Circassian pronouns

In the Circassian language, pronouns belong to the following groups: personal, demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, adherent and indefinite.

In Adyghe, personal pronouns are only expressed in first person, second person and reflexive second-person in singular and plural forms.

сэ	о	усэплъэы
[sa	wa	wəsapɬə]
I	you	I am looking at you
"I am looking at you."

мы	ӏофыр	сэркӏэ	къины
[mə	ʔʷafər	sart͡ʃʼa	qəjnə]
this	work (abs.)	for me	hard
"this work is hard for me."

ежь	сэ	къысиӏуагъ
[jaʑ	sa	qəsəjʔʷaːʁ]
him/her	I	(s)he told me
"he told me himself."

Demonstrative pronouns are мы "this", мо "that", а "that". There is a contradistinction between 'мы' and 'мо' on how far the referred object is. The pronoun 'а' is neutral on this matter. Third person pronouns are expressed as demonstrative pronouns.

мор	о	уимашинэ
[mor	wa	wəjmaːʃina]
this (abs.)	you	your car
"That is your car."

ащ	къысиӏуагъэр	мыщ	есӏотэжьыгъ
[aːɕ	qəsəjʔʷaːʁar	məɕ	qəjnə]
that (erg.)	the thing (s)he told me	this (erg.)	I told him back
"I told this person the things that person told me."

ахэмкӏэ	мы	джанэу	мощ	щыгъэр	дахэ
[aːxamt͡ʃʼa	mə	d͡ʒaːnaw	moɕ	ɕəʁər	daːxa]
for them (ins.)	this	shirt (adv.)	that (erg.)	the thing (s)he is wearing	beautiful
"According to them, the shirt this person is wearing is beautiful."

The demonstrative pronouns джэ "that", дымы "this over here" and дымо "that over there" also exist in Circassian. There is a contradistinction between 'дымы' and 'дымо' on how far the referred object is. The pronoun 'джэ' is also neutral on this matter.

дымощ	ицуакъэ	ишъо	олъэгъуа?
[dəmoɕ	jət͡sʷaːqa	jəʃʷa	waɬaʁʷaː]
that over there (erg.)	his shoe	its color	do you see it?
"Do you see the color of that person's shoe over there?"

джэхэмэ	садэгущыӏагъ
[d͡ʒaxama	saːdaɡʷəɕəʔaːʁ]
those (erg.)	I spoke to them
"I spoke to them."

дымор	кӏалэу	къысэуагъэр
[dəmor	t͡ʃʼaːɮaw	qəsawaːʁar]
that over there (abs.)	boy (adv.)	the one that hit me
"That is the boy that hit me over there."

The interrogative pronoun is тэ "which".

Auxiliary interrogative words:

• хэт (хэта) "who".
• сыд (шъыд) "what/which".
• сыда (шъыда) "why".
• тыдэ "where".
• тхьэпш "how much".
• сыд фэдиз "how much".
• тэщтэу (сыдэущтэу) "how".
• тары "which".
• сыдигъу (шъыдгъо) "when".
• сыдкӏэ (шъыдкӏэ) "with what".
• сыд фэд? "what kind of?".

хэт	къэкӏуагъэ?
[xat	qakʷʼaːʁa]
who	the person that came
"Who came?"

сыд	кӏалэм	ыцӏэ?
[səd	t͡ʃʼaːɮam	ət͡sʼa]
what	the boy (erg.)	his name
"What is the boy's name?"

непэ	тыдэ	ущыӏэщт?
[najpa	təda	wɕəʔaɕt]
today	where	you will be there
"Today where will you be?"

мы	джэгуалъэхэр	сэсиех
[mə	d͡ʒaɡʷaːɬaxar	sasəjax]
this	toys (abs.)	they are mine
"these toys are mine."

дымо	унэ	плъэгъурэ	сэсый
[dəmo	wəna	pɬaʁʷəra	sasəj]
that over there	house	what one you're seeing	mine
"That house you are seeing is mine."

мыр	оуя	ежья?
[mər	wawəjaː	jaʑjaː]
this (abs.)	is it yours?	is it his?
"Is this yours or his?"

The nouns in Adyghe are different by their accessory signs^{[clarification needed]}, which are broken down into the natural attribute and the property attribute. The natural attribute is for body parts and kin relationships (e.g. 'son', 'sister'). All other words belong to the property attribute.

• Natural attributes are expressed with the following prefixes:

ышынахьыкӏэ	ицӏэ	Аслъан
[əʃənaːħət͡ʃʼa	jət͡sʼa	aːsɬaːn]
his younger brother	his name	Aslan
"His younger brother's name is Aslan."

сэ	слъакъо	мэузы
[sa	sɬaːqʷa	mawzə]
I	my leg	it is hurting
"my leg hurts."

• Property attributes are expressed by a different set of prefixes:

сэ	сицӏэ	Аслъан
[sa	səjt͡sʼa	aːsɬaːn]
I	my name	Aslan
"My name is Aslan."

сэ	сиунэ	ишъо	фыжьы
[sa	səjwəna	jəʃʷa	fəʑə]
I	my house	its color	white
"The color of my house is white."

яджанэхэр	нахь	дахэх	уиджанэхэмэ
[jaːd͡ʒaːnaxar	naːħ	daːxax	wəjd͡ʒaːnaxama]
their clothes (abs.)	more	beautiful (plural)	your clothes (erg.)
"Their clothes are more beautiful than yours."

In Adyghe whole one - зыгорэ.^{[clarification needed]} Serves for indication of all notions corresponding to English words "someone", "something", "someone", "something", "sometime", "somewhere", etc.

Changes either as noun – in number and in cases:

зыгорэ	пчъэм	къытеуагъ
[zəɡʷara	pt͡ʂam	qətajwaːʁ]
someone (abs.)	door (erg.)	(s)he knocked it
"someone has knocked the door."

кӏалэ горэм	бэнанэр	ешхы
[t͡ʃʼaːɮa ɡʷaram	banaːna	jaʃxə]
some boy (erg.)	the banana (abs.)	he eats
"some boy is eating the banana"

пшъэшъэ	дахэ горэм	мыр	къысиӏуагъ
[pʂaʂa	daːxa ɡʷaram	mər	qəsiʔʷaːʁ]
girl	some pretty (erg.)	this	he/she told me
"some pretty girl told me this"

Circassian adherent pronouns:

• зыр, зым "one"
• зыхэр, зыхэм "some"
• зыгорэ, зыгорэм "someone, something"
• тӏур, тӏум "both"
• тэдрэзым "each one"
• нэмыкӏыр "other"
• ежь "self"
• зэкӏэ "whole, all"
• пстэури "everyone"
• шъхьадж "every"
• ышъхьэкӏэ "self personally"
• хэти, хэтрэ "everyone", "each"
• сыди, сыдрэ "everything", "each"
• тыди, тыдэкӏи "everywhere"
• зи, зыми "no one" (verb has to be negative)
• зыгорэп "nothing" (verb has to be negative)
• зыгори, зыгорэми "nobody, no one" (verb has to be negative)

Examples:

Хэти зышъхьамысыжьэу 1оф ыш1эн фае "Everyone must work hard".

Сыдрэ 1офри дэгъу, угу къыбде1эу бгъэцак1эмэ "Each job is good if it is made with soul".

Зыгори чэщдэсым къэкӏощтэп "Nobody will come to the party".

Пстэури экзамыным феджэх "Everyone is studying for the exam".

Ышъхьэкӏэ къыкӏонэу зэрэфамые къыӏуагъ "He said himself that he doesn't want to come".

Зыр къещхымэ унэм икӏыщтэп "One will not go out of the house if it is raining".

Зыхэр чэщым къыдэкӏыщтых, зыхэр къыдэкӏыщтыхэп "Some will go out in the night, some won't".

сэры	къэшъугъотын фае
[sarə	qaʃʷəʁʷatən faːja]
it is me	the one you must find
"the one you must find is me."

ары	къысиIуагъэ
[aːrə	qəsiʔʷaːʁa]
that is	the thing he told me
"that is what he told me"

дыморы	кIалэу	сфэсIуагъэ
[dəmorə	t͡ʃaːlaw	səfasʔʷaːʁa]
that is over there	boy (adv.)	the thing i talked about
"here is the boy i talked about"

• Аркадьев, П. М.; Ландер, Ю. А.; Летучий, А. Б.; Сумбатова, Н. Р.; Тестелец, Я. Г. Введение. Основные сведения об адыгейском языке в кн.: "Аспекты полисинтетизма: очерки по грамматике адыгейского языка" под ред.: П. М. Аркадьев, А. Б. Летучий, Н. Р. Сумбатова, Я. Г. Тестелец. Москва: РГГУ, 2009 (Arkadiev, P. M.; Lander, Yu. A.; Letuchiy, A. B.; Sumbatova, N. R.; Testelets, Ya. G.
• Introduction. Basic information about Adyghe language in "Aspects of polysyntheticity: studies on Adyghe grammar" edited by: P. M. Arkadiev, A. B. Letuchiy, N. R. Sumbatova, Ya. G. Testelets. Moscow, RGGU, 2009) (in Russian) ISBN 978-5-7281-1075-0