Episode 4: Nnọchi Aha(Pronouns)

<p>Introductory Exchange</p> <ul> <li>Ifunanya: Nno- welcome&nbsp;</li> <li>Victor: Kee ka izu gị si aga? - How is your week going? (week is izu in igbo)&nbsp;</li> <li>Ifunanya: Izu m gara ọfụma. Ebidoro m semester ọhụrụ - My week went well, I started a new semester. (“new”-ọhụrụ many dialectal variations)</li> <li>Ifunanya: Kee maka izu gi?- what about your week?&nbsp;</li> <li>Victor: Mee nke mee nke a, ekweghi nwata zuuru ike (igbo proverb: do this do that, wont allow the child to rest.”&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p><br></p> <p>Pronouns are known as <strong>Nnọchi Aha</strong> in Igbo, which translates to “to be in the place of a name” At the very basic sentence structure level, Igbo follows a similar pattern with English in that sentences are also constructed in the <strong>“subject verb object” </strong>format. When addressing pronouns, we thus will look at the pronouns used as the subject of a sentence and as an object of the sentence. &nbsp;</p> <p>Take this sentence:</p> <ul> <li>&nbsp;Chijioke plays ball. “Chijioke” is the subject here, “plays” the verb, and “ball” the object.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>Victor: Gwa m onye na gba bọọlụ?- Tell me who plays ball?&nbsp;</p> <p>Ifunanya: Ọ na- gba bọọlụ- He plays ball.&nbsp;</p> <ul> <li>Chijioke reads a book -Ọ na-agụ akwụkwọ&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p>Chijioke rides a bike -Ọ na-agba igwe- He rides it. Ọ na-agba ya</p> <p><br></p> <p>Pronouns in their categories broken down:</p> <p><strong>Subject pronouns</strong></p> <p>English- Igbo</p> <ul> <li>I =M/Mụ</li> <li>You (singular)=I /Ị</li> <li>He/She/It =O/Ọ</li> <li>We=Anyi</li> <li>You (plural) =Ụnụ</li> <li>They =Ha</li> </ul> <p>When you need to use an object pronoun, most of them stay the same as the above list except for with <strong>“you and now, him/her/it”</strong> see the difference in the list below where</p> <ul> <li>&nbsp;"you" becomes “gi”</li> <li>&nbsp;"him/her/it" becomes “ya.”</li> </ul> <p>Also for what will now be “me” is most properly just “M” but sometimes heard and said as “Mụ”