Lesson 1: First Person Singular Pronouns

In English, we have several types of first person singular pronouns — words used by the speaker to describe themselves. Each serves a specific grammatical role:

• Subject Pronoun: “I”

  • Usage: When the speaker does the action

  • Example: I am learning Konkani.

• Object Pronoun: “Me”

  • Usage: When an action is done to the speaker

  • Example: She is teaching me.

• Possessive Adjective: “My”

  • Usage: To describe something the speaker owns

  • Example: This is my book.

• Possessive Pronoun: “Mine”

  • Usage: To replace a noun that shows ownership

  • Example: This book is mine.

Haav (hahv)

Haav is used when the speaker is the subject, performing the action. Example:

Haav Konkani shikthasa = I am learning Konkani

In the above example, I am the subject (one performing the action) and hence we use “Haav”.

📝Note:
Shiktha (shik-tha) means “to learn” and comes from Sanskrit siksa (education).
Shikthasa = shiktha + assa (meaning “am/is/are”).

Also, unlike English which typically uses a Subject – Verb – Object word order, Konkani often follows a Subject – Object – Verb structure.

Makka (mah-kkah)

Makka is used when the speaker is the object, receiving the action. i.e object pronoun. Let us consider following example,

Tuv makka shikaithasa = You are teaching me

In the above sentence, you are the one doing the action and I am the object (one receiving the action) and hence we use “Makka”.

📝Note:
Shikaitha (shee-kai-tha) means “to teach,” distinct from shiktha (to learn).
You will learn Tuv (you) in the next lesson.

Migele (mi-gel-leh)

Migele shows possession, functioning as both:

• a possessive adjective (my), and

• a possessive pronoun (mine).

For example:

He migele book = This is my book

He book migele = This book is mine.

🗣️Pronunciation tip:
He (meaning this) is pronounced like "hay", similar to ha in ham.

📝 Note on vocabulary:
Although the Konkani word for book is pustaka (similar to Hindi and Kannada), it's common to use the English word book in everyday speech due to westernization and bilingual usage.

“I am” — Identity vs. Condition in Konkani

In English, “I am” can indicate both identity and condition:

• I am Connor (identity)

• I am cold (condition)

In Konkani, there is a distinction between identity and condition pronouns. We use Haav for identity and Makka for condition

• Haav Connor

• Makka Shinkkartha (sheenk-kar-tha)

📝 Why this distinction?
When you talk about your identity, you are actively existing as that person, so you use Haav (subject). When describing a condition (something happening to you), you are receiving or experiencing that state, so you use Makka (object).

Note: Do not worry about learning the action verbs in this lesson. We will learn them in Action Verbs Chapter.