The first step to making sentences in Tanganekald is to learn about pronouns. Singular pronouns refer to one person. Singular pronouns in English include ‘I, me, you, he, she, it’. In Tanganekald the singular pronouns change form depending on how they are used in a sentence, so you’ll need to learn the different forms and how to pick the right one for your sentence. Let’s learn four different forms of the singular pronouns in Tanganekald: nominative, ergative, accusative and possessive.
Nominative Pronouns
Nominative pronouns are used in sentences which have a subject (a person or thing which is doing the action of the sentence) and a verb (the action of the sentence), or a subject and an adjective (describing word).
| ngapa | I | |
| ngenta | you | |
| ya | he, she, it |
Sentence examples
| Ngapa ngopun. | I am going. | |
| Ngenta ngopun. | You are going. | |
| Ya ngopun. | He is going. |
ngopun means ‘going’. Note: There are no words for ‘am’ ‘is’ ‘are’ in Tanganekald.
Ergative pronouns
Ergative pronouns are used in sentences which have a subject (a person or thing doing the action), a verb (the action of the sentence) and an object (a person or thing that is receiving the action of the sentence). The Ergative is used as the subject of this type of sentence.
| ngati | I | |
| ngenta | you | |
| kili | he, she, it |
Note: You will notice that the ergative pronoun ‘you’ is the same as the nominative pronoun.
Sentence examples
| Ngati nandurri tamun. | I hit the man. | |
| Ngenta nandurri tamun. | You hit the man. | |
| Kili nandurri tamun. | He hit the man. |
Nandurri means ‘man’ and tamun means ‘hit’.
Accusative pronouns
Accusative pronouns are used in sentences which have a subject (a person or thing doing the action), a verb (the action of the sentence) and an object (a person or thing that is receiving the action of the sentence). The Accusative is used as the object of this type of sentence.
| ngan | I, me | |
| ngum | you | |
| kin | him, her, it |
Sentence examples
| Nandurri-il ngan tamur. | The man hit me. | |
| Nandurri-il ngum tamur. | The man hit you. | |
| Nandurri-il kin tamur | The man hit him. |
nandurri means ‘man’ and the ending -il shows that the man is doing the action in this sentence, tamur means ‘hit’.
Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns are used to show that something belongs to someone/something. 'My', 'your', 'his' are all examples of possessive pronouns in English.
| ananyi | my, mine | |
| ngomanyi | your, yours | |
| kinanyi | his, hers, its |
Sentence examples
| Ananyi panmauri. | My dog. | |
| Ngomanyi panmauri. | Your dog. | |
| Kinanyi panmauri. | Her dog. |
panmauri means ‘dog.’