Subject pronouns of the first and second person are usually omitted before the verb (pro-drop); by not doing so, the speaker gives the subject special emphasis. The same can be done for the third person too, but this occurs much less frequently.
Unlike nouns and adjectives, the personal pronouns do not have a direct case, but distinguish between the nominative (numnaciwnik) and the accusative (obiecywnik) instead.
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
masc. | fem. | neut. | |||
sg. nom. gen. dat. acc. |
jo “I” miej mi mie |
ty “you” ciej ci cie |
ił “he” łu li łu |
ła “she” lej lej łą |
łu “it” łu li łu |
pł. nom. gen. dat. acc. |
nu nosz nów nosz |
wu wosz wów wosz |
li łór lew łosz |
le łar lew łasz |
le łór lew le |
Instead of the second person, often used are the polite forms don (to a man), dona (to a woman), doni (to a company of men), donie (to a company of women), and donat (to a mixed company). These are declined like normal nouns.
In letters, all forms of the second person (including the polite forms) are usually capitalised.
Reflexive constructions always use a form of the reflexive pronoun sie, also when the subject is a pronoun of the first or second person:
Wołu si kupier sułowad. “I want to buy myself a car.”
Prokoju wu sie nie ławacie? “Why don't you guys wash yourself?”
Reciprocal constructions also use the reflexive pronoun sie; only in cases when a misunderstanding might occur the reciprocal pronoun wyniałtru is used.
Whether the context is singular or plural, only singular forms exist:
reflexive | reciprocal | |
---|---|---|
gen. dat. acc. |
siej si sie |
wyniałtru wyniałtrzy wyniałtru |
Possessive pronouns exist only for the first and the second person. In cases when the possessive pronoun reflects the subject of the sentence, a form of the reflexive possessive pronoun swej is used. In other cases, when a possessive pronoun is needed for the third person that does not correspond with the subject of the sentence, the genitive form of the personal pronouns is used: łu, lej, łór, łar. For example:
Jemu swej sułowad. “I love my car.”
Ił jema miej sułowad. “He loves my car.”
Ił jema swej sułowad. “He loves his (own) car.”
Ił jema łu sułowad. “He loves his (somebody else's) car.”
The following forms exist:
1st person sg. | miej, mia “my” |
---|---|
2nd person sg. | twej, twa “your” |
1st person pl. | nostry, nostra “our” |
2nd person pl. | wostry, wostra “your” |
reflexive | swej, swa “my/your/his etc. (own)” |
Nostry and wostry are inflected like normal adjectives. The possessive pronouns miej, twej and swej are inflected as follows. Keep in mind that the gender refers to the gender of the possessed object and contains no information regarding the gender of the possessor.
The forms between brackets are longer forms, used for stress or when the possessive pronoun is used independently.
1st person | 2nd person | reflexive | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masc./neut. | fem. | masc./neut. | fem. | masc./neut. | fem. | |||
sg. dir. gen. dat. |
miej miu (mieju) miej (miei) |
mia (mieja) miej (miejej) miej (miejej) |
twej twu (tweju) twiej (twei) |
twa (tweja) twiej (twejej) twiej (twejej) |
swej swu (sweju) świej (swei) |
swa (sweja) świej (swejej) świej (swejej) |
||
pl. dir. gen. dat. |
mi/mie (miei/mieje) (*) miór (miejór) miew (miejew) |
mie (mieje) miar (miejar) miew (miejew) |
twi/twie (twei/tweje) (*) twór (twejór) twiew (twejew) |
twie (tweje) twar (twejar) twiew (twejew) |
świ/świe (swei/sweje) (*) swór (swejór) świew (swejew) |
świe (sweje) swar (swejar) świew (swejew) |
(*) The forms on -i are used for male persons only.
There are two demonstrative pronouns: ił “this, that” and iwiał “yonder, that ... over there”. The latter is only used in comparisons where the normal demonstrative is involved, or when one wishes to indicate something distinctly remote.
The demonstrative pronoun ił has two different forms: a long form, which is used for stress, and a short form. Note that both forms are similar to the third person personal pronouns, the only difference being that the latter have accusative and neuter forms, which the demonstrative pronouns obviously lack.
ił “this, that” | iwiał “yonder, that ... over there” | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
masc./neut. | fem. | masc./neut. | fem. | |
sg. dir. gen. dat. |
ił iłu, łu ili, li |
iła, ła ilej, lej ilej, lej |
iwiał iwiału iwieli |
iwiała iwielej iwielej |
pl. dir. gen. dat. |
ili, li (*) iłór, łór ilew, lew |
ile, le iłar, łar ilew, lew |
iwieli/iwiele (*) iwiałór iwielew |
iwiele iwiałar iwielew |
(*) See note above.
The standard relative pronoun in Wenedyk is kwały. It is inflected like a normal adjective. In less cultivated speech, kód can also be encountered.
Ił moszkieł, kwału widszyś sur parwije, je miedziek. Or:
Ił moszkieł, kód widszyś o parwije, je miedziek.
That man you saw in the street is a doctor.
The interrogative pronouns are ki “who”, kód “what”, kwały “which, what kind of”, and kwiny “whose”. Related are indefinite forms like jelki “someone”, nieki “no one”, kikąk “anyone, whoever”, jelkód “something”, niekód “nothing”, nił “nothing”, kódkąk “anything, whatever”, tały “such”, jelkwały “some”, niekwały “indefinite”, kwałykąk “any kind of”, jelkwiny “someone's”, niekwiny “nobody's”, etc.
Kwały and kwiny are inflected like ordinary adjectives. The inflection of ki and kód is shown in the following table:
ki “who” | kód “what” | |
---|---|---|
nom. gen. dat. acc. |
ki kiju kiej kiju |
kód koju kój kód |
The indefinite pronouns are inflected like the interrogative pronouns: f.ex. jelki, jelkiju, jelkiej; kódkąk, kojukąk, kójkąk; etc.
Speaking of interrogative and indefinite pronouns, this is perhaps the place to mention the phenomenon of correlatives. Correlatives are the entire set of interrelated pronouns, adverbs and adjectives, all of which are connected by one interrogative word. Technically speaking, most of these are not actually pronouns, but since they are closely related to them, it's worth mentioning them here anyway:
question | here | there | some | any | no | every | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
quality | kwały „which” | tały „such” | jelkwały „some” | kwałykąk „any” | nyły „no” | kośkiny „each” | |
person | ki „who” | ił „this” | iwiał „this” | jelki „someone” | kikąk „anyone” | nieki „nobody” | tuci „everyone” |
object | kód „what” | jelkód „something” | kódkąk „anything” | niekód; nił „nothing” | tut „everything” | ||
possession | kwiny „whose” | — | — | jelkwiny „somebody's” | — | niekwiny „nobody's” | — |
quantity | kąt „how much” | tąt „this much” | jelkwale „some” | kątkąk „no matter how much” | niekód, nił „nothing” | tut „everything” | |
method | komód „how” | jelkomód „somehow” | komódkąk „anyhow” | — | — | ||
place | wądź „where” | jec „here” | jądź „there” | jelkądź „somewhere” | wądźkąk „anywhere” | niądź „nowhere” | wikądź „everywhere” |
time | kędy „when” | stawiecz „now” | tęk „then” | jelkędy „sometime” | kędykąk „anytime” | nękwa „never” | siąprz „always” |
reason | prokoju „why” | prołu „for this reason” | — | projelkoju „for some reason” | kukąk „for whatever reason” | — | — |
destination | odądź „whereto” | olęc „hereto” | owielęc „thereto” | — | odądźkąk „(to) anywhere” | oniądź „(to) nowhere” | — |
source | ziądź „whence” | źlęc „hence” | źwielęc „thence” | — | ziądźkąk „from anywhere” | źniądź „from nowhere” | — |
route | kwałak „along which way” | iłak „this way” | iwiałak „along that way” | jelkwałak „along some way” | — | niekwałak „along no way” | — |