siak / sika / isu

Independent Singular Pronouns

Level 1

siak names the speaker, sika one addressee, and isu a singular third-person referent.

How It Works

An independent pronoun can answer a question asking who is involved or begin an identifying construction with a following ti-marked expression. Personal-name identity also permits an independent pronoun paired with a ni-marked name. These frames identify a participant rather than merely attaching a pronoun to an ordinary predicate.

Sika is singular. In polite or formal address, plural second-person forms can refer to one person. Isu can refer to a person of either gender or to a thing; the context supplies the referent. It is therefore inaccurate to teach isu as exclusively he.

Compare an identifying Sika ti maestra. with ordinary classification using a noun host and -ka. Speaker and addressee statements often use -ak and -ka. Independent forms do not freely replace possessor or oblique forms. The supplied paradigm gives the dependent third-person singular subject a zero form; isu is an independent word, not an attached ending.

Examples (5)

  1. Siak.

    Me.

    A complete answer when identifying who is involved.

  2. Siak ti agluto.

    I am the one who will cook.

    The independent pronoun identifies the actor.

  3. Sika ti maestra.

    You are the teacher.

    The singular addressee is identified.

  4. Isu ti abugado.

    He or she is the lawyer.

    In this personal context, gender comes from the referent.

  5. Siak ni Danilo.

    I am Danilo.

    This uses the personal-name identity frame.

How It Connects

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

siak / sika / isuLevel 1Independent Singular Pronouns

Words in This Pattern

siaksikaisu