Lesson 3: Third Person Singular Pronouns

Third person singular pronouns are pronouns used to describe a person or a thing who is neither the speaker or the listener. These pronouns are further categorized into feminine, masculine and neuter pronouns. We will learn the konkani pronouns in this lesson.

Feminine pronouns: Thi (thi), Thikka (thi-ka), Thigale (thi-guh-le)

Following the pattern of our previous lessons, we have following pronouns to describe females in Konkani:

• Subject Pronoun: “Thi”

  • Usage: When a female does the action

  • English Example: She is learning Konkani.

  • Konkani Example: Thi konkani shikthasa.

• Object Pronoun: “thikka”

  • Usage: When an action is done to a female

  • English Example: I am teaching her.

  • Konkani Example: Haav thikka shikaithasa.

• Possessive Pronoun: “thigale”

  • Usage: To describe something a female owns

  • English Example: This is her book.

  • Konkani Example: He book thigale.

Masculine pronouns: Tho (tho), Thakka (tha-ka), Thagale (tha-guh-le)

Similarly, we have following pronouns to describe masculine pronouns:

• Subject Pronoun: “Tho”

  • Usage: When a male does the action

  • English Example: He is learning Konkani.

  • Konkani Example: Tho konkani shikthasa.

• Object Pronoun: “thakka”

  • Usage: When an action is done to a male

  • English Example: I am teaching him.

  • Konkani Example: Haav thakka shikaithasa.

• Possessive Pronoun: “thagale”

  • Usage: To describe something a male owns

  • English Example: This is his book.

  • Konkani Example: He book thagale.

Neuter pronouns: Te (teh), Thakka (tha-ka), Thaje (tha-je)

Neuter pronouns are used for things, animals (when gender is not specified), or abstract ideas that have no gender. Konkani neuter pronouns are as follows:

• Subject Pronoun: “Te”

  • Usage: When an object or an animal does the action

  • English Example: It is dancing.

  • Konkani Example: Te nanchta assa. [Note: nanchta (nanch-tha) means to dance]

• Object Pronoun: “thakka”

  • Usage: When an action is done to an object or an animal

  • English Example: I am teaching it.

  • Konkani Example: Haav thakka shikaithasa. [Note: we use the same pronoun as the masculine pronoun here. Speaker and listeners use context clues to determine if the third person pronoun is a masculine pronoun or neuter pronoun]

• Possessive Pronoun: “thaje”

  • Usage: To describe something an object or an animal owns

  • English Example: This is its lid.

  • Konkani Example: He thaje dhangne. [Note: dhangne (dhang-ne) means lid]