Subject concords 2

In Part 1, we looked at the Giriama words for I, you, he and she. In this post, we will look at the subject concords used for we and they.

Fu and Hu

There are two words for 'we': fu-, which you use when excluding the person you are talking to, and hu-, which you use when including them.

Let's imagine you are talking to a Giriama friend. You want to say "We are going to the beach". If you mean, "My family is going to the beach (without you)", then you would use 'fu'. "We-but-not-you are going to the beach". If you mean "Our friends are going to the beach (which includes you)", then you would use 'hu'. "We-and-that-includes-you are going to the beach."

So you never have to say "Oh sorry, you weren't invited, I was just telling you what we were doing...": it's perfectly clear to start with.

In the following examples, imagine you are talking to a friend about what you and your spouse do. Your friend is not included.

fu-enda	we go
fu-dza	we come
fu-dima	we can
fu-gula	we buy
fu-shoma fu-ona	we read we see

In the following examples, imagine that you are reminding your friend what you do together. (Pretend they are very forgetful!)

hu-enda	we go
hu-dza	we come
hu-dima	we can
hu-gula	we buy
hu-shoma hu-ona	we read we see

Ma

The subject concord for they is ma-.

Read the following examples aloud:

ma-enda	they go
ma-dza	they come
ma-dima	they can
ma-gula	they buy
ma-shoma	they read

ma-ona

they see

Compare

Finally, here are the subject concords again, this time with more languages to compare against:

Giriama	English	Swahili	French	Spanish	Grammatical term
ni-	I	ni-	je	-o	1st person singular
u-	you	u-	tu	-as	2nd person singular
a-	he/she	a-	il/elle	-a	3rd person singular
fu-	we	tu-	nous	-amos	1st person plural exclusive
hu-	we	tu-	nous	-amos	1st person plural inclusive
mu-	you	m-	vous	-ais	2nd person plural
ma-	they	wa-	ils/elles	-an	3rd person plural