RESOURCES FOR LEARNING GE'EZ: THE CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF ETHIOPIA

RESOURCES FOR LEARNING GE'EZ-- THE CLASSICAL LANGUAGE OF ETHIOPIA

October 30, 2011

7: Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns, like the nouns, are marked for gender and number. There are two pairs of pronouns for "this" and "these" that are interchangeable:

Masculine

Feminine
ዝንቱ
zəntu
This1

zati
This1
ዝ-
-
This2

ዛ-
za-
This2
እሉ
əllu
These1

እላ
əlla
These1
እሎንቱ
əllontu
These2

እላንቱ
əllantu
These2
ውእቱ
wə’ətu
That

ይእቲ
yə’əti
That
əmuntu
Those

ማን
əmantu
Those













Have a look at these phrases and sentences:
ዝንቱ፡ብእሲ
zəntu bə’əsi
This man…
ብእሲት
za-bə’əsit
This woman…
ቤተክርስያን
zə-bête kərəstiyan
This church…
ቲ፡ሀገ
zati heger
This city…
እሉ፡
əllu nebiyat
These prophets…
ላንቱ፡አህጉር
əllantu ehgur
These cities…

ዝንቱ፡ብእሲውእቱ፡ንጉሥ
zəntu bə’əsi wə’ətu nəguš
This man is a/the king.
ዝንቱ፡ብእሲንጉሥ፡ውእቱ
zəntu bə’əsi nəguš wə’ətu
ዛቲ፡ብእሲት፡ይእቲ፡ንግሥት።
zati bə’əsit yə’əti nəgešt
This woman is a/the queen.
ዝውእቱ፡ቤተ፡ክርስቲያን።
zə-wə’ətu béta-kərəstiyan
That is a/the church.
ዛቲ፡ይእቲ፡ሀገር።
zati yə’əti heger
This is a/the city.
ንቱ፡ውእቱ፡ሕግ
zəntu wə’ətu ḥəgg
This is the law.
ዛሀገር፡ይእቲ፡ኢየሩሳሌም።
za-heger yə’əti iyərusalem
This city is Jerusalem.

There is another set of demonstrative pronouns which appear much less than the ones above. These demonstrative pronouns mark distance or disdain from the speaker’s point of view.
Masculine

Feminine
ዝኩ
zəku
This

እንት
əntəku
This
ዝክቱ
zəktu
That

እንታክቲ
əntakti
That

እልኩ
əlləku
These1


ልክ
əlləktu
Those1










Have a look at this example:
ዝኩ፡ብእሲ፡ውእቱ፡አብ።
zəku bə’əsi wəətu eb
That man over there is the father.



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