds and Writing · Numbers · Pronouns · Verbs · Lexicon
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