Interlingua/Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns – singular
Person	Gender	Nom.	Pre.	Obl.	Refl.	Gen.	Adj.
First		io	me			mi	mie
Second		tu	te			tu	tue
Third	masc.	ille		le	se	su	sue
	fem.	illa		la
	neither.	illo		lo
Personal pronouns – plural
Person	Gender	Nom.	Pre.	Obl.	Refl.	Gen.	Adj.
First		nos				nostre
Second		vos				vostre
Third	masc.	illes		les	se	lor	lore
	fem.	illas		las
	neither.	illos		los

Personal pronouns inflect for number, case, and (in the third person) gender.

• The nominative case is the default form and typically serves as the subject of a verb.

"Qui es ibi?" "Io."   "Who's there?" "Me."

Tu arrestava le chef de policia.   'You have arrested the chief of police.'

• The oblique case is used for direct objects, and may also be used for indirect objects. (Alternatively, indirect objects are expressed through a, 'to' plus a pronoun.)

Le caffe es excellente: proba lo!   'The coffee is excellent: try it!'

Dice me le conto; dice me lo (or Dice le conto a me...)   'Tell me the story; tell it to me.'

• Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject of a verb is identical with the direct or indirect object. As in the Romance languages, reflexive constructions are often used where English would employ an intransitive verb or the passive voice.

Deo adjuta les, qui se adjuta.   'God helps those who help themselves'.

Io me sibila una melodia.   'I whistle a tune to myself.'

Tu te rasava?   'Have you shaved?'

Francese se parla in Francia.   'French is spoken in France.'

• The genitive case indicates possession (mi auto, 'my car'). The longer forms mie, tue etc. are adjectives, used in constructions like le auto es le mie, 'the car is mine'. They can also directly modify a noun.

alicun amicos mie   'some friends of mine'

Matre mia! Es una picanta bolla de carne!   'Mamma mia, that's a spicy meatball!'

One could also assert the existence of a separate prepositional case, since third-person pronouns use the longer forms ille, illes etc. after a preposition in place of the expected le, les etc.

Da le can a illes.   'Give them the dog.'

Intralingua follows the European custom of using the plural forms vos etc. rather than tu etc. in formal situations.

Esque vos passava un viage placente, Seniora Chan?   'Did you have a pleasant trip, Mrs. Chan?'

Aperi vostre valise, Senior.   'Open your suitcase, Sir.'

Illes can be used as a sex-neutral pronoun, like English 'they'. Illas may be used for entirely female groups.

Impersonal pronouns

Il is an impersonal nominative pronoun used in constructions like il pluve, 'it's raining'. It can also serve as a placeholder when the true subject is a clause occurring later in the sentence. It may be omitted where the sense is clear.

Il deveni tarde.   'It's getting late.'

Il es ver que nos expende multa moneta.   'It's true that we're spending a lot of money.'

Es bon que vos veni ora.   'It's good that you come now.'

On is a nominative pronoun used when the identity of the subject is vague. The English translation is often 'one', 'you', or 'they'. It is sometimes equivalent to an English passive voice construction. The oblique form is uno.

On non vide tal cosas actualmenti.   'One doesn't see such things these days.'

On sape nunquam lo que evenira.   'You never know what will happen.'

On construe una nova linea de metro al centro urban.   'They're building a new subway line to downtown.'

On collige le recyclabiles omne venerdi.   'Recyclables are picked up every Friday.'

Tal pensatas afflige uno in le profundo del depression.   'Such thoughts afflict one in the depths of depression.'

Demonstratives

Demonstratives
Role	Number	Gender	Proximate	Remote
Adjective	–	–	iste	ille
Pronoun	Sing.	masc.	iste	(ille)
		fem.	ista	(illa)
		neut.	isto	(illo)
	Plur.	masc.	istes	(illes)
		fem.	istas	(illas)
		neut.	istos	(illos)

The main demonstratives are the adjective iste, 'this' and the corresponding pronouns iste (masculine), ista (feminine), and isto (neuter), which may be pluralized. They are used more widely than English 'this/these', often encroaching on the territory of English 'that/those'. Where the subject of a sentence has two plausible antecedents, iste (or one of its derivatives) refers to the second one.

Iste vino es pessime.   'This wine is terrible.'

Isto es una bona idea.   'That's a good idea.'

Janet accompaniava su soror al galleria...   'Janet accompanied her sister to the gallery...'

(a) Illa es una artista notabila.   'She [Janet] is a well-known artist.'

(b) Ista es una artista notabila.   'She [Janet's sister] is a well-known artist.'

The demonstrative of remoteness is ille 'that'. The corresponding pronouns ille, illa, illo and their plurals are identical with the third-person personal pronouns, though they are normally accentuated in speech.

Io cognosce ille viro; ille se appella Smith.   'I know that man; his name is Smith.'

Illo es una obra magnifica.   'That is a magnificent work.'

Relative and interrogative pronouns

The relative pronouns for animates are qui (nominative case and after prepositions) and que (oblique case).

Nos vole un contabile qui sape contar.   'We want an accountant who knows how to count.'

Nos vole un contabile super qui nos pote contar.   We want an accountant who we can count on.' (an accountant on whom we can count)

Nos vole un contabile que la policia non perseque.   'We want an accountant whom the police are not pursuing.'

For inanimates, que covers both the nominative and oblique cases.

Il ha duo sortas de inventiones: illos que on discoperi e illos que discoperi uno.   'There are two types of inventions: those that you discover and those that discover you.'

Cuje 'whose' is the genitive case for both animates and inanimates.

un autor cuje libros se vende in milliones   'an author whose books sell in the millions'

una insula cuje mysterios resta irresolvite   'an island whose mysteries remain unsolved'

All the above may be replaced by the relative adjective forms le qual (singular) and le quales (plural).

Mi scriptorio esseva in disordine – le qual, nota ben, es su stato normal.   'My desk was in a mess – which, mind you, is its usual state.'

Duo cosinos remote, del quales io sape nihil, veni visitar.   'Two distant cousins, of whom I know nothing, are coming to visit.'

The relative pronouns also serve as interrogative pronouns.