i / ku / na / ina / idin

Short Object Pronouns

Level 3

i = me; ku = you singular; na = us excluding you; ina = us including you; idin = you plural.

How It Works

Short object pronouns precede the verb and any preverbal prepositions. The verb agrees with its subject, not its object: in waan ku arkay “I saw you,” waan marks the speaker as subject and ku marks one listener as object.

Standard Somali distinguishes exclusive na from inclusive ina, which includes the listener. Many speakers generalize one form in casual speech. The short first- and second-person objects remain required even when a long pronoun supplies emphasis. Somali has no corresponding short third-person objects; a missing “him,” “her,” “it,” or “them” is inferred from context.

Object pronouns fuse with following prepositions. Compare waan ku arkay with waan kugu arkay suuqa “I saw you at the market.” Here kugu contains object ku and locative ku; the preposition relates to the market. Identical spelling does not make object ku and prepositional ku the same grammatical item.

Examples (5)

  1. I sug.

    Wait for me.

    I is the singular first-person object.

  2. Waan kugu arkay suuqa.

    I saw you at the market.

    Kugu combines object ku with locative ku referring to the market.

  3. Macallinku wuu na arkay.

    The teacher saw us, excluding you.

    Na excludes the listener.

  4. Macallinku wuu ina arkay.

    The teacher saw us, including you.

    Ina includes the listener.

  5. Waan idin sugayaa.

    I am waiting for you all.

    Idin marks several listeners as objects.

How It Connects

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

i / ku / na / ina / idinLevel 3Short Object Pronouns

Learn This First

Identify singular and plural participants before choosing reduced object pronouns.

Words in This Pattern

na