ni

Genitive Personal Marker

Level 1

Use ni before a person's name to say 'of [Name]' or '[Name]'s'. It also marks who is doing the action in many common sentence types.

How It Works

The marker ni is a fundamental particle in Cebuano used with singular personal nouns, which includes both names and titles (like ni Doctor Smith or ni Ma'am Cruz). It serves three primary roles:

1. Possession: It indicates that something belongs to the person. In Cebuano, the object comes first: balay ni Maria (Maria's house) or awto ni Tatay (Dad's car).

2. The Actor in Non-Actor Focus: When the verb focuses on the object (using prefixes like gi- or suffixes like -on), the person performing the action is marked by ni.
Example: Gikaon ni Juan ang saging (Juan ate the banana).

3. Exclamations: When describing a quality of a person emphatically, ni is used after the adjective.
Example: Pagkabuotan ni Jose! (How good Jose is!).

Distinguishing ni- as a Verb Prefix: It is important to distinguish the marker ni from the prefix ni-. When ni is attached to the beginning of a verb (e.g., Nikaon si Maria), it indicates a started action in the actor focus, not a personal marker.

Watch Out for Contractions: In casual conversation, you will often hear ni used as a shortcut for kini (meaning 'this'). For example, Mao ni ang balay (This is the house). Context will tell you if it is a name marker or a demonstrative.

Important Note: ni is only for singular personal nouns. If you are talking about a group (e.g., 'Maria and company'), you must use the plural genitive form nila ni.

Examples (4)

  1. Kini ang awto ni Jose.

    This is Jose's car.

    Word by Word: This the car of Jose.

    Here, 'ni' functions as a possessive marker, equivalent to 's in English.

  2. Gisulat ni Maria ang suwat.

    Maria wrote the letter.

    Word by Word: Was written by Maria the letter.

    Because the verb uses the 'gi-' prefix (Patient Focus), the actor (Maria) must be marked with 'ni'.

  3. Kagwapa ni Ana!

    How beautiful Ana is!

    Word by Word: How beautiful of Ana!

    In exclamatory sentences, 'ni' links the quality to the person being described.

  4. Ihatag kini sa igsoon ni Pedro.

    Give this to Pedro's sibling.

    Word by Word: Give this to sibling of Pedro.

    This shows 'ni' marking possession even within a larger phrase.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'ni' for common nouns instead of 'sa'.

    balay ni irô
    balay sa irô

    'ni' is strictly for personal names. For common nouns like 'dog' (irô), use sa.

  • Confusing the marker 'ni' with the verb prefix 'ni-'.

    Ni Maria nikaon.
    Nikaon si Maria.

    The prefix 'ni-' (or 'mi-') attaches to verbs to show started action. The marker 'ni' is a separate word that goes before a name to show possession or agency.

  • Using English word order for possession.

    Maria ni balay
    balay ni Maria

    In Cebuano, the item owned must come before the marker 'ni' and the owner's name.

How It Connects

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niLevel 1Genitive Personal Marker

Learn This First

To understand 'ni', you first need to grasp the basic case system of Cebuano (ang/og/sa) and how personal names use a parallel set of markers. Additionally, because 'ni' marks the actor in non-actor-focus sentences, a basic understanding of the focus system is required.

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