Singular Plural 1st Person, ne biaw, iaw. 2nd Person, mi, mei phiaw. 3rd Person u, ju, u-ju kiw.
The Nominative of the pronoun of the second person singular is given once as ba-mi, and once as ma-mi. The ma or ba is the Standard emphatic prefix ma.
Demonstrative Pronouns appear to be be, tei that, and uni, or nih, this. Be is used as a definite article in the phrase be jawmai, the earthquake.
The Relative Pronoun is u-lah, who.
Interrogative Pronouns are net, u-iet, who? and met, what?
Verbs.—The pronoun which is the subject of a verb may either precede or follow it. Thus ne rip, I strike; rip biaw, we strike. The words meaning to be are re, im, and meit in addition to the Standard long. Like the Standard don, im, corresponding to Synteng em, also means to have. As in the Standard, the Present Tense is formed by using the bare root.
The Past Tense is formed in one of five ways, viz.:—
1. By suffixing let, as in ong-let, said. 2. By suffixing lah-let, as in dih-lah-let, went. 3. By prefixing lah, and suffixing let, as in lah-ong-let, said. 4. By prefixing lah, as in lah-kyllei, asked. 5. By prefixing yn (yng, ym), as in yn-nai, gave; yng-kheit, shook; um-pait, broke; yn-jai, fell.
The Future is formed in a very peculiar way. The Standard yn is inserted into the middle of the root, immediately after the first consenant. Thus rip, strike; rynip, will strike. If the root is a compound, it is inserted between the two members, as in pan-yn-sop, will fill. Here observe that the Standard causative prefix pyn becomes pan in Lynngam. The Infinitive the same form as the Future.
Dr. Grierson points out the following most noteworthy fact with reference to the formation of the Lynngam Future and Infinitive, i.e., that similar infixes occur in Malay in the Nancowry dialect of Nicobar, and the Malacca aboriginal languages.