Pronoun Demonstrative¶
Summary¶
A demonstrative pronoun refers to a specific person(s) or thing(s) in particular. In English, the following words are demonstrative pronouns: “this”, “that”, “these”, “those”.
Article¶
In Biblical Aramaic, demonstrative pronouns can function either as nouns or adjectives. Demonstrative pronouns can change form according to gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) but NOT according to person (i.e. first, second, or third person).
Form¶
Paradigm¶
Parsing |
Aramaic |
Transliteration |
Gloss |
---|---|---|---|
masculine singular near |
דֶּנָה |
denah |
this |
feminine singular near |
דָּה |
da’ |
this |
masculine singular far |
דֵּךְ |
dekh |
that |
feminine singular far |
דָּךְ |
dakh |
that |
both singular far |
דִּכֵּן |
dikken |
that |
common plural far |
אִלֵּין (also אֵל and אֵלֶּה) |
‘illeyn (also ‘el and ‘elleh) |
those |
feminine plural far |
אִלֵּךְ |
‘illekh |
those |
Function¶
As a noun¶
Reciprocal¶
Demonstrative pronouns can be used to distinguish individuals within a group interacting with each other.
Apposition to a noun¶
As an adjective¶
as an attributive adjective¶
When used as an attributive adjective, a demonstrative pronoun often follows the noun, and both terms can take the definite article. Sometimes neither the noun nor the demonstrative pronoun takes the definite article. In either case, the demonstrative pronoun makes the described noun definite.