Pronoun Personal

Summary

In Biblical Aramaic, a personal pronoun is a word that indirectly refers to a particular person(s) or thing(s). In English, the following words are personal pronouns: “I”, “we”, “you”, “he”, “she”, “they”, “them”.

Article

In Biblical Aramaic, personal pronouns change form according to gender (masculine, number (feminine, and person (first, second, or third. Grammatically they are very similar to pronominal suffixes, but they stand alone rather than attaching to other kinds of words; also, they are more limited in their function.

Form

Paradigm

Function

As a general noun

As subject of a finite verb

Sometimes an independent personal pronoun appears as the subject of a finite verb even though the pronominal subject is already indicated by the verb form iteself. In these cases, the personal pronoun functions to emphasize the personal role of the subject in performing the verbal action. When used in this way, the personal pronoun is often translated reflexively in English: “myself”, “yourself”, etc.

As subject of a verbal participle

In apposition with a noun or pronominal suffix

Sometimes a personal pronoun simply repeats a noun or pronominal suffix that has appeared earlier in the sentence. The specific function of the repeated pronoun must be discerned from the context in these cases, but often the repetition expresses some kind of emphasis on the identified person(s) or thing(s) within the sentence.