Language/Burmese/Grammar/Pronouns

Burmese Grammar - Pronouns

Hi Burmese learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will be discussing Burmese pronouns. Pronouns are essential in language because they can replace nouns, making sentences shorter and more concise.

What are Pronouns?

Pronouns are words that can be used in place of a noun. They eliminate redundancy in the written or spoken language, allowing the speaker or writer to be more concise. For instance, instead of saying "The cat is cute. The cat is also sleeping," you could say "The cat is cute and is also sleeping." In this second sentence, "the cat" is replaced with the pronoun "it."

In Burmese, pronouns also have different forms depending on the context of the sentence. They can also vary depending on the level of formality, the gender of the speaker, and the person they are speaking to.

Burmese Pronouns

Below is a table of Burmese pronouns:

Burmese	Pronunciation	English
ကျွန်တော် (kya.naw.tau)	/tɕən˥ ˩ naʊ̯˩/	I, me
သူ (thu)	/θù/	you (singular)
သို့ (thui)	/θò/	you (plural)
အောင် (aung)	/àʊɴ/	he, she, it
ကျွန်တော်မှာ (kya.naw.tau.ma: )	/tɕən˥ ˩ naʊ̯˩ ma/	we, us
သမျှ (tham.hra:)	/θəm̥ha̰/	you all
တိုင် (taing)	/tàɪɴ/	they, them

Burmese distinguishes between inclusive and exclusive "we" pronouns, with kyanawtau being the exclusive "I" form and kyanawtaumah being the inclusive "we" form. If someone were to say "kyanawtau," they are not including the listener. But if they say "kyanawtaumah," they are including the listener in the group.

Another Burmese distinction is between singular, dual, and plural pronouns. For instance, the pronoun "you" in English is the same whether you're speaking to one person or many people. In Burmese, "thu" is used when speaking to a single person, while "thui" is used when speaking to two or more people. "Thamhra" is used when speaking to a group of three or more people.

Examples in Context

Person 1: ကျွန်တော်မှာ နောက်ဆုံးရောက်မှာလား။ (kya.naw.tau.ma: na.u.kha.sum.yauk.hma.lak) (Are we going to the beach?) Person 2: သောက်ပြီ။ (sauk pri) (Yes, we are.)

Person 1: သူက တောင်းတို့ကို ကြီးမားလို့ရမလည်း။ (thu ka.taung ti.gui.la.yo.ra.ma.lane:) (Do you see us?) Person 2: တောင်းတို့ကို ကြီးမားလို့ရမလဲ။ (taung ti.gui.la.yo.ra.mare) (I do see you guys.)

How to Use Pronouns Correctly

Using Burmese pronouns in the correct way can be challenging for non-native speakers. Below are some basic rules to keep in mind:

• Use the correct pronoun for the context.
• Use singular pronouns to specify one person or thing.
• Use plural pronouns to specify more than one person or thing.
• Use inclusive pronouns to include the listener and exclusive pronouns to exclude the listener.
• Use polite and formal pronouns when speaking to people who are older or in higher positions than you.

Practice Exercises

Try answering the following questions using the correct Burmese pronoun:

1. Who is studying Burmese? 2. Do you like to eat Burmese food? 3. Are they playing soccer this afternoon? 4. Can you tell me where the Burmese market is?

Summary

In this lesson, we learned about Burmese Pronouns. They are essential parts of speech and can replace redundancy in a sentence. Burmese pronouns also vary in form depending on the context of the sentence. We discussed the correct use of pronouns and gave some examples of how to use them in context.

To improve your Burmese grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

Sources

• Burmese language
• Pronoun
• Burmese Grammar