Lesson 3 of 48 · Kingston
Use the invariant pronouns mi/yu/im/shi/wi/unu/dem for subject, object AND possessive; claim ownership with fi.
Patois pronouns are beautifully simple: ONE form does every job. Mi is I, me, and my. Yu is you and your. Im is he, she, him, his — gender-neutral (context tells you who). Shi (she) is common too; har is her, but ONLY as object or possessive, never subject. Wi is we, us, our. Unu — from the Igbo language — is plural you: unu come! means all of you, come. Dem is they, them, their. So: Mi see im a maakit (I saw him at the market), Gi mi di bag (give me the bag), dat a mi bredda (that's my brother) — same mi throughout. Possession has two moves. First, plain juxtaposition: yu yaad (your yard), Maas Joe goat (Maas Joe's goat) — no apostrophe-s. Second, fi + pronoun makes 'mine, yours, ours': fi mi, fi yu, fi im, fi ar, fi wi, fi unu, fi dem. The great Kingston ownership question: A fu who dis? (whose is this?) — A fi mi! (it's mine!). Example sentences: 1) Mi see im a maakit. — I saw him/her at the market. 2) Gi mi di bag. — Give me the bag. 3) Dat a mi bredda yaad. — That's my brother's yard. 4) Unu come ya! — You all, come here! 5) A fi mi dat! A no fi yu. — That's mine! It's not yours. 6) Di yaad a fi wi. — The yard is ours. 7) A fu who dis phone? A fi unu? — Whose phone is this? Yours (all)? 8) Im tek fi im book an lef fi mi own. — He took his book and left mine. Errors to recast: har as subject (Har a go a tung → Shi a go / Im a go); English us/our (recast wi); 'mines' (recast fi mi / fi mi own); and apostrophe-s possession ('John's mango' → Jan mango or fi Jan mango).
| Patois | Cassidy-JLU | English |
|---|---|---|
| mi | mi | I, me, my |
| yu / yuh | yu | you, your |
| im | im | he, she, him, his, her |
| shi | shi | she |
| har | ar | her (object/possessive only) |
| wi | wi | we, us, our |
| unu | unu | you (plural), you all |
| dem | dem | they, them, their |
| fi mi | fi mi | mine, my own |
| fi yu | fi yu | yours |
| fi wi | fi wi | ours |
| fi dem | fi dem | theirs |
| a fu who? | a fu uu? | whose is it? |
| fi mi own | fi mi uon | my own, mine |
He sets out a paradigm in which the folk pronouns distinguish only person and number, with a single form doing every case — mi for I/me/my, im for all genders, dem, we, unu — because once Standard word order was adopted, case forms were grammatically pointless. Possession is by bare juxtaposition or by periphrastic fi, never by an inflection.
The description of the grammar is checked against the published work above. The lesson, the examples and the wording are mine.
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