1. The personal pronouns in Tigre have  feminine (f) and  
       masculine (m) forms for the second person (you), and both singular(s) 
       and plural(p), and the third person singular/plural (she/he/they).  

            Person                 Singular           Plural    
          ---------------------------------------------------
         1st common    I/we         ana               Hna

         2nd feminine  you          enti              entn
         2nd masculine you          enta              entum

         3rd feminine  she/they     hta               hten
         3rd masculine he/they      htu               htom   
         -----------------------------------------------------
 
Note: for we nHna is also used and is equally correct.

    2. 	The second person plural personal pronoun, entum, may be used
       	as a polite form of address for the second person singular, and the 
       	third person plural personal pronoun,htom,may be used as a polite 
      	form of reference. 

Example 1.1:
           entum  abuyie      afo   iteArfo ?   
           you    my father   why  not rest?

           and you my father, why don't you rest?

         ____________________________________________________________
          ab dkan           male      gesew
         father of Dikan   yesterday  (they) went
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         wa   htom  ako    gesew   enta meS'aka
         and  they  after  went     you  came 

-------------------------------------------------------------

        ab Dika, went yesterday, and you came after he(they: polite for he)
        went.


______________________________________________________________

     3. Expression of Quality or Identity: 
        This is to refer to auxiliary verbs like am, is, are, were, 
        etc. Identity is expressed for 

        3.1. 1st. person singular and plural by the addition of the 
        pronoun at the end of the sentence. 

Example 1.2:
        ana ...... ana      I am ......
        Hna ...... Hna      We are ......
        
Example 1.3:   ana mders ana   I am a teacher

        3.2 Similarly for the 2nd. person singular. 

Example 1.4:
        enta...... enta        You (m) are ........
        enti ......enti        You (f) are ........
       
Example 1.5:     enta mders enta    you are a teacher

        3.3 For the 3rd. person both singular and plural, identity is 
            expressed by adding a suffix te conjugated to agree with the 
            gender. See below

        htu ......  tu         he is ......
        hta ....... ta         she is ......
        htom....... tom        they(m) are.....
        hten....... ten        they (f) are.....
 *****************************************************************
          We have learned the following new words

          afo    		why
          abuyie  		my father
          Arf     		take rest, you(m)
          Arfi    		take rest, you(m)
          Arfo    		take rest, you(plural)
          male    		yesterday
          gesew   		they went
          gesa/geset	 	he/she went
          meS'aka 		you came
          we     		and
          ako    		after
          mders/mderset  	teacher/m/f (arabic)
*****************************************************************
                        End of Lesson 1

This material is for dehai use only; 
thus, it can not be distributed in any form.

© Omar M. Kekia. All Rights Reserved.

Write Your Comments to Omar M. Kekia