Absolute
Pronouns (Subject/Nominative Pronouns)
I bo We (o)po
You
ka You ka
He, She di They (i)ti (animate)
It fe They (e)ve (inanimate)
Note that in the plural there is an optional form for every pronoun except ka (in Vayoti, as in English, "you" is the same whether singular or plural). The optional forms for "we" and the two varieties of "they" each begin with the same verb as found after the consonant; thus: opo, iti, eve. So, "they" (people) can sound either like English "tea" or like the famous movie name ET. The reason for these optional forms is, they often help to make it explicit to the hearer that the speaker is saying, for instance opo and not bo. That is, the additional vowel/syllable helps foreclude confusion ("Did he say 'I' or 'we'?") These secondary, optional formulations are operative in the Relational Pronouns and the Possessive Pronouns as well.
Note that in the plural there is an optional form for every pronoun except ka (in Vayoti, as in English, "you" is the same whether singular or plural). The optional forms for "we" and the two varieties of "they" each begin with the same verb as found after the consonant; thus: opo, iti, eve. So, "they" (people) can sound either like English "tea" or like the famous movie name ET. The reason for these optional forms is, they often help to make it explicit to the hearer that the speaker is saying, for instance opo and not bo. That is, the additional vowel/syllable helps foreclude confusion ("Did he say 'I' or 'we'?") These secondary, optional formulations are operative in the Relational Pronouns and the Possessive Pronouns as well.
Relational
Pronouns (Object/Accusative-Dative)
Me,
to/for Me bro Us, to/for Us (o)pro
You,
to/for You kra You, to/for You kra
Him,
Her, to/for… dri Them, to/for Them (i)tri
It,
to/for… fre Them, to/for Them (e)vre
Self, to/for Self sri
Possessive
Pronouns
My blu Our (u)plu
Your
klu Your klu
His/Her dlu Their (u)tlu
Its
flu Their (u)vlu
“Self’s”, one’s, one’s own
Note that in the case of the possessives the final vowel is always -u, and all the optional forms in the plural prefix this same vowel, u-.
Articles:
a. indefinite: singular jon plural
jonts
b. definite: singular
to plural tots
c. partitive: singular
chu plural chuts
The indefinite article is jon/jonts. In English there is no such thing as a plural indefinite article, as it is assumed that "a" indicates one. "I saw a dog." It is impossible to say "I saw a dogs." In that case English uses either no article ("I saw dogs"), the definite article ("I saw the dogs") or the word "some" ("I saw some dogs"). The word "some" is the nearest thing in English to a plural for the indefinite article. In Vayoti the plural jonts serves much the same purpose as "some." If, of course, there is only one object, then the singular indefinite article is used.
bo zhun widzho jon wirkto I saw a bear
bo zhun widzho jonts wirktozn I saw some bears
The definite article is used much as it is in English, but, like in French and Spanish, it must agree in number with the word it modifies, thus:
bo zhun widzho to wirkto I saw the bear
bo zhun widzho tots wirktozn I saw the bears
The partitive article connotes "some of the", and would be used in a phrase as "Please give me chu bread", conveying not simply "the" but a nuance like "some of the." If you formulated a Vayoti sentence to say something like "I saw chuts people", it would convey, not simply that you saw people, or "some" indefinite people, or that you saw the people, but that you saw people who presumably represented a portion of a larger group.
bo zhun widzho jon wirkto I saw a bear
bo zhun widzho jonts wirktozn I saw some bears
The definite article is used much as it is in English, but, like in French and Spanish, it must agree in number with the word it modifies, thus:
bo zhun widzho to wirkto I saw the bear
bo zhun widzho tots wirktozn I saw the bears
The partitive article connotes "some of the", and would be used in a phrase as "Please give me chu bread", conveying not simply "the" but a nuance like "some of the." If you formulated a Vayoti sentence to say something like "I saw chuts people", it would convey, not simply that you saw people, or "some" indefinite people, or that you saw the people, but that you saw people who presumably represented a portion of a larger group.
Demonstrative/Indicative
pronouns:
a. this (animate) sin these (animate) sints
b. this (inanimate) sif these (inanimate) sifts
a. that (animate) tan those (animate) tants
b. that (inanimate) taf those (inanimate) tafts
These
forms can be used as subjects without a noun, in the sense of “this one, that
one”, e.g., “This (one) wants another bowl of soup!”
Definite-Impersonal,
derived from Definite Article:
This
form carries a sense like “the one”, or “he who”. In essence, it is the
definite article to with an ending that makes it substantival. However, the question word “Who?” can also
serve this purpose. So a phrase like
“Whoever follows me…” could begin with either ton or kan, either way meaning, "the one who/whoever". The ton form cannot be combined with any other article!
a. the one (animate) ton the ones (animate) tonts
b. the one (inanimate) tof the ones (inanimate) tofts
