Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that refers either to the participants in the discourse at hand (eg. I, you) or to someone or something mentioned in that discourse (eg., he, they, those). In Romániço, there are six different types of pronoun: personal, reflexive, possessive, demonstrative, relative, and indefinite.

Personal Pronouns

Strictly speaking, there are only six personal pronouns in Romániço:

`mi`		`I/me`		`nos`		`we/us`
`vi`		`you`		`vos`		`you all`
`li/lo`		`he/she/it`		`los`		`they/them`

In English, one makes no distinction between the singular and plural forms of you, except in the somewhat dialectical expression you all (or y’all); in Romániço, one says vi only when addressing a single person, vos when addressing a group. Those wishing to express a higher degree of familiarity or antiquarian flavor when addressing a single person (eg., to family and very close friends) can use the secondary pronoun ti (“thou/thee”).

Li and lo refer to people and things, respectively:

Escue la postalisto ja consignen la paco? Sic, li ja consignen lo an hodie matine.

Did the mailcarrier deliver the package? Yes, they delivered it this morning.

Other languages divide the third person according to gender. This division is not necessary in Romániço, but may be translated by the secondary pronouns ili (he) and eli (she):

Escue la postalisto ja consignen la paco? Sic, ili ja consignen lo an hodie matine.

Did the mailcarrier deliver the package? Yes, he delivered it this morning.

Ili dicen che eli dicen...

He said she said...

Whether one uses li, lo, ili, or eli, though, the plural in all cases is los.

All these pronouns refer to specific entities, but there are also two pronouns in Romániço for referring to different types of non-specific entities. The first of these is homi, used to refer to an unspecified person or people in general:

Cui ja dicen ecuilo ad vi? ‘Homi’. ‘Homi’ multe parlen, no? Certe sic ... certe sic.

Who told you that? ‘They’. ‘They’ talk a lot, don’t they? They certainly do ... they certainly do.

Homi ne custume aplausen la tenoro pro clarifer sua voço.

One does not applaud the tenor for clearing his throat.

Homi poten gluter pint de sánguino ante malatecer.

You can swallow a pint of blood before you get sick.

The second is id, used to refer to an unspecified thing or circumstance, like the weather: id pluven “it’s raining”; id semblen ad mi che… “it seems to me that…”

Reflexive Pronouns

A pronoun that refers back to the subject of a clause (eg., English myself, themselves) is called a reflexive pronoun. In Romániço, this is identical to the personal pronouns — except for those in the “third person” (he, she, they, etc.), all of which use si:

Mi ja vúlneren mi hodie. I hurt myself today. Vi ja vúlneren vi hodie. You hurt yourself today. Nos ja vúlneren nos hodie. We hurt ourselves today. Eli ja vúlneren si hodie. She hurt herself today. Los ja vúlneren si hodie. They hurt themselves today.

If one were to use a pronoun other than si in the last two examples, it would mean that the subjects hurt someone else, not themselves:

Eli ja vúlneren eli hodie. She hurt her today. Los ja vúlneren los hodie. They hurt them today.

Bear in mind that si refers only to the subject of the clause that it’s in, which may or may not be the main clause of the sentence.

Eli ja viden che ili ja vúlneren ili. She saw that he hurt him. Eli ja viden che ili ja vúlneren si. She saw that he hurt himself. Eli ja viden ili vulnerer si.* She saw him hurt himself. Eli ja viden ili vulneranta je si.* She saw him hurting himself.

* An infinitive verb or a participle with a complement counts as a separate clause.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns show what belongs to whom, and in Romániço are as follows:

`mea`		`my/mine`		`nostra`		`our/ours`
`vua`		`your/yours`		`vostra`		`your/yours`
`lea/lua`		`his/her/hers/its`		`lora`		`their/theirs`

The reflexive is sua, and one can use ilea and elea for a more gender-specific “his” and “hers”.

Mea Deo! Lo es plena de stelos! My God! It’s full of stars! Cuo es tua mandationo, mea maestro? What is thy bidding, my master? Vua mulieros, mi volitionen comprer vua mulieros. Venden ad mi vua filiisos! Your women, I want to buy your women. Sell me your daughters! Nuli vai moven si aut mi va rásichen elea tota maschilajo! Nobody move or I scrape off all her makeup! Ili ja mangen ilea fígato cun fabos et agradábila Chianti. He ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. Ili ja mangen sua fígato cun fabos et agradábila Chianti. He ate his (own) liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. Revolutiono es sempre lejasca en la unésima persono, cuale “nostra revolutiono”. Id es mere en la triésima persono — lora revolutiono — che lo es nelejasca. Revolution is always legal in the first person, such as “our revolution”. It is only in the third person — “their revolution” — that it is illegal. Ecuila vos sufiçante fortunosa haber incore vostra vivos, prenden los cun vos! Mas lacen la membros cua vos ja perden; los jam apertinen ad mi. Those of you lucky enough to still have your lives, take them with you! But leave the limbs you have lost; they belong to me now.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Romániço has two demonstrative pronouns, which are used to indicate a person or thing being referred to in terms of their proximity:

ecuista parva porcucio this little piggy ecuila parva porcucio that little piggy

Both words can be used without change as pronouns for the nouns they refer to:

Ecce la du parva porcucios! Ecuista ja vaden ad mercato. Ecuila ja resten focare. There’s the two little piggies! This one went to market. That one stayed home.

When changed into actual nouns (by adding -o to their roots), they mean not only “this/that thing” but “this/that business or fact”.

Ecuista ja vaden ad mercato, et ecuisto placen ad mi, mas ecuila ja resten focare, et ecuilo iracifen mi. This one went to market, and this pleases me, but that one stayed home, and that makes me angry.

Relative & Interrogative Pronouns

Relative pronouns refer to an expressed or implied person or thing in another clause; they correspond with English who, what, and which:

Incontren la hómino cua ja incontren Andy Griffith! Meet the man who met Andy Griffith! Incontren la sóriço cua ja incontren Andy Griffith! Meet the mouse that/which met Andy Griffith! Mi ja ne auden cuo la hómino cua ja incontren Andy Griffith ja dicen. I couldn’t hear what the man who met Andy Griffith said. Mi ja ne auden, cuel ja perturben mi. I couldn’t hear, which upset me.

Like in English, Romániço relative pronouns are also used as interrogative pronouns, that is, pronouns used in questions:

Cui ja incontren Andy Griffith? Who (what/which man) met Andy Griffith? Cui es la hómino cua ja incontren Andy Griffith? Who is the man who met Andy Griffith? Cuo la hómino cua ja incontren Andy Griffith ja dicen? What did the man who met Andy Griffith say?

Interrogative pronouns generally come first in a sentence, but beyond this the word order of Romániço sentences does not alter when made into questions, as it often does in English sentences:

Cui Andy Griffith ja insulten? Whom did Andy Griffith insult? Cui ja insulten Andy Griffith? Who insulted Andy Griffith?

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are those that do not refer to any definite person, thing, or amount in particular. Like all Romániço words, they can be changed to other parts of speech by changing their endings:

álica some álichi someone álico something áliche somehow nula no nuli no one nulo nothing nule nohow omna every omni every one, each one omno everything omne in every way

And so on.