Livonian grammar

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Livonian is a Finnic language, and, as such, is closely related to both Estonian and Finnish.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Singular
First Person ("I") Second Person ("You") Third Person ("He" or "She")
Nominative mina/ma sina/sa täma/ta
Genitive mīn sīn täm
Dative minnõn sinnõn tämmõn
Translative minkõks sinkõks tämkõks
Partitive mīnda sīnda tǟnda
Inessive mins/minšõ sins/sinšõ täms/tamšõ
Elative minst/minstõ sinst/sinstõ tämst/tämstõ
Illative minnõ sinnõ tämmõ
Plural
First Person ("We") Second Person ("You") Third Person ("They")
Nominative mēg tēg ne
Genitive mäd täd nänt
Dative mäddõn täddõn näntõn
Translative mätkõks tätkõks näntkõks
Partitive mēḑi tēḑi nēḑi
Inessive mēšši tēšši nēšši
Elative mēšti tēšti nēšti
Illative mēži tēži nēži

Note: the third person pronouns do not possess a gender in the singular or the plural.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Singular
("this, this one")
Plural
("these, these ones")
Nominative sīe/se ne
Genitive sīe/se nänt
Dative sīen näntõn
Translative sīeks/sīekõks näntkõks
Partitive sīeda nēḑi
Inessive sīes/sīessõ nẽšši
Elative sīest/sīestõ nēšti
Illative sīezõ nēži

Note: The plural demonstrative pronoun is the same as the third person plural personal pronoun.

Reflexive Pronouns

Singular
("myself, yourself, oneself")
Plural
("ourselves, yourself/ves, themselves")
Nominative
Genitive eņtš eņtš
Dative eņtšõn eņtšõn
Translative eņtšõks eņtšōdõks
Partitive eņtšta eņtšidi
Inessive eņtšõs eņtšis
Elative eņtšõst eņtšist
Illative eņtšõ(z) eņtšiz

Note: The usage of the reflexive pronoun is broad. Of course, it is used as a reflexive pronoun as in "minnõn eņtšõn um vajag...," meaning "I need..." [lit: to myself is necessary...]. However, the pronoun can also express possession; it frequently replaces the genitive forms of the personal pronouns. For example: "ma sīeda kūliz eņtš izast," or "I heard it from my father." Also, reflexive pronouns can be used in adverbial expressions: "täm eņtš ie," "this same night."

Bibliography

  • Fanny de Siviers. 2000. Parlons Live: une langue de la Baltique. Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7475-1337-8.


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