Pronouns in Negative Clauses

Level 2

Subject pronouns and non-subject actor pronouns follow saan in ordinary predicate negation.

How It Works

When saan negates a predicate, short predicate pronouns follow it, before the linker and lexical predicate. An actor-focus verb keeps its subject pronoun; a patient-focus verb keeps its non-subject actor pronoun. Negation does not turn ko into a subject form.

Compare Agawidka., “You will go home,” with Saanka nga agawid., “You will not go home.” The addressee remains the actor and subject. These modern examples attach short pronouns to their hosts. KWF selects nga before a following vowel sound and a before a consonant sound. Older references also attest other linker choices; those historical forms are not automatically grammatical errors.

This placement concerns predicate enclitics. A noun-internal possessor remains with its noun: in Saan a nangina ti librona., “His or her book is not expensive,” na identifies the owner. Regional negative variants retain their documented status.

Examples (3)

  1. Saanak a nabaknang.

    I am not wealthy.

    The first-person subject attaches to saan; a precedes consonant-initial nabaknang.

  2. Saantayo a mapan idiay merkado.

    We, including you, are not going to the market.

    Inclusive tayo follows saan rather than mapan.

  3. Saanko a gatangen dayta a libro.

    I will not buy that book.

    Ko identifies the actor of patient-focus gatangen; dayta a libro identifies the selected patient.

How It Connects

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Pronouns in Negative ClausesLevel 2

Learn This First

Put the short clause pronoun after saan, before the linker and predicate.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

saan-ak-ko