Language/Lingala/Grammar/Personal-pronouns

Personal pronouns – Lingala Language

There are six personal pronouns in Lingala, and they’re used very, very often, so it also helps to learn them.

ngai – (n-GUY) – me, mine

yo – (yoh) – you, yours

ye – (yeah) – him, her, his, hers

biso – (BEE-sew) – we, ours

bino – (BEE-noh) – you, yours (plural)

bango – (BANG-oh) – them, their

The personal pronouns are an important part of most conversations in Lingala, particularly with its streamlined, article-free construction. Unlike subject pronouns, personal pronouns are often used by themselves and you will hear them in almost every sentence.

Personal pronouns usually appear after the subject they refer to. For example, ‘our house’ is ndako na biso – ndako (house) and biso (our). And ‘my fruit’ is mbuma na ngai – mbuma (fruit) and ngai (mine).

You’ll no doubt notice that there is a ‘na’ in each of these sentences. Be patient. We’ll get to that next. For the moment, focus on the order and the rhythm of each of the sentences. It’s a very common construction, and one that you’ll hear over and over.

Here are a few more examples:

mwasi na ngai – mwasi (wife) na ngai (mine) – my wife

mobali na yo – mobali (husband) na yo (you) – your husband

ndeko na ye – ndeko (brother or sister) na ye (his/her) – his or her brother or sister

mosala na biso – mosala (work) na biso (ours) – our work

ndako na bino – ndako (house) na bino (you – plural) – your house

ndunda na bango – ndunda (vegetables) na bango (their) – their vegetables

Source

https://lobalingala.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/23042014-loba-lingala.pdf