A few posts ago we looked at the independent pronouns: pronoun forms that act as distinct words. Just like fuS7a, Syrian also has a corresponding set of ‘attached’ pronouns, suffixes which can’t stand on their own and have to occur with another word. In this post we’ll be looking briefly at how these pronouns work.
Attached pronouns suffix mainly (but not exclusively) to nouns and to verbs. Although the forms are mostly the same, there are a few small differences, so it’s worth looking at them separately. Today we’ll be looking at the forms that attach to nouns.
Noun forms
A pronoun attached to a noun plays the same role as the last noun an an 2iDaafe construction, which generally means it expresses a possessor. The pronouns attached to nouns are as follows. Note that unlike in fuS7a, several pronouns have different forms depending on whether they follow a consonant or a vowel:
|
After consonant |
After vowel |
|
كتابي |
قهاويي 2ahaawii-yi my cafes |
|
كتابك |
قهاويك |
|
كتابك |
قهاويكي |
|
كتابو |
قهاويه |
|
كتابها |
قهاويها |
|
كتابنا |
قهاوينا |
|
كتابكن |
قهاويكن |
| كتابهن ktaab-hon their book |
قهاويهن |
The h in -ha and -hon is often dropped. Note the ‘him’ form, which is pronounced only as stress and lengthening on the final vowel.
As you’d expect, these pronouns attach to the special forms used for nouns serving as the first word of an 2iDaafe. Most commonly, this means ـة is pronounced as -et (the e is dropped or becomes i in accordance with the normal rules when suffixes are added):
|
مدرستو |
غرفتنا |
Note the forms 2akhkhuu- and 2abuu-, which like in fuS7a lose their -u when -i ‘my’ is attached:
|
أخوها |
أخي 2akh-i my brother |
| أبونا 2abuu-na our father |
أبي |
Body parts that come in twos, as we have seen, often have a plural that looks like a dual (ending in ـين -een). This loses its -n when pronouns are attached:
|
إيديي |
رجليكي |
These pronouns occasionally attach to other kinds of words, too. In particular, as we’ll see later, they’re used with prepositions.