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BeginnerLesson 4

Pronouns and Possession

I, you, he/she, we, they — and the three different shapes each one takes depending on its job in the sentence.

One pronoun, three shapes

Ilokano pronouns change form depending on what they're doing in the sentence: a full nominative form (used as subject, often at the start), a shorter enclitic form (attached right after the word before it), and a possessive/agent form (for "my/mine" or "by me"). This app's own dictionary spells all three out for every pronoun — here are the core ones.

  • siák / -ak

    I / me

    full nominative siák, enclitic -ak

  • siká / ka

    you (singular)

    full nominative siká, enclitic ka

  • isú / isu (or dropped)

    he, she, it

    the enclitic form is often just silently dropped

  • dakamí / kamí

    we (not you)

    excludes the person being spoken to

  • dakayó / kayó

    you (plural)

  • isuda / da

    they, them

'My/your/his' and 'by me/you/him'

The possessive form ("my book") and the agent form ("I did it") are usually the same short word, attached after the noun or verb.

  • ko

    my / by me

    possessive & agent form of siák

  • mo

    your (sg.) / by you (sg.)

    possessive & agent form of siká

  • na

    his/her / by him/her

    possessive & agent form of isú

  • da

    their / by them

    possessive & agent form of isuda

Showing possession

To show who owns something, the possessed noun comes first, then the possessor. If the possessor is a name, a possessive marker (ni for a person, ti for a common noun) goes between them; if it's a pronoun like na 'his/her', no marker is needed at all.

  • diáy baláy ni Pédro

    the house of Peter / Peter's house

  • diáy baláy ti bakét

    the house of the old woman

  • diáy baláy na

    his house

Practice these words →

Grammar: Ch. 3.2(e); Ch. 11.1(a), from Constantino's Ilokano Reference Grammar (1971, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).