| SUBJECT (1) | OBJECT (1) | POSSESSIVE (adj. and pron.) (2) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mi | I | me | me | ma | my; mine |
| tu (3) | you; thou | te | you | ta | your; yours |
| il | he | le | him | la | his |
| el | she | le, ley | her | la | her; hers |
| it | it | le, it | it | la | its |
| so | one | se | oneself | sa | his; one’s |
| nos | we | ne | us | na | our; ours |
| vu (3) | you | ve | you | va | your; yours |
| zi | they | ze | them | za | their; theirs |
| zel | they (fem.) | ze, zey | them (fem.) | ||
(1) IMPORTANT. After a preposition, the pronoun has always the “subject” form: venar tu kon nos? are you coming with us? mi exar kon il I go out with him;
For the indirect object pronoun, you may also say: a mi, a tu, a il and so on (to me, to you, to him); in the third person, you may also replace le by lu (fem. luy) and ze by zu (fem. zuy), (only for indirect object);
When, in the same sentence, you have two object pronouns, the one direct and the other one indirect, the indirect one is placed first: mi te it vendar I sell it to you; nos ve le prezentor we shall introduce him to you; nos le (lu) ve prezentor we shall introduce you to him.
(2) Examples: ma dom, ma domos my house, my houses; possessive pronouns end with s in the plural: lo ma mine; lo mas mine (plural);
There exists also a “rich” possessive, more expressive: mia, tua, ila, ela, ita, soa, nosa, vua, zia, zela:
nosas plu shira qam vuas ours are more expensive than yours
This “rich” possessive usually follows the name to which it refers and adds emphasis:
Patrio mia! My fatherland (mine)! Patro nosa! Our Father (ours)!
(3) Several Neists suggest using tu when addressing a single person and vu when addressing two persons or more, as was normal practice in Latin.
| lo | what | lo ki me plar | what appeals to me | |
| lo ke mi var i | what I want to have | |||
| ko | what | ko oxar? | what happens? | |
| object ke | what | ke var tu? | what do you want? | |
| ke par mi fi po vu? | what can I do for you? | |||
| ki | who | ki venar? | who is coming? | |
| object ken | who (whom) | ken vidar vu? | whom do you see? | |
| possessive kia | whose | kia et lap? | whose is this pencil? | |
| ki(1) | who | lo vir ki venar | the man who is coming | |
| object ke(1) | who (whom) | lo vir ke tu vidar | the man (whom) you see |
(1) relative pronoun
Animals can be “he, she or it”, as in English. When, in the same sentence, or in the same narrative, you have two pronouns, the one relating to a human being, and the other one to an animal, it is suggested, in order to avoid confusion, to use il (or el) for the human being, and it for the animal.
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES ma-, ta-, la-, el(a)-, sa- na-, va-, za-, zel(a)- are frequently used as PREFIXES:
| maopine | in my opinion |
| vadomye | in your house |
| elopine | in her opinion |
| il agir sakonvinke | he acted according to his conviction |
| navola decidos | our free-will decisions |
| savole | of his (own) free will |
| zaopine | in their opinion |
| zamode | after their manner |
| maelte | on my part, from me, on my behalf |
The English impersonal pronoun “it, this, that” (in Neo eto or it) is often dropped in Neo:
| ar nil vik | it has no importance |
| me tote egala | it is all the same to me |
| me parar strana | it seems strange to me |
| nesar agi | it is necessary to act |
| sar perfa! | that is all right! |
| par oxi! | this may happen! |
| far bela oje | it is fine weather to-day |
But this pronoun may not be dropped when used as object or interrogatively:
| Mi trar eto tote bona | I find this quite good |
| Libar vu it? | Do you like it? |
| Sar it posibla? | Is it possible? |
Still, you may say:
| Sar ve egala es…? | Do you mind if…? |
Because such a useful question cannot be confused for the statement.
Il, el, it, zi, zel mean also “the one”, “those”
| il ki venar | the one who is coming |
| el ke tu amar | she whom you love |
| zi ki kantir yerser | those who sang yesterday evening |
| it ke vu bildir | the one you built |
The pronoun zi has one rather special form ziel to denote a couple (m, f) or a mixed-sex group.
| Mi te vidar, tu no me vidar. | I see you, you don’t see me. |
| Var vu exi kon mi? | Will you go out with me? |
| Il dicar el no venor. | He says she will not come. |
| Mi te dor pan, tu me dor vin. | I’ll give you bread, you’ll give mе wine. |
| Vo ta dom? Em lo ma. | Where is your house? Here is mine. |
| Va kamos plu grana qam nas. | Your rooms are larger than ours. |
| Ma dom plu leta qam ta. | My house is smaller than yours. |
| Mi no spar pri ko tu parlar. | I don’t know what you are speaking about. |
| Il parlar pril yera axident. | He is talking about yesterday’s accident. |
| El sem dicar to a sa matro. | She always says everything to her mother. |
| Nos exor kon zi krasmatin. | We’ll go out with them to-morrow morning. |
| Lo vir ki venir e ke tu no libar. | The man who came and whom you don’t like. |
| Mi vur spi kia et bel dom. | I would like to know to whom this beautiful house belongs. |
| Sar forse lo del derker. | It is perhaps the director’s. |
| Mi no spar lo ke tu var fi. | I don’t know what you want to do. |
| Ken inkontrir tu etmatin? | Whom did you meet this morning? |
| Lo dam dey filyo tu konar. | The lady whose son you know. |
| Par mi ti ma libros in ta kam? | May I put my books in your room? |
| Ya, mo no tiu lo tas nir lo mas. | Yes, but do not put yours near mine. |
| Yer mi te vidir kon ta frat. | I saw you yesterday with your brother. |
| Yer fir bela, mo oje pluvar. | Yesterday it was fine, but to-day it is raining. |
| No me vikar resti domye oje. | I don’t mind staying home to-day. |