ni-
Aromanian
Derived terms
Classical Nahuatl
Alternative forms
- n- (before vowels)
Garo
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Kamba
Alternative forms
Prefix
ni-
- I (used for conjugating verbs to the subjective or nominative case of the personal pronoun)
Mohawk
Etymology
From Proto-Iroquoian *ijiː.
Prefix
ni-
- pronominal prefix for
- They both (m) ____
Alternative forms
- | Initial consonant | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Environment | t/s/h/k | n/r/w/’ | a | e/en | o/on | i | y |
Word-Initial | ni- | ni- | i- | n- | n- | n- | ni- |
References
- Gunther Michelson (1973) A thousand words of Mohawk, University of Ottawa Press, page 9
- Nora Deering, Helga H. Delisle (1976) Mohawk: A teaching grammar (preliminary version), Quebec: Manitou College, pages 147, 172
Navajo
Norwegian Bokmål
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /niː/
Derived terms
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
Doublet of nid. From Old Norse níð, from Proto-Germanic *nīþą.
Prefix
ni-
- Used as an intensifier, especially in verbs
Derived terms
References
- “ni-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Ojibwe
Prefix
ni-
- A prefix denoting the first person
Usage notes
ni- is the unmarked form, and appears before stems that begin with the consonants p, t, k, h, ch, m, n, s, sh, w, and y. In animate intransitive verbs (vai) and transitive inanimate verbs (vti) conjugations, ni- or one of its alternative forms can act as part of a pair of affixes, with the affix -min (or a variant) to form the first person plural exclusive . In transitive animate verbs (vta) - that is verbs where the subject and the object are both animate - ni- can indicate that either the subject or the object is first-person (singular or plural), according to the rules of topicality hierarchy.
See also
Old English
Etymology
From earlier *niwi-, before a regular sound change in which non-word-initial *w was lost before fully unstressed *i. The same sound change occurred to ǣ (“law”) ← *ǣi ← *āwi, sǣ (“sea”) ← *sǣi ← *sāwi, and glī (“joy”) ← *gliwi. It must have also occurred to nīewe (“new”) in the nominative singular, producing *nī ← *niwi, but its *w was restored by analogy with its inflected forms, which had a following *j instead of *i.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /niː/
Derived terms
Pipil
Pronunciation
- (standard) IPA(key): /ni/
Prefix
ni-
- (personal) I, first-person singular subject marker.
- Niaw nimumachtia Nawat
- I'm going to learn Nawat
- Niaw nimumachtia Nawat
Serbo-Croatian
Prefix
ni- (Cyrillic spelling ни-)
- Prefix prepended to pronouns to denote a negative meaning, synonymous with ne- (“no, not”).
- igdje ili nigdje. ― anywhere or nowhere
- itko ili nitko. ― anyone or no one
- ikad ili nikad. ― anytime or never
- Prefix prepended to copula verb biti in present tense to denote a negative meaning, synonymous with ne- (“not”).
- Bio sam tu ali nisam bio tamo. ― I was here but I was not there.
Derived terms
Swahili
Other scripts | |
---|---|
Ajami | نِـ |
Pronunciation
Audio (Kenya) (file)
Prefix
ni-
- I, 1st person singular subject concord
- Antonym: si-
- ninakupenda ― I like you
- 18th century, Abdallah bin Ali bin Nasir, Al-Inkishafi, translation from R. Allen (1946) “Inkishafi—a translation from the Swahili”, in African Studies, volume 5, number 4, , pages 243–249, stanza 6:
- نِيَضِهِرِشِ يَغُ مَقَالِ ، اَبَيُ مُيُوْنِ نِقُصُدِيِ
- Niyaḍihirishe yangu maqali, ambayo moyoni niquṣudiye.
- Let me set forth the plan which I have in my heart.
- verb-initial form of -ni- (“me, 1st person singular object concord”)
See also
Number | Person | Independent | Subject concord | Object concord | Combined forms | Possessive | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
affirmative | negative | na | ndi- | si- | |||||
Singular | First | mimi | ni- | si- | -ni- | nami, na mimi | ndimi, ndiye | simi, siye | -angu |
Second | wewe | u- | hu- | -ku- | nawe, na wewe | ndiwe, ndiye | siwe, siye | -ako | |
Third | yeye | a-, yu- | ha-, hayu- | -m-, -mw-, -mu- | naye, na yeye | ndiye | siye | -ake | |
Plural | First | sisi | tu- | hatu- | -tu- | nasi, na sisi | ndisi, ndio | sio | -etu |
Second | ninyi | m-, mw-, mu- | ham-, hamw-, hamu- | -wa- | nanyi, na ninyi | ndinyi, ndio | sinyi, sio | -enu | |
Third | wao | wa- | hawa- | -wa- | nao | ndio | sio | -ao | |
Reflexive | — | — | -ji- | — | — | ||||
For a full table including other classes, see Appendix:Swahili personal pronouns. |
Swazi
Etymology 1
From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-, via an intermediate form *mɪ̀-.
Etymology 2
From Proto-Bantu *mʊ́-, via an intermediate form *mɪ́-.
Ternate
See also
independent | subject proclitic | possessive | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Informal | Formal | |||||
1st person singular | ngori | fangarem, fajaruf | to | ri | ||
2nd person singular | ngana | ngoni, jou ngoni | no | ni | ||
3rd person singular | unam, minaf | om, mof, inh | im, mif, manh | |||
1st person plural inclusive | ngone | fo | na, nga | |||
1st person plural exclusive | ngomi | fangare ngomim, fajaru ngomif, fara ngomi1 | mi | mi, mia | ||
2nd person plural | ngoni | ni | na, nia | |||
3rd person plural | anah, enanh | ih, nh, yoh, †, yanh, † | nah, ngah, manh |
- unmarked pronouns are gender non-specific
- m - masculine, f - feminine, h - human, nh - non-human
- 1 - for mixed-gender groups
- † - archaic
References
- Frederik Sigismund Alexander de Clercq (1890) Bijdragen tot de kennis der Residentie Ternate, E.J. Brill
- Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh
Welsh
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˌniː/, /nɪ/
West Makian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /n̪i/
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /n̪i/
See also
independent | possessive prefix | |
---|---|---|
1st person singular | de | ti |
2nd person singular | ni | ni |
3rd person singular | me | mVan., dVinan. |
1st person plural inclusive | ene | nV |
1st person plural exclusive | imi | mi |
2nd person plural | ini | fi |
3rd person plural | eme | di |
- V indicates the expected assimilated vowel of the following noun, following standard West Makian vowel harmony.
Xhosa
Etymology 1
From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-, via an intermediate form *mɪ̀-.
Etymology 2
From Proto-Bantu *mʊ́-, via an intermediate form *mɪ́-.
Ye'kwana
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ni-]
Inflection
pronoun | noun possessor/ series II verb argument |
postposition object | series I verb argument | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
transitive patient | intransitive patient-like | intransitive agent-like | transitive agent | |||||||
first person | ewü | y-, ∅-, ü-, u-1 | w-, wi- | |||||||
first person dual inclusive | küwü | k-, kü-, ku-, ki- | k-, kii-, ki-1 | |||||||
second person | amödö | ö-, öy-/öd-, o-, oy-/od-, a-, ay-/ad- | m-, mi- | |||||||
first person dual exclusive | nña | y-/d-, ch-, ∅-, i-1 | chö- | ∅- | n-, ni- | |||||
third person | tüwü | n-, ni- | ||||||||
distant past third person | — | kün-, kun-, kin-, ken-, küm-, kum-, kim-, kini- | ||||||||
coreferential/reflexive | — | t-, tü-, tu-, ti-, te- | — | |||||||
reciprocal | — | — | öö- | |||||||
|
series I verb argument: transitive agent and transitive patient | |
---|---|
first person > second person | mön-, man-, mon-, möm-, möni- |
first person dual exclusive > second person | |
second person > first person | k-, kü-, ku-, ki- |
second person > first person dual exclusive | |
third person > any person X …or… any person X > third person | see person X in the chart above |
Zulu
Etymology 1
From Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀-, via an intermediate form *mɪ̀-.
Etymology 2
From Proto-Bantu *mʊ́-, via an intermediate form *mɪ́-.
References
- C. M. Doke, B. W. Vilakazi (1972) “ni-”, in Zulu-English Dictionary, →ISBN: “ni-”