mini / maka / miki / masa / mata

Short Dative Pronouns

Level 3

Mini = to/for me; maka = male you; miki = female you; masa = him/masculine it; mata = her/feminine it.

How It Works

Place a dative pronoun after the verb's indirect-object form. An expressed direct object follows it. Mini identifies the speaker; maka and miki distinguish male and female singular listeners. Masa and mata distinguish masculine and feminine third-person reference.

Compare Na kama ta., I caught her, with Na nuna mata hoton., I showed her the picture. Short ta and dative mata assign different roles. Third-person reference must be interpreted in context.

Mani and mini are attested variants; vowel assimilation accounts for the latter. The supplied evidence does not establish an exhaustive regional or register distribution. Learn each verb's dative construction rather than attaching these words indiscriminately. The exceptional giving verb uses bare recipient pronouns in its own frame.

Examples (5)

  1. Aisha ta kawo mini ruwa.

    Aisha brought me water.

    Mini marks the recipient before ruwa.

  2. Zan nuna maka hanya.

    I will show you the way. (one male listener)

    Maka marks the male listener.

  3. Mun gaya miki labari.

    We told you a story. (one female listener)

    Miki marks the female listener.

  4. Na kawo masa abinci.

    I brought him food.

    Masa marks the masculine recipient.

  5. Na nuna mata hoton.

    I showed her the picture.

    Mata precedes the direct object hoton.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

mini / maka / miki / masa / mataLevel 3Short Dative Pronouns

Learn This First

Recognize recipient marking and short direct-object reference before comparing the singular dative pronoun series and its different grammatical role.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

mini