PRONOUNS
There are four classes: personal, demonstrative, possessive, and relative.
PERSONAL.
They are the following:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | ||
| Acó | (I) | Quitá, camí | (we)[58] |
| Icáo, ca,[59] | (thou, you) | Camó | (you) |
| Hiyá, or siyá[60] | (he or she) | Hirá, or sirá | (they) |
Declension
The cases are four; nominative, genitive, objective, and vocative.
First person.—Singular.
| Nominative.— | Acó | (I) |
| Genitive.— | Nácon,[61] ácon, co | (of, by me) |
| Objective.— | Ha ácon, dácon[62] | (to, for, in, at, on, upon, over, under, etc. me) |
Plural.
| Nominative,— | Camí—quitá.[63] | (we)[[48]] |
| Genitive.— | Nímon, ámon—aaton, aton, ta | (of, by us) |
| Objective.— | Ha ámon, dámon—ha áton, dáton | (to, for, etc. us) |
Second person.—Singular.
| Nominative.— | Icáo, ca | (thou, you) |
| Genitive.— | Nimo, imo, mo | (of, by thee, or you) |
| Objective.— | Ha imo, dimo | (to, for, etc. thee, or you) |
| Vocative.— | Icao | (thou, or you) |
Plural.
| Nominative.— | Camó | (you) |
| Genitive.— | Niyo, iyo | (of, by you) |
| Objective.— | Ha iyo, díyo | (to, for, etc. you) |
| Vocative.— | Camó | (you) |
Third person—Singular.
| Nominative.— | Hiyá | (he, or she) |
| Genitive.— | Niya, iya | (of, by him, or her) |
| Objective.— | Ha iya, díya | (to, for, etc. him or her) |
| Vocative— | Hiyá | (He, or she). |
Plural.
| Nominative— | Hirá | (They) |
| Genitive— | Nira, ira | (of, by them) |
| Objective— | Ha ira, dira | (to, for etc., them) |
| Vocative— | Hirá | (they). |
DEMONSTRATIVE.
They have the same forms both for the singular and plural, as follows:
| adí | (this, these, nearer to the speaker than to the listener) |
| ini | (this, these) |
| itó | (that, those, nearer to the speaker than to the listener, corresponding to the Spanish “ese, esa, eso, esos, esas”)[[49]] |
| adto | (that, those, far from both the speaker and the listener, and corresponding to the Spanish “aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas”). |
When used before the nouns, they have the particle nga after them; said particle being frequently contracted with the pronun. As
| adí ng̃a, | contracted adín, |
| iní ng̃a, | contracted inín, |
| itó ng̃a, | contracted itón, |
| ádto ng̃a, | contracted ádton. |
The form itón sometimes takes again the particle ng̃a. So it is said itón ng̃a batâ (that boy or girl).
Adí, adto in some places have their variants yadi, yadto.
In plural, the particle mga is placed after the preceding combinations;
They have two cases: subjective and objective.
Declension.
Adí.—Singular
| Subjective— | Adí, adí ng̃a, adín | (this) |
| Objective— | Hadí, hadí ng̃a, hadín, or hadin mg̃a | (of, etc. this) |
Plural.
| Subjective— | Adí, adi ng̃a mg̃a, adín mg̃a | (these) |
| Objective— | Hadí, hadi ng̃a mg̃a, hadín, or hadin mg̃a | (of, etc., these). |
Iní.—Singular
| Subjective— | Iní, iní ng̃a, inín | (this) |
| Objective— | Hiní, hiní ng̃a, hinín | (of, etc., this) |
Plural.
| Subjective— | Iní, ini ng̃a mg̃a, inín mg̃a | (these) |
| Objective,— | Hiní, hini ng̃a mg̃a, hinin mg̃a | (of, etc., these). |
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Itó.—Singular.
| Subjective.— | Itó, itó ng̃a, itón, itón ng̃a | (that) |
| Objective— | Hitó, hitó ng̃a, hitón, hitón, ng̃a | (of, etc. that) |
Plural.
| Subjective.— | Itó, itó ng̃a mg̃a, itón mg̃a, itón ng̃a mg̃a | (those) |
| Objective.— | Hitó, hitó ng̃a mg̃a, hitón mg̃a, hitón ng̃a mg̃a | (of, etc., those) |
Adto.—Singular.
| Subjective.— | Adto, adto ng̃a, adton | (that) |
| Objective.— | Hadto, hadto ng̃a, hadton | (of, etc., that) |
Plural.
| Subjective.— | Adto, adto ng̃a mg̃a, adton mg̃a | (those) |
| Objective.— | Hadto, hadto ng̃a mg̃a, hadton mg̃a | (of, etc., those) |
The forms adton and hadton are frequently used instead of itón, hitón when the object referred to is very close to the listener. Itón is sometimes replaced by the forms hadto and haton. Examples:
| mopáy adtón hiní | (that one is better than this) |
| condî darodacô iní hadton | (but this is larger than that) |
| say co hatón | (I prefer that one). |
POSSESSIVE.
They are the following:
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | ||
| acon, co | (my, mine) | aton, ta, amon | (our, ours) |
| imo, mo | (thy, thine, your, yours) | iyo | (your, yours) |
| iya | (his or her) | ira | (their) |
The forms co, mo, ta are used only after the nouns. [[51]]
The same distinction exists between aton and amon, as between quitá and camí.[64]
They have also two cases: subjective, and objective.
Declension.
Acon.—Singular.
| Subjective.— | Acon, co | (my, mine) |
| Objective.— | Ha acon, han acon | (of, etc., my) |
Plural.
| Subjective.— | Aton, ta, amon | (our, ours) |
| Objective.— | Ha aton, han aton, ha amon, han amon | (of, etc., our) |
Imo.—Singular.
| Subjective.— | Imo, mo | (thy, thine, your, yours) |
| Objective.— | Ha imo, han imo | (of, etc., your, thy) |
Plural.
| Subjective.— | Iyo | (your, yours) |
| Objective.— | Ha iyo, han iyo | (of, etc., your) |
Iya—Singular.
| Subjective— | Iya | (his, her, hers) |
| Objective.— | Ha iya, han iya | (of, etc., his, her) |
Plural.
| Subjective.— | Ira | (their) |
| Objective.— | Ha ira, han ira | (of, etc., their) |
These plurals refer to the subjects possessing. The plural referring to the objects possessed, is formed in each case by using the particle mg̃a, as
| Acon mg̃a cabogtóan | (my brothers or sisters) |
| Iyo mg̃a láuas | (your bodies) |
| Ira mg̃a cabalayán | (their houses) |
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RELATIVE
They are as follows:
| Ng̃a | (that, which) |
| anó | (what) |
| bisan anó | (whatever) |
| hín’o or sin’o[65] | (who) |
| bisan hin’o or bisan sin’o | (whoever) |
| háin | (which) |
| bisan háin | (whichever) |
These pronouns, except hin’o and bisan hin’o have no inflection for cases.
Ng̃a.
This relative always refers to the subject of the verb. It never relates to the complement. So the sentence:
“the house that Peter builds is big”,
cannot be translated literally into Bisayan. It is expressed by passive voice. Thus:
“an baláy ng̃a guintitindog ni Pedro, dacô”;
literally “the house that is being built by Peter is big”, And this:
“the book which you gave me yesterday”
is translated:
“an basahón ng̃a ihinátag mo ha acon cacolóp”;
literally “the book which was given by you to me yesterday”
This pronoun is indispensable when a substantive is qualified by an adjective, as
| maópay ng̃a táuo | (good man,) | not | maúpay táuo, |
| bucad ng̃a mahamót | (fragrant flower) | not | bucád mahamot[66] |
It differs from the conjunction ng̃a (that) in that the [[53]]pronoun always refers to a noun, never to a verb.
NOTE.—This particle ng̃a expresses in some instances the idea of “saying,” “question,” “answer,” etc., as when we say:
Ng̃a ni Pedro: “tágui acó hin salapí.” Dáyon batón ni Juan, ng̃a niya: “uaray co salapí.”
Peter said: “give me money.” John immediately replied by saying: “I have no money.”
Pacanhía hi Guillermo. Ng̃a natón[67] “guinquiquína hang̃lan ca didto.”
Make Guillermo come. Tell him: “you are needed there.”
When applied to the third person it is frequently combined with the particle laóng̃ as:
Násiring̃ hi Pedro, ng̃alaóng̃: “magtotoón aco.”
Peter said: “I shall study”.
This special idea conveyed by the word ng̃a seems to show in other instances in the Bisayan tongue, as when it is said depreciatively:
¡Ca damò hin im ng̃ang̃a!
How many things you ask or talk!
where the doubled ng̃a means request or talking.
Anó.
This pronoun has the same use as the English what, except when the latter is used as an objective relative, in which case the said English pronoun is translated by the article an. As when it is said:
“What you need is patience, not science,” which is translated:
An guinquiquinahang̃lan mo an pag-ílob, dirì hibaró. [[54]]
Bisan anó.
Bisan ano means “anything” or “whatever.” Examples:
Whatever you do I’ll know it.
Bisan ano in buháton mo, hisasabotán co.
Give me anything eatable.
Tágui aco hin bisan anó ng̃a hacaraón.
It is frequently replaced by ano lâ, or anoano lâ. Ex.:
Anything you may desire, I’ll give you.
Ano lâ ng̃a caruyágon mo, ihahatag co ha imo.
You wish to see everything.
Anoano lâ buót mo hiquit’an.
When it is preceded by an article, it means “which,” as
Which horse do you like?
¿An anó ng̃a cabayo in buót mo?
Hin’o
This relative is only used in the interrogative phrases. It is not employed as the English “who” when this relative serves as “that”. So this phrase
“that person who talks is my brother” is translated: “itón tauo ng̃a nagyayácan, acon bugto,” not “itón tauo hin’o nagyayácan, etc.”
It has two cases: subjective and objective.
Declension
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | |||
| Subjective— | Hin’o | (who) | Hirá hin’o | (who) |
| Objective— | Canáy, can canáy | (of, etc. whom whose) | Canda canáy | (of, etc., whom, whose) |
Bisan hin’o
Bisan hin’o means “whoever” or “anyone”. Example: [[55]]
Whoever is there, let him come.
Bisan hin’o in adâ, pacanhía.
Anyone knows him.
Bisan hin’o náquilála ha iya.
It also has two cases: subjective and objective.
Declension.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | |||
| Subjective.— | Bisan hin’o | (whoever) | Bisan hirá hin’o | (whoever) |
| Objective.— | Bisan canáy | (of, etc., whomever) | Bisan canda canáy | (of etc., whoever) |
Hain.
Hain means “which.” Examples:
Which of these hats is yours?
¿Háin hiní ng̃a mg̃a calò in imo?
Similarly to “ano,” the pronoun “háin” is only used in the interrogative forms, never as ng̃a (that). So the phrase
“the book which you saw”
is translated
“an basahón ng̃a imo quinità”
(literally: the book that was seen by you), and not
“an basahon háin icao quinmità.”
Bisan háin.
It is equivalent to the English “whichever,” Examples:
Whichever of those books satisfies me.
Didâ hitó ng̃a mga basahón bisan háin maopay co.
NOTE.—These relatives hain and bisan háin must not be confounded with the adverbs of the same form, háin (where) and bisan háin (wherever). The former refer only to nouns, the latter to verbs. [[56]]
CONTRACTIONS.
The pronouns are frequently contracted as follows:
| acó, ácon, | to | ac |
| nácon | to,, | nac |
| dácon | to,, | dac |
| camí | to,, | cam |
| quitá | to,, | quit |
| námon | to,, | nam |
| ámon | to,, | am |
| náton | to,, | nat |
| áton | to,, | at |
| dámon | to,, | dam |
| dáton | to,, | dat |
| icáo | to,, | ic |
| nímo | to,, | nim |
| imo | to,, | im |
| dimo | to,, | dim |
| camó | to,, | cam |
| adi | to,, | ad |
| iní | to,, | in |
| itó | to,, | it |
| adín | to,, | ad |
| itón | to,, | it |
| hadí | to,, | had |
| hadín | to,, | had |
| hiní | to,, | hin |
| hinín | to,, | hin |
| hitó | to,, | hit |
| hitón | to,, | hit |
| hatón | to,, | hat |
| ácon | to,, | ac |
| áton | to,, | at |
| ámon | to,, | am |
| imo | to,, | ini |
| bisan anó | to,, | bis ano |
| bisan háin | to,, | bis hain |
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