Grammar: Personal pronouns and Demonstratives

Grammar Points

Demonstratives of category 1.

Demonstratives of category 2.

Demonstrative of category 3.

Demonstrative of category 4.

Personal subject pronouns.

Grammar

INSIMBURAZINA NGENGA - PERSONAL PRONOUNS:

Personal Pronouns:

Njye/njyewe	me
Wowe	you
We	him/her
Twe /twebwe	us
Mwe/mwebwe	you
Bo	them

Personal pronouns subject:

n/m	I	Ndicara ku ntebe Mfite intebe	I sit on a chair I have a chair
u	You	Ufite intebe	You have a chair
a	He/she	Afite intebe	He/she has a chair
tu/du	We	Turicara ku ntebe Dufite intebe	We sit on a chair We have a chair
mu	You	Mufite intebe	You have a chair
ba	they	Bafite intebe	They have a chair

NTERA ZEREKANA - DEMONSTRATIVES:

Note: You use demonstratives of category 1 when you want to show an object which is closer to you, but far from the person you are showing it. Have a look at how demonstrative adjectives change when used with different classes of noun.

Inteko z’amazina	Category 1 – “This/These”+Noun	Category 2 – “That/Those one (s) over there” + Noun
Inteko ya 1	uyu mwana	uriya mwana
	aba bana	bariya bana
Inteko ya 2	uyu murima	uriya murima
	iyi mirima	iriya mirima
Inteko ya 3	iyi nka	iriya nka
	izi nka	ziriya nka
Inteko ya 4	iki gitabo	kiriya gitabo
	ibi bitabo	biriya bitabo
Inteko ya 5	iri buye	ririya buye
	aya mabuye	ariya mabuye
	iyi shati	iriya shati
	aya mashati	ariya mashati
Inteko ya 6	uru rutoki	ruriya rutoki
	izi ntoki	ziriya ntoki
Inteko ya 7	aka kana	kariya kana
	utu twana	turiya twana
Inteko ya 8	ubu bwato	buriya bwato
	aya mato	ariya mato
Inteko ya 9	uku kuguru	kuriya kuguru
	aya maguru	ariya maguru
Inteko ya 10	aha hantu	hariya hantu

Note: You use demonstratives of category 2 when you want to show an object which is too close to you, but far from the person you are showing it.

Inteko z’amazina	Category 3 – “This/These” + Noun	Category 4 – “That/Those ” +Noun
Inteko ya 1	uno mwana	uwo mwana
	bano bana	abo bana
Inteko ya 2	uno murima	uwo murima
	ino mirima	iyo mirima
Inteko ya 3	ino nka	iyo nka
	zino nka	izo nka
Inteko ya 4	kino gitabo	icyo gitabo
	bino bitabo	ibyo bitabo
Inteko ya 5	rino buye	iryo buye
	ano mabuye	ayo mabuye
	ino shati	iyo shati
	ano mashati	ayo mashati
Inteko ya 6	runo rutoki	urwo rutoki
	zino ntoki	izo ntoki
Inteko ya 7	kano kana	ako kana
	tuno twana	utwo twana
Inteko ya 8	buno bwato	ubwo bwato
	ano mato	ayo mato
Inteko ya 9	kuno kuguru	uko kuguru
	ano maguru	ayo maguru
Inteko ya 10	hano hantu	aho hantu

Note: The ending of the demonstratives of category 3 is the same for all classes: ‘no’. The demonstratives of category 4 have similar final vowel for all classes of nouns: vowel ‘o’.

Groups of demonstrative pronouns:

The demonstrative pronouns in kinyarwanda may be divided into three groups:

1. There are demonstratives which indicate present objects:

Uyu/uyunguyu

uno

uriya

The object is closer or far from the person speaking.

2. There are demonstratives which indicate absent objects:

Uwo/uwonguwo

wa

urya

The object is far from the person speaking, but closer to the person spoken to. Or they’re referring to a particular object they both know about.

3. There are demonstratives which indicate present objects that have been found after being looked for by either of the two, or by both of them. These are used with the particle ‘ng’.

Nguyu

Nguwo

Nguriya

The object in their sight is closer to either of both or to neither of them.

Demonstrative pronoun used with the terms which indicate time:

In some cases when the demonstrative pronouns are used with words indicating time such as : year, month, day, term, quarter etc., there is no physically tangible object involved. Something somehow is morally present in the mind of the person speaking or the person spoken to.

Examples:

uyu mwaka wari mwiza.	this year was good.
uyu munsi uracyeye	this day is dark.
uku kwezi ni ukwa nyuma k’uyu mwaka.	this is the last month of this year.
uyu mwanya ndaruhuka.	at this moment I’m resting.
iki gihembwe kiraruhije	this term is tough.
iki cyumweru ndahuze cyane	I’m very busy this week

“mu” and “ku” + Demonstrative pronouns:

Note:

The locative “mu” becomes “muri” before any demonstrative pronoun. Then the locative “ku” becomes “kuri” before any demonstrative pronoun or before proper noun in some cases. See examples below.

muri uyu mwaka	during this year
muri iki gihe	in this time, nowadays
muri aba bantu	among these people
muri aka kanya	within this moment
muri iyi mibereho	within this situation

kuri iyi ntebe	on this chair
kuri iyi modoka	on this car
kuri ubu buriri	on this bed
kuri aya meza	on this table
kuri Mageza uyu	on this Mageza here

Grammar Introduction

The demonstrative adjectives in Kinyarwanda may be classified into five or six categories. In this unit we will only deal with the first four which can be translated in English either as 'this/these' for objects which are closer to you; or 'that/those' for objects which are far from you. Look at the above tableau of all classes of noun. Subject pronouns in Kinyarwanda may be used with or without a noun. They are part of a conjugated verb as shown in some examples below.