Personal Pronouns

• Emphatic
• Prefixes
• Inclusive

Personal Emphatic Pronouns

Observation

ᒫᓈᑖᐦ ᐧᐄᔨ ᒑ ᐃᑐᐦᑖᑦ᙮

maanaataah wiiyi chaa ituhtaat.

It is there that s/he (and not someone else) will go.

The word ᐧᐄᔨ wiiyi is called a personal pronoun. Cree has a set of personal pronouns that are used to express emphasis.

Personal Emphatic Pronoun
ᒌᔨ		chiiyi	you
ᓃᔨ		niiyi	me
ᒌᔨᐧᐋᐤ		chiiyiwaau	you (plural)
ᒌᔮᓂᐤ		chiiyaaniu	we (including you)
ᓃᔮᓐ		niiyaan	we (excluding you)
ᐧᐄᔨ		wiiyi	him/her
ᐧᐄᔨᐧᐋᐤ		wiiyiwaau	them
ᐧᐄᔨ		wiiyi	him/her/them (the other/s) (obviative)

The pronouns may appear in many places in a sentence:

ᒫᓈᑖᐦ ᒑ ᐃᑐᐦᑖᑦ ᐧᐄᔨ᙮		maanaataah chaa ituhtaat wiiyi.	It is there that S/HE will go.
ᒫᓈᑖᐦ ᐧᐄᔨ ᒑ ᐃᑐᐦᑖᑦ᙮		maanaataah wiiyi chaa ituhtaat.	It is there that S/HE will go.
ᐧᐄᔨ ᓈᑖᐦ ᒋᑭ ᐃᑐᐦᑖᐤ᙮		wiiyi naataah chiki ituhtaau.	It is HER who will go there.

When placed after a noun, emphatic pronouns help form equational sentences. This is how one initiates a telephone conversation, for example.

ᓘᓰ ᓃᔨ᙮

Luci niiyi.

It is me, Luci/ I am Luci.

They can also be used to emphasize possession. In that case, the pronoun appears first.

ᓃᔨ ᐊᓐ᙮

niiyi an.

That is mine!

The pronoun ᐧᐄ wii must not be confused with the volitional preverb ᐧᐄ wii, nor the particle ᐧᐄ wii used for emphasis with a noun.

ᓂᒧᐃ ᓅᐦᒋ ᐃᔮᓈᓐ ᐧᐄ ᑏ᙮

nimui nuuhchi iyaanaan wii tii.

Even tea, we did not have.