| Home | Contents | Words | Glossary |
Pronouns
| Synopsis | Personal Pronouns | Reflexives |
| Demonstratives | Pronoun Patterns | ou{toj |
| au)to&j | Interrogatives | Exercises |
| Relatives | ******** | ******** |
| Synopsis
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| A pronoun is used in
place of a noun to designate someone or something that can be understood
from the context. Generally it is a shorthand way of avoiding the
repetition of the noun, e.g. in the tedious long form:
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o( strathgo_j kalei= tou_j stratiw&taj. oi9 de\ stratiw~tai ble/pousi pro_j to_n strathgo&n. |
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| The general
calls the soldiers. And the soldiers look towards the general.
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| The second sentence would be replaced with something like: | |||
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oi9 de\ ble/pousi pro_j au)to&n. |
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And they look towards him. |
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| they and him
stand for the soldiers and the general and are called personal pronouns.
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Other types of pronouns: |
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| a reflexive pronoun
refers back to the subject of the verb and adds self to the pronoun:
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| lou&ei e9auth&n |
she is washing herself |
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| tre/pe sauto&n
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turn yourself round
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(the middle voice can also be used here) |
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| a demonstrative pronoun points out a person or thing: | |||
| ou{toi me\n tou&tw| pisteuou&sin, h(mei=j de\ le/gomen ta&de | |||
| these trust this (man), but we say the following: | |||
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| an indefinite pronoun refers to people or things unknown: | |||
| ou)dei\j a)pobai/nei |
nobody is going away |
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| kalei= ti/j se |
someone is calling you |
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| an interrogative pronoun asks questions: | |||
| ti/j kalei=; | who is calling? | ||
| ti/noj bi/blon fe/reij; | whose book are you carrying? | ||
| ti/ qe/lete; | what do you want? | ||
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| a relative pronoun relates to a preceding noun (with which it agrees in number and gender) and introduces further information: | |||
| o( stratiwth&j o#j feu&gei | the soldier who is running away | ||
| ai9 qeai/ a$j timw~men | the goddesses whom we honour | ||
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| Personal Pronouns: First and Second Person
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| Personal pronouns refer to the
first, second and third persons in the singular (I, you, he/she/it) and in
the plural (we, you, they). Note that Greek, unlike English, distinguishes
singular from plural you and masculine, feminine and neuter in the
plural (rather than using they for all genders). Also, the personal
pronoun in the nominative is not often used (gra&fw
I write) unless there is particular emphasis:
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e0gw_ gra&fw, a)kou&eij su&.
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I am writing, you are listening.
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| This is the pattern of the first
and second personal pronoun in the singular:
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| nom. | e0gw& | I | su& | you | |
| acc. | e0me/ *, me | me | se/ | you | |
| gen. | e0mou~, mou | of me | sou~ | of you | |
| dat.
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e0moi/, moi
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to me
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soi/
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to you
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| * the longer form is used with prepositions
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| and in the plural: | |
| n. | h(mei=j | we | u(mei=j | you |
| a. | h(ma~j | us | u(ma~j | you |
| g. | h(mw~n | of us | u(mw~n | of you |
| d.
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h(mi=n
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to us
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u(mi=n
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to you
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| The related adjectives are:
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o( e0mo&j |
(my) |
o( so&j |
(your) | declined like kalo&j |
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o( h(me/teroj |
(our) |
o( u(me/teroj |
(your) | declined like ai0sxro&j |
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| Personal Pronouns: Third Person
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| The third person pronoun - he,
she, it and they - are expressed in a variety of
ways:
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| by a demonstrative pronoun
pointing out:
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o#de |
this one here | |
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e0kei=noj |
that one there | |
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ou[toj
|
this / that (more generally)
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| The indirect cases (i.e.
Acc., Gen. and Dat.) of au)to&j are also
used for he, she, it, them and in these cases
can be used for the reflexives:
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| e0mauto&n e0mauth&n | myself |
| s(e)auto&n s(e)auth&n | yourself |
| e9auto&n
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himself
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| When the reference is to the
subject of the main verb:
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e# |
ou[ |
oi[ |
for masculine, and feminine singular and |
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sfa~j
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sfw~n
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sfi/si
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for the plural are found.
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| The definite article with de/
picks up a person who has been referred to indirectly and becomes
the subject of the next sentence as:
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o( strathgo_j kalei= tou_j stratiw&taj. oi9 de\ ble/pousi pro_j au)to&n. |
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The general calls the soldiers and they look towards him.
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| Two pronouns may be contrasted
with:
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| o( me/n ... o( de/ | one ... another |
| oi9 me/n ... oi9 de/ | some ... others |
| as in: | |
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oi9 me/n e0leu&qeroi, oi9 de/ dou~loi
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some are free and others slaves.
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| o3de, e0kei=noj, ou[toj can also be used as demonstrative adjectives with the definite article (which is not translated): | ||
| o3de o( strathgo&j | this general (here, present) | |
| e0kei/nh h( korh& | that girl | |
| tau~ta ta_ dw~ra | these gifts | |
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Pronoun Patterns
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| o3de
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h3de
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to&de
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this (man / woman / thing here)
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| is declined like the definite article + de | ||||||
| so that the accusative is: | to&nde | th~nde | to&de | |||
| and the genitive is:
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tou~de
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th~sde
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tou~de
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etc.
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| e0kei=noj | e0kei/nh | e0kei=no | that (man / woman / thing) |
| and | |||
| au)to&j | au)th& | au)to& | self, same, he / she / it |
| are declined like | |||
| kalo&j | kalh& | kalo&n | |
| except that the neuter singular
(as with the definite article) ends in -o not -on.
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| ou[toj
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au#th
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tou~to
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this (man / woman / thing)
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| combines features of au)to&j
and the definite article:
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| singular | |||
| masc. | fem. | neut. | |
| ou[toj | au3th | tou~to | |
| tou~to&n | tau&thn | tou~to | |
| tou&tou | tau&thj | tou&tou | |
| tou&tw|
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tau&th|
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tou&tw|
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| plural | |||
| ou[toi | au{tai | tau~ta | |
| tou&touj | tau&taj | tau~ta | |
| tou&tw|n | tou&twn | tou&twn | |
| tou&toij | tau&taij | tou&toij | |
| The same
pattern is followed by the following compounds:
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| tosou~toj
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tosau&th
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tosou~to
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(so much, so many)
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| toiou~toj
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toiau&th
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toiou~to
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(such, like this)
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| as in:
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| a)du&naton poiei=n tosau~ta. | It is impossible to do so many things. | ||
| toi/outoij
ou) pisteu&w.
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I do not trust people like this.
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au)to&j |
au)th& |
au)to& |
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| This common word declines like:
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| kalo&j
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kalh&
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kalo&n
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| except that the neuter singular,
like many other pronouns, ends in -o rather
than -on.
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| It has a variety of uses:
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| As a pronoun au)to&j
is used in cases other than the nominative for him,
her, it, them:
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| au)th_n timw~men | we honour her |
| le/ge mu~qon
au)toi=j
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tell them a story
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| This is especially true of the
genitive. Since Greek has no personal adjective for his, her,
their corresponding to my and your, the genitive
of au)to&j is used:
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au)th~j to_ dw~ron |
of her the gift / her gift |
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h( xw&ra au)tw~n
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the land of them / their land
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| In the nominative au)to&j
emphasises the subject with the sense of self:
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au)to_j keleu&ei
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he himself / in person gives
the order
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and a superlative form au)to&tatoj was invented to refer to the master philosopher Pythagoras without using his name: |
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au)to&tatoj e1fh
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his very self said so
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| Also, in the sense of self
it might be joined to the indirect cases of the personal pronoun
as:
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| e0mauto&n | myself | h(ma~j au)tou&j | ourselves |
| s(e)auto&n | yourself | u(ma~j au)tou&j | yourselves |
| e9auto&n or
au(to&n
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himself
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sfa~j au)tou&j
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themselves
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| and again in the genitive with
special emphasis:
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h( e0mautou~ a)delfh& |
the sister of myself / my (very own) sister |
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oi9 e9autou~ a1groi
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the fields of himself / his own fields
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| As an adjective au)to&j
with the definite article has the sense of -self or same
depending on its position:
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| predicative position:
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| au)to_j o( strathgo&j or o( strathgo_j au)to&j | the general himself |
| au)tai\ ai9
gunai=kej or
ai9 gunai=kej au)tai/
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the women themselves
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| attributive position:
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| o( au)to_j strathgo&j | the same general |
| ai9 au)tai\ gunai=kej | the same women |
| tau)ta& (=
ta_ au)ta&)
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the same things
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| Plato used au)to&
to refer to Forms:
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| Interrogative Pronouns
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| The interrogative pronoun (who?
what?) follows the pattern of third declension
nouns with one form ti/j; for the
masculine and feminine, and ti/; for the
neuter, with a base stem tin-
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| singular | |||||||
| masc. / fem. | neut. | ||||||
| ti/j | who? | ti/ | what? | ||||
| ti/na | ti/ | ||||||
| ti/noj | ti/noj or tou~ | ||||||
| ti/ni | ti/ni or tw~| | ||||||
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plural |
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| ti/nej | ti/na | ||||||
| ti/naj | ti/na | ||||||
| ti/nwn | ti/nwn | ||||||
| ti/si(n) | ti/si(n) | ||||||
| In English the interrogative
pronoun is still declined:
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| in the nom.: | ti/j le/gei; | who is speaking? |
| in the acc.: | ti/na filei=; | whom do you like? |
| in the gen.:
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ti/noj e0sti/;
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whose is it?
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| Note: | |||
| ti/j; ti/ (accented, first word) = who? what? | |||
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tij ti (unaccented, not first word) is indefinite (a, some)
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| ti/j le/gei; | Who is speaking? | ti/ le/gei; | What is he saying? |
| le/gei tij.
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Someone is speaking.
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le/gei ti.
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He is saying something.
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Interrogate and indefinite pronouns can also be used as adjectives:
7(i) Exercise
| Translate:
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| ti/j poli/thj le/gei; | |
| le/gei poli/thj tij.
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| ti/ dw~ron pare/xei; | |
| pare/xei dw~ron ti. | |
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Now check your ANSWERS here. |
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| The Relative Pronoun
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| The relative pronoun (e.g. the boy
who is running down the street ...) follows the pattern of the definite
article with o3j for
o( and without the initial t-. Instead
there is a rough breathing, and each form has an accent:
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| masc. | fem. | neut. | |
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singular |
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| nominative | o3j | h3 | o# |
| accusative | o3n | h3n | o# |
| genitive | ou{ | h{j | ou{ |
| dative
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w{|
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h{|
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w{|
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plural |
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| nom. | oi# | ai# | a# |
| acc. | ou3j | a3j | a# |
| gen. | w{n | w{n | w{n |
| dat.
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oi[j
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ai[j
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oi[j
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| There is also a longer form: | o3stij | h#tij | o3ti |
| which is a combination of o3j
and tij.
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