User:Bukkia/sandboxVIII

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns feature a distinction between two forms for both cases.

For the direct case, the first form (named direct₁) is used as the subject of the clauses, for every kind of verbs. The second form (named direct₂) is used as the direct object of the clause, for transitive verbs, and with every preposition requiring the direct case.

Moreover, for the oblique case, the first form (named oblique₁) is used for most roles of the case, and with every preposition requiring the oblique case. The second form (named oblique₂) is used as the indirect object of the clause, without any preposition.

	1st sing.	2nd sing.	3rd sing.	1st plur.	2nd plur.	3rd plur.
direct1	amex	k‘etex	okex	am‘ex	k‘et‘ex	ok‘ex
direct2	am	k‘et	ok	am‘e	k‘et‘e	ok‘e
oblique1	amevo	k‘etevo	okevo	am‘evo	k‘et‘evo	ok‘evo
oblique2	amešo	k‘etešo	okešo	am‘ešo	k‘et‘ešo	ok‘ešo

There are, however, two possible forms for the second persons:

	2nd sing.		2nd plur.
	standard	obsolete	standard	obsolete
direct1	k‘etex	itex	k‘et‘ex	it‘ex
direct2	k‘et	it	k‘et‘e	it‘e
oblique1	k‘etevo	itevo	k‘et‘evo	it‘evo
oblique2	k‘etešo	itešo	k‘et‘ešo	it‘ešo

The alternative forms are regarded as obsolete and they are used in modern texts only in religious texts, in intentionally archaizing texts and in some set expressions. They may be also found in colloquial language, with a sense of solemnity or irony. It can be noticed that every speaker is well aware of these alternative forms, but their usage is steadily declining (except in some peripheral dialect, where their usage can be prevailing over the standard forms).

The forms for the oblique₂ case can be used alone, without any prepositions, conveying the meaning of the indirect object. When used alone, the forms for the direct and indirect object tend to be placed before the conjugated verb in the sentence. Their positioning after the verb is regarded as a marked position.

Examples:

amex ok men ož
I didn't see him

amex men ož ok
As for him, I didn't see him

Anyway, these pronouns are placed after the negative adverb ož.