Lezgi pronouns

Ok, so this page is about pronouns, or speaking in simpler terms, those very useful words we use instead of proper names of things and people (nouns). For example, words like "it", "someone", "nothing", "myself", "them", "who?" are all pronouns (of various kinds). We shall start with discussion of personal ones, ie. those used to refer to people.

Of those, Lezgi has the following: зун [zun] 'I'; вун [vun] 'you (one person)'; чун [chun] 'we'; куьн [kyn] 'you guys'

Absolutive	зун [zun]	вун [vun]	чун [chun]	куьн [kyn]
Ergative	за [za]	вуна [vuna] вна [vna] на [na]	чна [chna]	куьне [kyne]
Genitive	зи [zi]	ви [vi]	чи [chi]	куь [ky]
Dative	заз [zaz]	ваз [vaz]	чаз [chaz]	квез [kwez]
Adessive	зав [zav]	вав [vav]	чав [chav]	квез [kwev]
Inessive	за [za]	ва [va]	ча [cha]	кве [kwe]

You should be able to easily guess all the other case-forms basing on the ones included in the table above.

What about 'he/she/it' and 'they', you might ask? Well, in Lezgi these concepts are expressed by words which literally mean 'that one' and 'those ones' and technically are not personal pronouns in the full sense of the word. We shall get back to them later.

Another note is that куьн [kyn] is sometimes used when speaking to one person as a sign of respect/politeness. This usage, however, arose under influence of Russian and some people think it isn't proper to follow it as it is alien to Lezgi traditions. My take is that as a learner you should always pay attention to how your Lezgi friends speak and accomodate your language accordingly.

Next we shall deal with the demonstrative pronouns, that is words which you use when you point to something. "this" or "that" are good examples. In Lezgi, there are altogether six words of this type:

[i] 'this' [a] 'that' [at'a] 'that (further away)' [ha] 'the one mentioned before' [vini] 'the one up there' [agha] 'the one down there'.
Of these, only [i] 'this' and [a] 'that' are really common all around the Lezgistan.

The forms quoted above are not stand-alone ones. They are always used with some noun coming after them: [i gaf] 'this word' [a jisar] 'those years' [ha universitetde] 'at the university I mentioned'; [vini dagh] 'that mountain up there'.

To make stand-alone forms just add an [-m] in singular and [-bur] in plural:
[im] 'this one' [am] 'that one' [at'am] [ham] [vinim] [agham]
[ibur] 'these' [abur] 'those' [at'abur] [habur] [vinibur] [aghabur]

As noted earlier [am] is used also in the meaning 'he / she / it' and [abur] in the meaning 'they'

This is the technical name for question words. So, let us start asking questions:

[vuzh] When you ask 'who?' and expect that the answer will be more than one people you say [vuzhar]

I owe this page, as I owe everything, to K.D. , whose smile makes the impossible happen