Personal Pronouns
The personal pronouns are:
mi : I, me
bo : you
e : he, him, she, her, it
nos : we, us
boso : you (plural)
nan : they, them
These pronouns remain unchanged regardless of whether they are the subject or object of a verb (unlike their English counterparts). Some examples:
Mi ta tende bo.
I hear you.
Bo ta tende mi?
Do you hear me?
VARIANTS: Sometimes ami is used in place of mi and abo sometimes substitutes for bo. E becomes el when it appears before the past tense indicator a.
IMPORTANT: It is considered rude to use bo when speaking to strangers and people you barely know. Rather than bo you should use Señor or Meneer (equivalent to English "sir") or Señora (equivalent to "Ma'am"). Alternatively, use the other person's name.
The possessive pronouns are:
mi : my
bo : your
su : his, her, its
nos : our
boso : your (plural)
nan : their
The words listed above behave like adjectives. The phrases listed below behave like nouns.
di mi : mine
di bo : yours
di dje : his, hers
di nos : ours
di boso : yours (plural)
di nan : theirs
Many of these possessives are identical to the subject/object forms. The Papiamentu word mi might be translated into English as "I" or "me" or "my" depending on context. This can make Papiamentu sentences seem rather ambiguous until you get used to it.
mes
mes produces pronouns similar to English myself, yourself, themselves, etc.
mi mes : myself
bo mes : yourself
e mes : he himself or she herself (subject of a phrase)
su mes : himself or herself (object of a verb or preposition)
nos mes : ourselves
boso mes : yourselves
nan mes : themselves
Indefinite Pronouns
Until I get a chance to edit this into something more coherent, I present this list of Papiamentu equivalents for English indefinite pronouns and similar words.
another : un otro
anybody : kualke hende, ken ku ta
anything : kualke kos
each, either : kualke
everything : tur kos
everybody, everyone : tur hende, kada hende, tur un
nobody, no one : ni un, ningun hende
somebody : un hende
something : algo / algu
both : ambos, tur dos
all (of a single thing) : tur
all (of several) : tur di
some (of many) : algun di
none of : ningun di
Relative Pronouns
ku : which, that
ken su : whose
di ken : of whom
loke : that which
Esaki ta e kas ku mi a kumpra.
This is the house that I bought or This is the house which I purchased.
Mi gusta wak baseball ora un team ku mi gusta ta hunga.
I like to watch baseball when a team that I like is playing.
Esaki ta e homber ken su auto tabata hortá.
This is the man whose car was stolen.
E ta esun di ken mi a papia.
He is the one of whom I spoke.
Mi lo hasi loke ta bon.
I shall do that which is good.
References:
Blankenburg, Eleanor Basic Papiamentu Grammar for English Speakers 1986
Goilo, E.R. Papaimentu Textbook, ninth edition 1994
Ratzlaff, Betty English-Papiamentu Bilingual Dictionary, first edition 1992
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.