Untitled Flashcards Set

Personal Possessives 


These are formed by a combination of the possessive and the self-standing personal pronoun, with certain exceptions. Thus, for class one they are as follows: 


Singular 

My =wange (from wa nze) 

Your (s)=wo (from wa o) 

His, hers=we (from wa ye) 

Our=waffe (from wa ffe) 

Your (p)=Wammwe (from wa mmwe) 

Their =waabwe (from wa bwe) 


Plural 

My =bange (from ba nze) 

Your (s)=bo (from ba o) 

His, hers=be (from ba ye) 

Our=baffe (from ba ffe) 


The personal possessive always follows directly after the noun taking precedence over all other words which qualify the noun. 

Thus 

Our guest 

My soldier 

Your good herdsmen 

Their good chief 


Your (p)=bammwe (from ba mmwe) 

Their =baabwe (from ba bwe)


Please note that adjectives can stand on their own without the noun, so also can possessives and personal possessives. This is simply done by adding an initial vowel to the possessive or personal possessive, making it as it were a noun that can stand on its own. 


eg. The man's ow'omuntu 

mine=owange 

The man's =ab'omuntu 

mine (p)=abange Owa, owange, owaffe, aba, abange, abaffe are all used as exclamations in conversation, or when hailing a person (s) As the second- and third-persons singular are only monosyllables the self-standing personal possessives of these two are made as follows: Before the possessive is put the prefix of the possessive (U), making uwo and uwe, and before this is put the initial vowel, o. In this case the o f the initial vowel and the U of the prefix coinciding, a W is actually pronounced in between and is also written. We get: 

Yours =owuwo 

his or hers=owuwe 


Similarly, the plural is Yours=ababo 

His or hers=ababe emphasis on the last syllable


Demonstratives There are three demonstratives for this class. 


Sing: 1. This=ono, 

2. That oli, 

3. that oyo 


Plural: 1. These bano,

2. Those bali. 

3 Those abo. Oyo=the person in question is nearby oli = the person in question is at a distance Oyo can also be used as a back reference during a conversation Demonstratives normally follow the noun giving precedence to personal possessive This person= omuntu ono Those people That soldier of mine Those good herdsmen of yours


 Translate into English

  1. Omulenzi w'omwani

  2. Abaserikale b'omwami

  3. Abaana b'omukazi

  4. Abaserikale b'abalabe

  5. Omugenyi wange

  6. Ababaka baffe

  7. Omulangira ono

  8. Abambejja bali


The Object infix There are two groups of adverbs which agree with the noun