Appendix:Galician pronouns

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Personal pronouns[edit]

Inflection[edit]

  nominative oblique 1 objective
Person No Gender subject plain con + form 2 indirect object direct object reflexive
1st sg   eu min comigo me me me
2nd sg   ti ti contigo che te te
3rd sg m el el, si 4 consigo lle o, lo, no 5 se
3rd sg f ela ela, si 4 consigo lle a, la, na 5 se
1st pl nós, nosoutros -as 3 connosco nos nos nos
2nd pl vós, vosoutros -as convosco vos vos vos
3rd pl m eles eles, si 4 consigo lles os, los, nos 5 se
3rd pl f elas elas, si 4 consigo lles as, las, nas 5 se
1 Oblique forms are used following most prepositions.
2 All personal pronouns compound with the preposition con, but the meaning varies with grammatical person (see below).
3 The longer alternative forms may be used when there is a possibility of confusion with the contraction nos (in the).
4 The pronoun si is the reflexive third-person form in both the singular and plural.
5 The forms prefixed with l- or n- are used only in certain cases for consonantal agreement (see below).

Usage[edit]

Nominative forms[edit]

Nominative forms of Galician pronouns function as the subject of a sentence. However, because Galician verb conjugation implies the subject pronoun, these forms are often omitted except in cases where the subject pronoun is given emphasis.

  • Subject implied by verb:
    Son de España. — “I am from Spain.”
  • Subject given for emphasis:
    El é de Portugal, pero eu son de España. — “He is from Portugal, but I am from Spain.”

Accusative inflection[edit]

The third-person pronouns o, os, a, and as, have variant forms prefixed with l- or n-. These alternative forms appear depending on the ending of the preceding word. The l- forms are used when the preceding word ends in -r or -s. The n- forms are used when the preceding word ends in a -u or a diphthong. These alternative forms are then suffixed to the preceding word.

In all other situations, the standard forms of the pronouns are used (o, os, a, as) and are not suffixed to the preceding word.

Compounds with con[edit]

All personal pronouns may compound with the preposition con (with), but the meaning varies with grammatical person. Such first and second person compounds may function as an objective or reflexive form, e.g. comigo (with me; with myself), but third person compounds may function only as a reflexive form, e.g. consigo (with himself/herself).

Dative-accusative contractions[edit]

The third-person oblique pronouns el, ela, eles, and elas form contractions when they follow the prepositions de (of, from) or en (in). For example, de el contracts to del and en elas contracts to nelas.

The third-person accusative pronouns o, a, os, as, lo, la, los, and las form contractions when they follow a dative pronoun.

Dative pronoun Accusative 3rd-person pronoun
Pers. / No. Pronoun o, lo os, los a, la as, las
1st sg me mo mos ma mas
2nd sg che cho chos cha chas
3rd sg lle llo llos lla llas
1st pl nos nolo nolos nola nolas
2nd pl vos volo volos vola volas
3rd pl lles llelo llelos llela llelas

These contracted forms may be added as a suffix to the preceding verb.

Possessive pronouns[edit]

Possessive pronouns are a special class of personal pronouns which indicate a relationship of ownership or possession. However, they may serve as either as a pronoun or as an adjective.

Inflection[edit]

Grammar of the possesor Grammar of the associated noun
Person No m sg m/c pl f sg f pl
1st sg meu meus miña miñas
2nd sg teu teus túa túas
3rd sg seu seus súa súas
Person No m sg m/c pl f sg f pl
1st pl noso nosos nosa nosas
2nd pl voso vosos vosa vosas
3rd pl seu seus súa súas

Usage[edit]

The choice of gender and number matches the noun possessed, not the gender and number of the possessor.

The possessives may be suffixed to the preceding word.

Demonstratives[edit]

The demonstratives are another class of pronoun that have both pronomial and adjectival functions.

Inflection[edit]

  Masculine Feminine Neuter 1
Remoteness sg pl sg pl sg pl
"this" (here) este estes esta estas isto
"that" (there) ese eses esa esas iso
"that" (over there) aquel aqueles aquela aquelas aquilo
1 Galician does not have neuter nouns; neuter forms function only as pronouns, never as adjectives.

Contractions[edit]

The demonstrative pronouns form contractions when used following the prepositions de (of, from) and en (in). For example, de este contracts to deste and en aquela contracts to naquela.

The demonstrative pronouns also form contractions when they precede the determiner outro (other, another). For example, este outro contracts to estoutro and aquelas outras contracts to aqueloutras.