The Pronoun System

01

The Basic Set

• mi - I, me
• yu - you (one person)
• em - he, she, it, him, her
• yumi - we, including the person spoken to
• mipela - we, not including the person spoken to
• yupela - you (several people)
• ol - they, them

• Mi no sik.

  I'm not sick.

• Yu slip?

  Are you asleep?

• Em kaikai.

  He is eating.

• Yupela i op?

  Are you open?

• Ol i no amamas.

  They are not happy.

02

Exactly Two People

Alongside the plural forms there is a set for a pair. yutupela is "you two" and nobody else, built transparently from yu plus tupela, "two". The corresponding first-person form is mitupela, the two of us.

• Yutupela wokim wanem nau?

  What are you two doing now?

• Welkam, plis yutupela sindaun.

  Welcome, please sit down, you two.

• Yutupela i no inap i dai.

  You two cannot die.

-pela comes from "fellow" and marks a pronoun as non-singular; -tupela narrows that to exactly two. Once you see it, the whole set becomes predictable rather than a list to memorise.

03

No Subject and Object Forms

A pronoun keeps one shape wherever it stands. mi is both "I" and "me", em is both "he" and "him", ol is both "they" and "them". There is nothing corresponding to the English I/me or she/her split.

• Yu lukim mi tu?

  Do you see me too?

• Ol i no tokim mi tu.

  They didn't tell me either.

• Mi laikim ol na ol i laikim mi.

  I like them and they like me.

04

Possession Uses the Same Words

There is no separate set of possessive pronouns either. Possession is built with bilong followed by the ordinary pronoun, so "my" is simply "of me".

• Dispela em pren bilong mi, Anna.

  This is my friend, Anna.

• Pikinini man bilong mipela i nogat wok.

  Our son has no job.

05

Echoing the Subject

A pronoun frequently turns up again immediately after a full noun-phrase subject, restating it before the predicate. English would not repeat itself this way, but in Tok Pisin it is ordinary and especially common once the subject has run to several words.

• Papa mama bilong mi ol i wok long benk.

  My parents work at a bank.

• Ol wanwok bilong mi ol i gutpela long mi.

  My colleagues are good to me.

• Bel bilong mi em i hevi tru.

  My heart is very heavy.

06

'ol' Does Two Jobs

ol is both the pronoun "they" and the marker that makes a noun plural, and the two sit in different places. Standing alone before the verb it is the pronoun; standing in front of a noun it is the plural marker.

• Ol no lukim, tasol ol harim.

  They didn't see, but they heard.

• Ol man i laikim moa yet.

  The men want still more.

07

Which Ones Take the Marker

In careful speech the predicate marker i follows em, ol, mipela and yupela, but never mi, yu or yumi. Everyday speech often drops it after em and ol too, which is why Em kaikai above has none. This is the one thing about the pronouns that is not simply a matter of vocabulary.