Tatari Faran Grammar


Pronouns

First Person Pronouns

The 1st person singular pronoun is huu [hu:].

There are two 1st person plural pronouns: mana and faan. The former is exclusive: it only includes the speaker and those he is with; it does not include the person(s) being addressed. The latter is inclusive: it includes both the speaker and the person(s) being addressed. In fact, faan is commonly used in the sense of “everybody”, for example:

tapa ina san faan sa huara nei.

tapa
walk
ina
please
san
person
faan
1PL.INCL
sa
CVY.M
huara
lake
nei.
RCP.F

Everyone, let's go to the lake.

Second Person Pronouns

The 2nd person singular pronoun is tse [tsÉ›]. The 2nd person plural pronoun is huna ['huna].

The 2nd person pronouns in Tatari Faran have many more uses than mere pronouns. They can also be placed in adjectival position, with the following uses:

  1. As a vocative marker, as already described in the section on Nouns.

  2. As an interjection or greeting:

    san tse!

    san
    person
    tse!
    VOC

    Hello, man!

    san muras tse!

    san
    person
    muras
    grey
    tse!
    VOC

    Hello, lava artist!

    Note that the pronoun should follow any adjectives, but precede the case clitic.

  3. As a (formal) form of address:

    tsana ina san tse ka bata' na aniin.

    tsana
    speak
    ina
    please
    san
    person
    tse
    VOC
    ka
    ORG.M
    bata'
    chief
    na
    RCP.M
    aniin.
    FIN

    Sir, please speak to the chief.

In Tatari Faran, the above expressions are polite forms, unlike their literal English equivalents.

Third Person Pronouns

The 3rd person pronouns are divided into two categories: the animate pronouns are used only for people and animals related to people (such as pets); while the inanimate pronouns are used only for objects and sometimes animals unrelated to people (especially feral animals).

The 3rd person singular animate pronoun is tara'. The 3rd person plural animate pronoun is diin. These two pronouns are used only of people and animals (usually animals related to people, such as pets).

The 3rd person singular/plural inanimate pronoun is fei. This pronoun is used both in the singular and plural sense. The plural form hefei is only used when the referent is emphatically plural. Both are only used for inanimate objects, although sometimes also used for animals (especially feral animals).

The 3rd person pronouns are also used as demonstratives, and as such, may occur in adjectival position as well. Examples:

san tara' - that person

san diin - those people

diru diin - those girls

bata' tara' - that chief

tsaritas fei - that monkey (Or, those monkeys)

Pronoun usage

Tatari Faran likes to suffix pronouns to their referents. For example, in speaking to a young man, one would continually refer to him as kiran tse, and only use tse in isolation where it would be preferable to shorten the sentence.


Last updated 24 Mar 2023.

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