Pronouns: a recap

We've studied different types of pronouns, it's easy to get confused. Here I want to clarify the different types of pronouns there are in Somali.

Subject pronouns

These are the pronouns that perform the actions of the verb. In English 'he' 'she' 'I', etc.


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Subject Pronouns
Anigu	I
Adigu	You
Isagu	He
Iyadu	She
Innagu	We
Annagu	We
Idinku	You(pl)
Iyagu	They

Possesive Pronouns

Then there are Possesive pronouns, like 'my' 'your 'his' etc.

 
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PossesivePronouns
Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
kayga	tayda	my
kaaga	taada	your
kiisa	tiisa	his
keeda	teeda	her
keenna	teenna	our(excl)
kayaga	tayada	our(incl)
kiinna	tiinna	your(pl.)
kooda	tooda	their

You put these at the end of the noun. For example 'buug' means 'book'. It is masculine therefore you use the masculine possesive pronoun. But, 'buug' ends in 'g' so you have to change from 'kayga' to 'gayga', or from 'kaaga' to 'gaaga'. Therefore, 'buugayga' (my book), 'buugaaga' (your book). We talked about this when we did the definite articles. If the noun is feminine like 'shimbir' (bird), then you use the feminine possesive pronouns. 'shimbirtayda' (my bird), 'shimbirtaada' (your bird) etc.

Object pronouns 

These are the pronouns who are the object of the sentence. For example, in English 'Mike praised him' . In this sentence 'him' is the object pronoun.


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Object Pronouns
i	me
ku	you
-	him
-	her
na	us(excl)
ina	us(incl)
idin	you(pl)
-	them

Object pronouns come before the verb. 'I maqal' (Listen to me). There are no object pronouns for 'him, 'her' or 'them. So a phrase like 'Waan jeclahay' can mean 'I like him/her/them/it'.