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Grammar — Pronouns

All personal pronouns end with the letter I, but that should not be considered an ending of any kind; it’s just part of each of those words, and grammatical endings are added after the I.

	Singular	Plural
1st person	mi I	ni we
2nd person	[ci] [thou]	vi you
3rd person	li, ŝi, ĝi, si, oni he, she, it, −self, one	ili they

The form ci is poetic only; in everyday use, use the plural vi as the singular.

The pronoun si is reflexive; it always refers to the subject of the clause that includes it (not necessarily the subject of the sentence as a whole):  La leŭtenanto ordonis, ke la soldato lavu sin (the lieutenant ordered the private to wash himself).  The pronoun sin refers back to soltato, the subject of the subordinate clause, not all the way back to leŭtenanto.

The pronoun oni corresponds to the seldom-used English pronoun “one”, but oni is a common pronoun in Esperanto.  It is generally translated colloquially as “you”.  Oni ja ne faras tion.  (You just don’t do that.)  Generally, if you say “you” in English, but really mean people in general, and not just the person you’re talking to, use oni in Esperanto to say the same thing.

Pronouns can have the accusative ending −n as well:

	Singular	Plural
1st person	min me	nin us
2nd person	[cin] [thee]	vin you
3rd person	lin, ŝin, ĝin, sin, onin him, her, it, −self, one	ilin them

Possesive Pronouns

Pronouns can have an adjective ending −a to form possessives, and these are treated as ordinary adjectives, taking the −j and −n endings when the noun they modify has them:

	Singular	Plural
1st person	mia my	nia our
2nd person	[cia] [thy]	via your
3rd person	lia, ŝia, ĝia, sia, onia his, her, its, −own, one’s	ilia their

Put the article la before each of these to form the equivalent of “mine, ours, yours”, etc.  Via libro estas pli peza ol la mia.  Your book is heavier than mine.

The interrogative and relative pronoun kiu/kiun/kies (who/whom/whose) is actually a correlative, and is discussed elsewhere.

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