Personal pronouns in the Slavic languages

Interslavic is entirely based on the natural Slavic languages, and the forms have been picked on the basis of both comparison and logic. This page demonstrates how this has been done in the case of personal pronouns:

First person singular

	nom.	acc.	gen.	dat.	ins.	loc.
OCS	azъ	mene/mę	mene	mьně/mi	mьnojǫ	mьně
Russian	ja	menjá	menjá	mne	mnoj	mne
Belarussian	ja	mjané	mjané	mne	mnoj/mnoju	mne
Ukrainian	ja	mené	mené	mení	mnóju	mení
Lemko-Rusyn	ja	mene/mja/ nja/myja	mene/mja/ nja/myja	mi	mnom	mi/mni
Polish	ja	mnie/mię	mnie	mi	mną	mnie
Cashubian	jô	mnie/mie/mię	mnie/mie	mnie/mie	mną	mnie
Lower Sorbian	ja	mě (mnjoj)	mje (mnjo)	mě (mnjo)	mnu	mnjo
Upper Sorbian	ja	mje/mnje	mje/mnje	mi/mni	mnu	mni
Czech	já	mne/mě	mne/mě	mně/mi	mnou	mně
Slovak	ja	mňa/ma	mňa/ma	mne/mi	mnou	mne
Slovene	jaz	mene/me	mene/me	meni/mi	menój/mano	meni
Serbian/Croatian	jâ	mène/me	mène/me	mèni/mi	mnôm	mèni
Macedonian	jas	mene/me	—	mene/mi	—	—
Bulgarian	az	méne/me	—	mi/méne	—	—
Interslavic	ja	mene/mę	mene	mně/mi	mnojų	mně

note

• All West and South Slavic languages have special short forms in the accusative, genitive and dative. We have adopted them in Interslavic, seeing that it won't hurt intelligibility, and certainly adds some expressivity.
• The genitive is generally the same as the accusative.
• The locative is often very similar or identical to the dative.
• The genitive is never identical to the dative.
• The accusative mene in Interslavic is based on counting (discounting the smaller languages): 7 men- vs. 3 mn-; 8 -e vs. 2 -ja.

Second person singular

	nom.	acc.	gen.	dat.	ins.	loc.
OCS	ty	tebe/tę	tebe	tebě/ti	tobojǫ	tebě
Russian	ty	tebjá	tebjá	tebé	tobój	tebé
Belarussian	ty	cjabé	cjabé	tabé	tabój/tabóju	tabé
Ukrainian	ty	tebé	tebé	tobí	tobóju	tobí
Lemko-Rusyn	ty	tebe/tja	tebe/tja	tobi/ty	tobom	tobi
Polish	ty	ciebie/cię	ciebie	tobie/ci	tobą	tobie
Cashubian	të	cebie/ce/cę	cebie/ce	tobie/cë	tobą	cebie/tobie
Lower Sorbian	ty	tebje/śi	tebje/śi	tebje/śi	tobu	tebje
Upper Sorbian	ty	tebje/će	tebje/će	tebi/ći	tobu	tebi
Czech	ty	tebe/tě	tebe/tě	tobě/ti	tebou	tobě
Slovak	ty	teba/ťa	teba/ťa	tebe/ti	tebou	tebe
Slovene	ti	tebe/te	tebe/te	tebi/ti	tebój/tabo	tebi
Serbian/Croatian	tî	tèbe/te	tèbe/te	tèbi/ti	tòbōm	tèbi
Macedonian	ti	tebe/te	—	tebe/ti	—	—
Bulgarian	ti	tébe/te	—	ti/tébe	—	—
Interslavic	ty	tebe/tę	tebe	tobě/ti	tobojų	tobě

note

The majority solution for the dative would be tebě, but we want to keep it separate from the genitive/accusative, therefore tobě.

Third person singular, masculine and neuter

	nom.	acc.	gen.	dat.	ins.	loc.
OCS	jь; je [onъ; ono]	jь; je	jego	jemu	imъ	jemъ
Russian	on; onó	jegó	jegó	jemú	im	nëm
Belarussian	ën; janó	jahó	jahó	jamú	im	im
Ukrainian	vin; vonó	johó	johó	jomú	nym	n'ómu/nim
Lemko-Rusyn	vin; ono	joho/ho	joho/ho	jomu/mu	nym	nym
Polish	on; ono	jego/go	jego/go	jemu/mu	nim	nim
Cashubian	on; ono/no	jego/jen/go; je	jego	jemu/mu	nim	nim
Lower Sorbian	won; wono	jogo/jen; jo	jogo	jomu	nim	njom
Upper Sorbian	wón; wono/wone	jeho/jón; jo/je	jeho	jemu	nim	nim
Czech	on; ono	jeho/jej/ho; je/jej/ho	jeho/jej/ho	jemu/mu	jím	něm
Slovak	on; ono	jeho/ho; ho	jeho/ho	jemu/mu	ním	ňom
Slovene	on; ono	njega	njega	njemu	njim	njem
Serbian/Croatian	ôn; òno	njèga/ga	njèga/ga	njèmu/mu	njîm	njèmu
Macedonian	toj; toa	nego/go	—	nemu/mu	—	—
Bulgarian	toj; to	négo/go	—	mu/nému	—	—
Interslavic	on; ono	(n)jego	(n)jego	(n)jemu	(n)jim	(n)jim

note

• The forms themselves are established easily.
• For all forms on je- or i- goes that they can be preceded by n- after a preposition: jego > bez njego, jim > pri njim. The same goes for the other genders and the plural.

Third person singular, feminine

	nom.	acc.	gen.	dat.	ins.	loc.
OCS	ja [ona]	jǫ	jeję	jeji	jejǫ	jeji
Russian	oná	jejo	jejo	jej	jej	nej
Belarussian	janá	jaé	jaé	ëj	ëj/ëju	ëj
Ukrainian	voná	jijí	jijí	jij	néju	nij
Lemko-Rusyn	ona	jej/ju	jej	ij	njom	nij/nej
Polish	ona	ją	jej	jej	nią	niej
Cashubian	ona/na	ję	ji/jé	ji	nią	ni
Lower Sorbian	wona	ju	jeje	jej	njeju	njej
Upper Sorbian	wona	ju	jeje	jej/ji	njej	njej
Czech	ona	ji	jí	jí	jí	ní
Slovak	ona	ju	jej	jej	ňou	nej
Slovene	ona	njo	nje	njej/nji	njo	njej/nji
Serbian/Croatian	òna	njû/je/ju	njê/je	njôj/jôj	njôm	njôj
Macedonian	taa	nea/ja	—	nejze/i	—	—
Bulgarian	tja	néja/ja	—	i/nej	—	—
Interslavic	ona	(n)jų	(n)jej	(n)jej	(n)jejų	(n)jej

First person plural

	nom.	acc.	gen.	dat.	ins.	loc.
OCS	my	nasъ/ny	nasъ	namъ/ny	nami	nasъ
Russian	my	nas	nas	nam	nami	nas
Belarussian	my	nas	nas	nam	námi	nas
Ukrainian	my	nas	nas	nam	námy	nas
Lemko-Rusyn	my	nas	nas	nam	namy	nas
Polish	my	nas	nas	nam	nami	nas
Cashubian	më	nas/nôs	nas/nôs	nóm	nami	nas/nôs
Lower Sorbian	my	nas	nas	nam	nami	nas
Upper Sorbian	my	nas	nas	nam	nami	nas/nami
Czech	my	nás	nás	nám	námi	nás
Slovak	my	nás	nás	nám	nami	nás
Slovene	mi	nas	nas	nam	nami	nas
Serbian/Croatian	mî	nâs/nas	nâs/nas	nàma/nam	nàma	nàma
Macedonian	nie	nas/ne	—	nam/ni	—	—
Bulgarian	níe/nij	nas/ni	—	ni/nam	—	—
Interslavic	my	nas	nas	nam	nami	nas

Second person plural

	nom.	acc.	gen.	dat.	ins.	loc.
OCS	my	vasъ/vy	vasъ	vamъ/vy	vami	vasъ
Russian	vy	vas	vas	vam	vami	vas
Belarussian	vy	vas	vas	vam	vámi	vas
Ukrainian	vy	vas	vas	vam	vámy	vas
Lemko-Rusyn	vy	vas	vas	vam	vamy	vas
Polish	wy	was	was	wam	wami	was
Cashubian	wë	was/wôs	was/wôs	wóm	wami	was/wôs
Lower Sorbian	wy	was	was	wam	wami	was
Upper Sorbian	wy	was	was	wam	wami	was/wami
Czech	vy	vás	vás	vám	vámi	vás
Slovak	vy	vás	vás	vám	vami	vás
Slovene	vi	vas	vas	vam	vami	vas
Serbian/Croatian	vî	vâs/vas	vâs/vas	vàma/vam	vàma	vàma
Macedonian	vie	vas/ve	—	vam/vi	—	—
Bulgarian	víe/vij	vas/vi	—	vi/vam	—	—
Interslavic	vy	vas	vas	vam	vami	vas

Third person plural

	nom.	acc.	gen.	dat.	ins.	loc.
OCS	ji/ję/ja [oni/ony/ona]	ji/ję/ja	jixъ	jimъ	jimi	jixъ
Russian	oní	ix	ix	im	imi	nix
Belarussian	janý	ix	ix	im	ími	ix
Ukrainian	voný	jix	jix	jim	jimy	jix
Lemko-Rusyn	ony	ix	im	ix	nyma	nyx
Polish	oni/one	ich/je	ich	im	nimi	nich
Cashubian	oni/ni, onë/në	jich/je	jich/jejich	jim/jima	nimi/ jima/ nima	nich
Lower Sorbian	woni	jich/je	jich	jim	nimi	nich
Upper Sorbian	woni/wone	jich/je	jich	jim	nimi	nich/nimi
Czech	oni/ony/ona	je	jich	jim	jimi	nich
Slovak	oni/ony	ich/ne	ich	im	nimi	nich
Slovene	oni/one/ona	njih	njih	njim	njimi	njih
Serbian/Croatian	òni/òne/òna	njîh/ih	njîh/ih	njìma/im	njìma	njìma
Macedonian	tie	niv/gi	—	nim/im	—	—
Bulgarian	te	tjax/gi	—	im/tjam	—	—
Interslavic	oni/one	(n)jih/ (n)je	(n)jih	(n)jim	(n)jimi	(n)jih

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This article has been republished with the permission of its original author, Jan van Steenbergen.