Xom nem

The Ba kom word for "pronoun" is xom nem, "name replacement".

Pronouns represent noun phrases. They refer to participants in a conversation (“I”, “you”) or to someone/something mentioned elsewhere in the conversation (“she”, “they”).

When a pronoun is obvious from context, it may be dropped, whether it is the subject or object.
A pronoun that follows a preposition cannot be dropped.

These are the Ba kom pronouns:

1st- and 2nd-person pronouns

• mi — "I, me, my"; 1st-person singular

• mim — "we, us, our"; 1st-person plural

• si — "you, your" (one person); 2nd-person singular

• sim — "you, your" (two or more people); 2nd-person plural

First-person and second-person pronouns refer to people who are involved in a conversation.

These pronouns may be made possessive with or without the preposition i ("of").

• ce ping mi
  [vehicle] [foot] [I]
  ce ping i mi
  [vehicle] [foot] [of] [I]
  "my bicycle"

• bin si
  [son/daughter] [you]
  bin i si
  [son/daughter] [of] [you]
  "your son/daughter"

• pakim mim
  [belief] [we]
  pakim i mim
  [belief] [of] [we]
  "our belief"

3rd- and 4th-person pronouns

• o — "he/she/it"; animate singular

• om — "they"; animate plural

These can only be used for animate nouns.

When used as demonstrative adjectives, o and om mean "the".

• wa — "this, these"

  • im wa — "these"

These are used for things that are close to the speaker.
They are also used for things that the speaker has said or is about to say.

• ya — "that, those"

  • im ya — "those"

These are used for referents that are far away from the speaker.
They are also used for things that the listener has said or is about to say.

• il — "he/she/it", "someone else", "something else"

This is a "fourth-person" pronoun.
In subordinate clauses or indirect statements, the third-person pronouns o and om refer back to someone in the main clause, while il refers to a different person.

• • O wo mi ba o bain si.
    [he/she] [to] [I] [say] [he/she] [love] [you]
    "He/she told me that he/she (the same person) loves you."

  • O wo mi ba il bain si.
    [he/she] [to] [I] [say] [he/she] [love] [you]
    "He/she told me that he/she (someone else) loves you."

• yan — "something, anything"; (in negative sentences) "nothing, none"

This is an indefinite pronoun. It can be translated as "one" or as the general "you".

• im — "some", "several", "a few"

• to — "each, every, all of the"

These refer to people or things that are not taking part in a conversation.

The third-person pronouns (o, om, wa, and ya) feature an animacy distinction. O/om are animate, and wa/ya are inanimate.
An animate pronoun can only be used for animate nouns, and an inanimate pronoun can only be used for inanimate nouns.
Thus, it is incorrect to say in wa "this person" or tik ya "that tree". One must say in o and tik o.
(For more on animacy, see Nouns.)

Ba kom has no word for "it". Most often, inanimate nouns are not referred to with a pronoun. This can result in sentences that have no subject.

Third-person pronouns may only be made possessive with i.

• bin i yan
  [son/daughter] [of] [someone]
  "someone's son/daughter"

• tik i o
  [tree] [of] [he/she]
  "his/her tree"

• tel i to
  [house] [of] [every]
  "everyone's house"

• pakim i om
  [belief] [of] [they]
  "their belief"

When 3rd-person pronouns are placed after a noun without i, they are demonstrative adjectives. In this way, o and om function as definite articles, though they can only be used on animate nouns.

• in yan
  [person] [any]
  "anyone", "no one"

• tel to
  [house] [every]
  "every house"

• tik o
  [tree] [he/she]
  "the tree"

• tik om
  [tree] [they]
  "the trees"

Because there is no proximal-distal distinction in animate pronouns, one can use ta ya "there" and ta wa "here" to give this information.

• nim om ta wa
  [songbird] [they] [at] [here]
  "these songbirds"

• lin o ta ya
  [river] [the] [at] [there]
  "that river"

Ba nem xam | Question pronouns

The basic question pronoun is mo. When mo is used by itself, it means "what". It is used for anything that is not a human being.

• O san mo?
  [he/she] [say] [what]
  "What did he/she say?"

• O ta mo?
  [he/she] [be at] [what]
  "Where is he/she?"

• Si la so mo?
  [you] [aspect] [do] [what]
  "What are you doing?"

• Mo po mamam si?
  [what] [can] [make.happy] [you]
  "What would make you happy?"

Mo can be combined with nouns to form other pronouns:

• in mo
  [person] [what]
  "who"

• ko mo
  [thing] [what]
  "what"

• ka mo
  [place] [what]
  "where"

• wan mo
  [time] [what]
  "when"

Mo can be placed after a stative verb, where it means "to what degree".

• Wa map mai mo?
  [this] [cost] [much] [what]
  "How much does this cost?"

• Maun da mo?
  [hill] [big] [what]
  "How tall is the hill?"

• Ul pain mo?
  [water] [far] [what]
  "How far is the sea?"

In Ba kom, the word order of a question is the same as its answer. For example:

• O a in mo?
  [he/she] [be] [person] [what]
  "Who is she?"
  O a Jang Yun-Ai.
  [he/she] [be] Zhang Yun'ai
  "She is Zhang Yun'ai."

• Si co ta mo?
  [you] [live] [at] [where]
  "Where do you live?"
  Mi co ta dom enugu ta di naji.
  [I] [live] [at] [city] [Enugwu] [at] [country] [Nigeria]
  "I live in Enugwu, Nigeria."

Mo as an antecedent

Mo can be followed by a descriptive phrase like a stative verb, relative clause, or prepositional phrase. This can be translated as "that which …" or "he/she who …".

• Ya a mo i mi.
  [that] [be] [what] [of] [I]
  "That's mine."

• Mi wi ye mo i lom.
  [I] [want to] [have] [what] [that is] [green/blue]
  "I want the green/blue one."

• mo i om din wo mim
  [what] [relativizer] [they] [give] [to] [us]
  "their gift to us"

• mo i si san
  [what] [relativizer] [you] [say]
  "what you said"

• mo i nat lok
  [who] [relativizer] [send] [document]
  "whoever sent the letter"

• mo nin
  [what] [little]
  "the little one", "a little one"

• Ten yai ba go gai do, xe mi mok mo sam.
  [match] [method] [call for] [egg] [chicken] [two]
  [but] [I] [mix] [what] [three]
  "The recipe calls for two eggs, but I put in three."

San nem nipun | Indefinite pronoun

The indefinite pronoun is yan. It can be translated as "one", "anything", "anyone", or "people". It also translates English "you" when not used to refer to a specific person.

Yan is used when a pronoun is required, but information about who the pronoun refers to is not required. Yan can be the subject or object of a verb.

• Yan bain si.
  [someone] [love] [you]
  "You are loved."

• Yan mak on mim.
  [someone] [eye] [perceive] [we]
  "We were seen."

• cit wot i pa yan pik
  [blade] [war] [relativizer] [passive] [someone] [break]
  "the sword that was broken"

• Si ca na yan.
  [you] [know] [not] [anything]
  "You know nothing."

Correlatives

Wa, ya, mo, and yan can be combined with certain nouns, prepositions, and verbs to form correlative words. Here is a list of such expressions:

• ko […] — An inanimate object.

  • ko wa — this thing

  • ko ya — that thing

  • ko mo — what thing

  • ko yan — anything, nothing

  • ko to — everything

• in […] — A person.

  • in mo — who

  • in yan — anyone, no one

  • in to — everyone

• ka […] — A place.
  Usually follows the prepositions ta, "at/to" or min "from".

  • ka wa — here

  • ka ya — there

  • ka mo — where

  • ka yan — anywhere, nowhere

  • ka to — everywhere

• wan […] — A time.
  Usually follows the prepositions sa, "at (a time)" or min "since".

  • wan wa — now

  • wan ya — then

  • wan mo — when

  • wan yan — any time, no time

  • wan to — every time, all the time

• yu […] — A reason or cause; "(it is) because of".

  • yu wa — therefore, because of this

  • yu ya — therefore, because of that

  • yu mo — why

• lai […] — "to be like; to do or be in a certain way".

  • lai wa — like this, so, thus

  • lai ya — like that, so, thus

  • lai mo — how

  • lai yan — at all, in any way

Xon nem son | Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and object of a verb are the same. They are formed with the noun son, “self”, followed by a pronoun. Third person pronouns can drop i.

• Mu si ui son si?
  [question] [you] [hear] [self] [you]
  "Do you hear yourself?"

• O kong son o.
  [he/she] [injure] [self] [he/she]
  "He/she hurt himself/herself."

Reflexive pronouns can also be used possessively.
In this case they are translated into English with the word "own".

• Mi un tong ha i son mi.
  [I] [use] [stick] [eating] [of] [self] [I]
  "I use my own chopsticks."

• Mim hak tel co i son mim.
  [we] [own] [building] [residence] [of] [self] [we]
  "We own our own house."

• Mu im wa a titing i son si?
  [question] [several] [this] [be] [idea] [of] [self] [you]
  "Are these your own ideas?"

In order to say “by oneself”, one uses the preposition sa, “as”. One may also say sa nan, "only as", for emphasis.

• Mu si yon ta ya sa son si?
  [question] [you] [go] [to] [there] [as] [self] [you]
  "Are you going there by yourself?"

• Mi so ya sa nan son mi.
  [I] [do] [that] [as] [just] [self] [I]
  "I did that all by myself."