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Tok Pisin |
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| Creole | English Creole |  Papua New Guinea |
Latin | |
The pronoun system of Tok Pisin makes some distinctions that are not made in English. For example, while standard English has only one pronoun, "you" for referring to either singular or plural, Tok Pisin has four different pronouns: yu (singular - 'you'), yutupela (dual -'you two'), yutripela (trial - 'you three') and yupela (plural - 'you all'). So Tok Pisin pronouns make a four-way distinction in number -- singular, dual, trial and plural -- while English pronouns sometimes make no distinction, as with "you", or at the most only a two way singular-plural distinction, as with "I" versus "we".
Personal Pronouns
| Singular | Dual | Triple | Plural | ||||||||
| 1st excl. | mi | I, me | mitupela | he/she and I | mitripela | both of them and I | mipela | all of them and I | |||
| 1st incl. | -- | -- | yumitupela | you (familiar) and I | yumitripela | both of you and I | yumipela | all of you and I | |||
| 2nd | yu | you (familiar) | yutupela | you two | yutripela | you three | yupela | you (four or more) | |||
| 3rd | em | he,she, it | tupela | they two | tripela | they three | ol | they (four or more) | |||
- To make a pronoun plural, you add "-pela". -pela is also used in adjectives. *em and ol are not part of this rule*
- Tok Pisin extends the distinction between you (singular) and you (plural). You would use yutu, when addressing two people, or yutri, when there are three people. Four or more people would be yupela.
- Tok Pisin makes a distinction between inclusive and exclusive.
Examples:
- Mi stap wanpela pikinini - I am a kid
Yu stap wanpela pikinini - You are a kid
Em i stap wanpela pikinini man - He is a kid
Em i stap wanpela pikinini meri - She is a kid
Em i stap wanpela dok - It is a dog
Ol i stap pikinini - They are kids
- Note the present progressive form "stap". It's the equivalent of the English "to be" with the "-ing" ending. It's used in this case like "to be", and is normally used with a verb.
- The word "wanpela" means "one", and when needed, acts as the indefinite article "a/an".
- The word "i" that appears before the verb is called a predicate marker, and it must occur in a sentence when the subject is em, ol, or a noun.
- Lastly, note that nouns do not change form when used as plurals. The plural is inferred mainly from the context.
Possessive Pronouns
In Tok Pisin, you show possession by putting the word "bilong" after the object that someone or something possesses. The pronoun following "bilong" shows the whom the possession is related.
Examples:
- Mama graun bilong mi - My home land
Galpren bilong yu - Your girlfriend
Kaikai bilong yumipela - Our food (yours and mine)
Tree bilong mitupela - Mine and their Tree
Papa bilong tripela - Their father (the father of those three)
 Tok Pisin pages
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| Introduction · Lexicon · Numbers · Pronouns · Sounds and Writing · Vocab · Verbs |
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