2. The pronoun: general remarks

Trask (1993: 221-2) defines pronouns as “The lexical category, or a member of this category, whose members typically function as noun phrases in isolation, not normally requiring or permitting the presence of determiners or other adnominals, and whose members typically have little or no intrinsic meaning or reference”, and he divides them into personal, reflexive, demon­strative, indefinite, interrogative, and relative. In discussing pronouns it is also useful to refer to their role as anaphors, in that they may refer to, or 'take their interpretations from, other items in the same sentence or discourse' (ibid., p. 15): 'John saw the book' - 'He saw it', and as deictics, in that they may 'make crucial reference to such factors as the time or place of speaking or the identity or location of the speaker, the addressee or other entities' (ibid, p. 75): 'this', 'that' (in the context of pronouns). The vocative, insofar as it might be needed, is identical with the nominative.

2. The groups of pronouns

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

We note that the personal pronouns for the first and second persons are declensionally quite anomalous (as often happens in languages), the first persons being suppletive as between the nominative and the other cases. The third-person pronouns too are suppletive, the nominatives having been sup­plied from the distal demonstrative *он of Proto-Slavonic, still surviving in Certain Slavonic languages or in set phrases in others. The endings of the non-nominative case forms are not anomalous, and reflect those found in the tdjective, given that the Ukrainian adjective is historically (in its non-short form) composed of the nominal short adjective, to which the third person ironoun was added (the original nominative shows up here). Note that the first- and second-person plural pronouns are not strictly the actual plurals of we first- and second-person singular pronouns, but for the first person an Inclusive form and for the second a form which may or may not include Anyone but the first person. We capitalize the second-person plural pronouns (some native speakers recommend capitalization of the second-person singu­lar pronouns too, something which we occasionally do in examples).

Though there is a certain amount of variation, it is possible to general-їзе that the nominative case forms of the personal pronouns are normally actually expressed, even though the verbal non-past endings make it abso­lutely clear, if only for the first- and second-persons singular, who the subject is. Perhaps the pronouns are expressed because this does not work for the third person and not entirely for the first- and second-persons plural, and because of the need, but not obligation, for the subject pronouns to be expressed in the past tense, conditional mood, and passive forms. In informal speech these pronouns are more readily dropped, and in any event would certainly be dropped in a string of verbs with an identical subject, as in English: Я сиджу та читаю 'І sit and read'.

On the question of address, we note that ти is used to address a single addressee who is a close friend, a child, an animal, or God. Ви is used for all plural addressees, or in singular address where politeness or formality is appropriate.

Here is a full paradigm for the personal pronouns:

I (lsg.) You(2sg.) Не / it It She / it (3sg.)

N. я ти він воно вона Н.

G. мене тебе його/нього її/неї Р.

D. мені тобі йому їй Д.

А. мене тебе його/нього її/неї 3.

І. мною тобою ним нею О.

L. мені тобі ньому (нім) ній М.

We (Ipl.) You (2pl.) They (3pl)

N. ми Ви вони Н.

G. нас Вас їх/них Р.

D. нам Вам їм Д.

А. нас Вас їх/них 3.

І. нами Вами ними О.

L. нас Вас них М.

There are no strict rules on the position of personal pronouns. The subject pronoun will certainly normally come before the verb, any other position being emphatic or at least stylistically marked. The object pronoun may come after the verb or before it. Needless to say, a pronoun will be fixed in relation to a governing preposition:

Я їх не знаю or Я не знаю їх.

І don't know them. (Both relatively neutral.)

Він їм ничого не сказав, or Він нічого не сказав їм.

Не didn't say a thing to them. (Both relatively neutral.)

До них вона послала дочку.

They were sent her daughter, (lit. 'She sent (her) daughter to them.') (It is not possible to separate до and них.)

Stress retracts one syllable left (lst-2nd persons accusative-genitive: мене - до мене, тебе - у тебе) and an initial н- appears in the third-person forms when they are immediately governed by a preposition (accusative-genitive, loca­tive), thus: його - до нього 'it - to it', у ньому 'in it'.9 In this connection note (a) the spelling changes, particularly as regards її - неї, (b) that the instru­mental and locative forms always have the initial н-, and (c) the recommended absence of such a form for the dative, given the rarity of prepositions govern­ing the dative and the tendency for such sequences to be restricted to set expressions. It might be borne in mind that in texts and dialects one may occasionally come across forms where the initial н- is expected, but absent. Also, as regards pronunciation, one may, again dialectally, come across a pronunciation of він with a hard в (because it alternates with o), and even a pronunciation of ї as if [ji], for example, їх [jix]. Very occasionally, after a preposition, one may encounter an accusative singular feminine ню.

Себе 'self (reflexive) declines like ти, but has no nominative form, since it is only used to refer back to the grammatical subject. Note the stress retrac­tion in the accusative-genitive when immediately governed by a preposition.

G. себе P.

D. собі Д.

А. себе З.

І. собою О.

L. собі М.

Завтра ми повернемося до себе.

Tomorrow we'll return home.

Сестра Наталка така гарна з себе.

My sister Natalka is so very pretty.

Перед собою я раптом побачив старого друга.

Suddenly, before my very eyes, I saw an old friend.

In connection with себе we can mention the reflexive particle -ся (after con­sonants and commonly after vowels), -сь (sometimes after vowels and, optionally, sonorants), now firmly attached to the verb in its 'reflexive form' (see повернемося above). Formerly, and still in south-western dialects, this particle was enclitic, in the forms ся and си (also first-person singular м'я -ми, second-person singular тя - ти, and third-person accusative-genitive singular masculine-neuter гo, dative singular masculine-neuter му) and not attached to the verb. We still have Як ся маєш? 'How are you?'

It is appropriate to mention the reciprocal pronoun, namely 'each other', one another'. This is conveyed by один одного (for two males), одна одну (for two females), and одне одного (for male and female). Note that the first component, as one might expect, occurs in the nominative singular and is invariable; the neuter singular first component for 'male and female' is perhaps striking. The second component goes in whatever case the syntax of the sentence requires - the forms for males and mixed as given indicate animate accusative; if a preposition is involved, then it immediately precedes the second component. For 'male and female', note that the masculine is selected for the second component. Note finally the stress of the second component, fixed on the first syllable. Thus:

Мені здається, що вони майже завжди розмовляють одне з одним.

It seems to me that they're almost always talking to one another, (mixed)

Ми розмовляли один про одного.

We were talking about each other, (males)

Щовечора вони телефонують одна до одної.

They telephone each other every evening, (females)

Коли жінка нарешті отримала розлучення, вона зрозуміла, що вони з чоловіком зовсім не знали одне одного.

When his wife finally obtained a separation, she understood that she and her husband didn't know each other at all. (mixed)

Note from the last example how one conjoins subjects, namely, and normally, by using the plural pronoun, adding the other component of the subject (pronoun or noun) via the preposition з + instrumental, thus ми з братом 'my brother and Г, Ви з нею 'you and she'.

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Note first of all that these are adjectival in form and agree in case, number, and gender with what they possess. On the whole they precede the noun or noun phrase they qualify, but may, for emphasis or stylistic reasons, follow. They function both as possessive pronouns, i.e. 'mine', 'yours', and so on and as possessive adjectives, i.e. 'my', 'your', and so on.

My/mine

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

N. мій моє моя мої Н.

G. мого моєї моїх Р.

D. моєму моїй моїм Д.

А. = nom./gen. = nom. мою = nom./gen. 3.

І. моїм моєю моїми О.

L. моєму (моїм) моїй моїх М.

Твій 'your/yours' (singular familiar/informal) and свій 'one's', 'my/mine', and so on decline like мій. Occasional alternative forms for мого, моєму, моєї, моєю are respectively (and generalizing to твій, свій) мойого, мойому/мойму/мому, меї, мею. The first two are dialectal and poetic; the others are more narrowly local.

Our(s)

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

N. наш наше наша наші Н.

G. нашого нашої наших Р.

D. нашому нашій нашим Д.

А. = nom./gen. = nom. нашу = nom./gen. 3.

І. нашим нашою нашими О.

L. нашому (нашім) нашій наших М.

Ваш 'your/yours' (singular formal, plural) declines like наш. Note particu­larly the instrumental singular feminine ending -ою; in a noun with a similar stem ending (soft consonant), husher, ц, [j], we have -ею/-єю, for example, земля - землею 'land', вівця - вівцею 'sheep', каша - кашею 'gruel', стая- стаєю 'shepherd's hut', 'sheepfold'. Adjectives too have -ою. See the pertinent sections in Chapters 2 and 3.

The genitives of the third-person forms function as indeclinable, and com­pletely invariable, possessives, thus: його, її, їх 'his/its', 'her(s)/its', 'their(s)'. For 'their(s)' we also have the more common їхній, declined as a soft adjective and agreeing as normal with what is possessed. None of them ever attracts the initial н-.

їхній 'their(s)'

Masculine Neuter Feminine Plural

N. їхній їхнє їхня їхні Н.

G. їхнього їхньої їхніх Р.

D. їхньому їхній їхнім Д.

А. = nom. or gen. = nom. їхню = nom. or gen. 3.

І. їхнім їхньою їхніми О.

L. їхньому (їхнім) їхній їхніх М.

Свій is used for all the possessive pronouns when what is possessed is pos-sessed by the grammatical subject of the sentence or clause:

Я взяв свою валізку.

I took my suitcase.

Він взяв свою валізку.

Нe took his (own) suitcase.

Він взяв його валізку.

Не took his (another male's) suitcase.

Він попросив мене взяти свою валізку.

Не asked me to take my suitcase.

Він попросив мене взяти його валізку.

Нe asked me to take his suitcase.

Я попросив його взяти свою валізку.

І asked him to take his suitcase.

Я попросив його взяти його валізку.

І asked him to take his (another male's) suitcase.

and particularly:

Він попросив його взяти свою валізку.

Не asked him to take his suitcase.

Він попросив його взяти його валізку.

Не asked him to take his suitcase.

where in the first свою refers to його, the underlying subject of взяти, and in the second його refers to він.

One may freely use the possessives as adjectives, but Ukrainian uses them less frequently than English, especially where there is little or no possibility of ambiguity, such as with kinship terms. See possessive adjectives formed from personal names and kinship terms.