Home — Hejmen Back — Reen Up — Supren Next — Sekven

Lesson Nine — Pronouns

Pronouns are used like nouns: as subjects of sentences, or as objects of verbs and prepositions. They take the same –n ending as nouns when they are the objects of verbs, and can be possessive as well, with the addition of the usual adjective ending, –a.

First-Person Singular

1a	Mi	havas	kvin	terpomojn.
1a	I	have	five	potatoes.

1b	La instruisto	malamas	min.
1b	The teacher	hates	me.

1c	La plumo	de	mia	onklino	estas	sur	la tablo.
1c	The pen	of	my	aunt	is	on	the table.

1d	La bildoj	de	miaj	amikoj	estas	en	la tirkesto.
1d	The pictures	of	my	friends	are	in	the drawer.

1e	Leoĉjo	perdis	mian	brakhorloĝon.
1e	Lenny	lost	my	watch.

1f	Mi	portas	miajn	globetojn	en	saketo.
1f	I	carry	my	marbles	in	a bag.

1g	Mi	povas	vidi	min	en	la spegulo.
1g	I	can	see	myself	in	the mirror.

1h	Multaj	katoj	estas	stultaj,	sed	la mia	estas	tre	inteligenta.
1h	Many	cats	are	stupid,	but	mine	is	very	smart.

In 1a, the bare pronoun, mi, is the subject of the sentence. In 1b, it has the –n ending, because it is the object of the verb.

In 1c, 1d, 1e, and 1f, it has the appropriate adjective endings for modifying the following nouns: mimicing the –j when the noun is plural, and the –n when the noun is a direct object, just like any adjective.

In 1g, we see that there is no special reflexive first-person pronoun in Esperanto. We just say the equivalent of “I can see me.”

In 1h, we see that there are no special independent possessive pronouns in Esperanto. We just say the equivalent of “the my”, etc.

First-Person Plural

2a	Ni	vidis	la rabistojn	antaŭ ol	ili	vidis	nin.
2a	We	saw	the robbers	before	they	saw	us.

2b	Ni	farbis	nin	bluaj	antaŭ	la futbala	partio.
2b	We	painted	ourselves	blue	before	the soccer	match.

2c	Ni	gratulis	nin reciproke.
2c	We	congratulated	ourselves reciprically. (= each other)

2d	Viaj	infanoj	havas	pli multajn	amikojn	ol	la niaj.
2d	Your	children	have	more	friends	than	ours.

In 2a, we see the pronoun used both as a subject and as an object.

In 2b, the accusative is used as a reflexive pronoun, as in 1g above.

In 2c, we see another way of using a pronoun reflexively.

And in 2d, we see the possessive first-person plural used in an independent manner.

Second Person

Like English, Esperanto has one form of second-person pronoun, used as both singular and plural, familiar and polite, so vi means “you”, whether you’re talking to one person or more than one, and whether you’re talking to a family member or to the President.

3a	Vi	konas	vian	hundon,	kaj	ĝi	konas	vin.
3a	You	know	your	dog,	and	it	knows	you

3b	Vi	donas	al vi	multan	kredon.
3b	You	give	yourself	a lot of	credit.

3c	Vi	timigis	vin reciproke	je	antaŭvespero de ĉiuj sanktujoj.
3c	You	scared	each other	on	Halloween.

3d	Mia	paĉjo	povas	venki	la vian.
3d	My	dad	can	beat	yours.

3e	Vi	estas	freneza.
3e	You	are	crazy.

3f	Vi	estas	frenezaj.
3f	You	are	crazy.

Sentence 3a, shows the pronoun vi in its subject, possessive, and object forms.

In 3b, we see that the pronoun can be used reflexively as the object of a preposition, as well as the object of a verb.

Here, in 3c, we see the reciprocal use of the reflexive, as in 2c.

Here is the independent use of the second-person pronoun in 3d.

Note that the pronoun vi is singular in 3e, and plural in 3f; you can tell by the plural ending on the predicate adjective.

Second Person Singular Familiar

Actually, there is a specifically singular familiar second-person pronoun, but it is used only poetically — not even in Bibles. The Esperanto pronoun ci/cin/cia means the same as the obsolete English pronoun “thou/thee/thy”, and is about as useful. You should recognize, it, but you’ll never need to use it.

Third Person Singular

Like English, Esperanto has third-person pronouns in three genders: li, the masculine pronoun, is for persons; ŝi, the feminine pronoun, is for specifically female persons; and ĝi, the neuter pronoun, is for non-persons.

These three pronouns are used just like the first- and second-person pronouns, except for the reflexive uses.

4a	Li	rekonis	lin	tuj,	kaj	salutis	lian	amikinon.
4a	He	recognized	him	immediately,	and	greeted	his	girl-friend.

4b	Ŝi	redonis	al ŝi	ŝian	libron.
4b	She	¹gave ³back	²her	her	book.

4c	Ĝi	frapis	ĝin	sur	ĝian	kapon.
4c	It	hit	it	on	its	head.

4d	Via	patro	estas	pli riĉa	ol	la ŝia	aŭ	la lia.
4d	Your	father	is	richer	than	hers	or	his.

The second and third pronouns in each of the first three sentences probably — but not certainly — refer to the same person or object, but neither refers to the same person or object as the first pronoun, because these pronouns can never be used reflexively.

Sentence 4d shows two possessive pronouns being used independently.

Third Person Plural

The Esperanto third-person plural pronoun ili, like the English pronoun “they”, shows no gender difference for males, females, or things.

5a	Karĉjo	kaj	lia	frato	televidis,	kaj	ili	ĝuis	tion.
5a	Chuck	and	his	brother	watched television,	and	they	enjoyed	that.

5b	Raĥela	kaj	ŝia	patrino	butikumis,	sed	ili	aĉetis	nenion.
5b	Rachel	and	her	mother	went shopping,	but	they	bought	nothing.

5c	Mi	serĉis	miajn	ŝuojn,	kaj	trovis	ilin	en	la ŝranko.
5c	I	looked for	my	shoes,	and	found	them	in	the closet.

5d	Mi	elspezis	mian	monon	kaj	la ilian.
5d	I	spent	my	money	and	theirs.

As above, these sentences demonstrate the subject, possessive, and object forms of the pronoun, and the independent possessive.

Third Person Reflexive

Whereas the first- and second-person pronouns serve as their own reflexives, the reflexive in the third person is the pronoun si for all three genders in the singular, and for the plural.

6a	La soldato	salutis	sian	kapitanon.
6a	The soldier	saluted	his	captain.

6b	Ruta	salutis	sian	komputilon,	kaj	krozis	la Interreton.
6b	Ruth	logged onto	her	computer,	and	cruised	the Internet.

6c	La	aŭtoro	skribis	pri	si	en	la libro.
6c	The	author	wrote	about	himself	in	the book.

6d	La	parolontoj	salutis	sin reciproke,	antaŭ ol	ili	parolis.
6d	The	speakers	greeted	each other	before	they	spoke.

6e	La instruisto	diris,	ke	la studento	skribu
	The teacher	said	that	the student	should write
	sian	nomon	sur	la papero.
	his [own]	name	on	the paper.

In all four sentences above, the reflexive pronoun refers to the subject of its clause (in these cases, the subject of the sentence). In 6d, there is a plural subject, and the reflexive pronoun sin would mean “themselves”, if not for the word reciproke, which changes the meaning to “each other”.

In sentence 6e, the reflexive sian refers to the student, the subject of the subordinate clause, not back to the teacher, the subject of the main clause.

Third Person Indefinite

Esperanto has one more pronoun, oni, which does not refer to anyone in particular. In English, the indefinite pronoun is “one”, but one seldom uses it, except in very formal circumstances. Generally, you use “they” or “you” (in an indefinite sense) in English instead.

7a	Oni	devas	ĉiam	uzi	ĝustan	gramatikon.
	One	must	always	use	proper	grammar.	(formal)
	You	²have ³to	¹always	use	good	grammar.	(common)

7b	Oni	diras,	ke	granda	fulmotondro	venas.
	One	says	that	a great	thunderstorm	is coming.	(formal)
	They	say	--	a big	thunderstorm	is coming.	(common)

7c	Oni	ne povas	diri	tion	ĉi tie.
	One	cannot	say	that	here.	(formal)
	You	can’t	say	that	here.	(common)

7d	Se	onia	koro	ĉesus	pulsi,	oni mortus.
	If	one’s	heart	were to cease	beating,	one would die.	(formal)
	If	your	heart	stopped	beating,	you’d die.	(common)

Sentence 7a shows what would be the very formal usage of the indefinite pronoun in English, but Esperanto oni is used very commonly.

In 7b there is no “they” whom you can point to as the source of this information; this is certainly an indefinite usage.

And in 7c and 7d, it’s not just you for whom the sentence is true; it’s true for anyone, so this is indefinite as well.

Questions or suggestions? Please write, and I’ll get back to you.