I, you, me, they etc (always so short words?)

Chinese- Mandarin:
Wo (I)
Ni, nin (you)
Ta (he/she)
Wo men (we)
Ni men (you, plural)
Ta men (they)

"Men" serves as the "pluraliser". Makes sense, doesn,t it?

Chinese- Spoken Cantonese:
O (I)
Lei (you)
Kui (he/she)
O dei (we)
Lei dei (you, plural)
Kui dei (they)

"Dei" serves as the "pluraliser". The pattern is like that in Mandarin.

Chinese- Shanghainese:
Ngu (I)
Nong (you)
I (he/she)
Alla (we)
Na (you, plural)
Illa (they)

Shanghainese is wacko :-p. Still, I suppose it has one less two-syllable pronoun than the other two Chinese varieties? Haha.

Jag (I)
Du (you)
han (he)
hon (she)
den/det (it)

vi (we)
ni (you)
de/dem (dom) (they) in Swedish.

Geoff_One Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:38 pm GMT

>>Japanese:

watashi I, me
anata you
kare he, him
kanojo she, her
watachi-tachi we, us
anata-tachi you people
ano hito-tachi they <<

Not "wataCHI-tachi", but "wataSHI-tachi"(we, us). Sometimes "ware-ware"(we, us). "Ano hito-tachi" sounds like "those people".

>>Helena Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:05 pm GMT
Croatian:
ja, ti, on; mi, vi, oni <<

You forgot "ona" (she), "ono" (it), "one" (they - feminine), "ona" (they - neuter).

Korean personal pronouns are long, like Japanese:

Nanun/naega = I; Narul = me (accusative)
Tangshinun = you (non-formal); neonun = you (inferior); chanega = you (formal)
kubunun /kusaramun = he
kunyonun/kuyeojanun = she
kugotsun = it

urinun = we
neoidulun = you (plural)
kudulun/kusaramdulun = they

and are therefore often omitted from speech, being inferred.

Urdu

You (Tu, Tum,Aap)
They (Wo, Woh)
He, she wo woh(Larki, Oorat) girl,woman, (Larka,Aadmi) Boy, man
We (Hum)
It (Yah)

Greek pronouns,used as an emphasis,ommited from verbal phrases (as in italian,spanish also)

Egó -Εγώ (I) pr.Eghó
Esí -Εσύ (you)
Autós-auti-autó -Αυτός (He) pr.aftós
Emeís -Εμείς (we)
Eseís -Εσείς (you)
Autoí-autés-autá -Αυτοί (they) pr.aftí

Tagalog pronouns – Absolutive, Ergative, Oblique

1st person singular – akó, ko, akin
1st person dual – kitá, nitá, kanitá
2nd person singular – ikáw (ka), mo, iyó
3rd person singular – siyá, niyá, kaniyá
1st person plural inclusive – táyo, nátin, átin
1st person plural exclusive – kamí, námin, ámin
2nd person plural – kayó, ninyó, inyó
3rd person plural – silá, nilá, kanilá

When addressing someone much older than you, you would use the 2nd person plural and add "po" either before or after the pronoun:

"Kumusta po kayo?" (How are you?)
"Kayo po ba ang nanay ni Gloria?" (Are you Gloria's mother?)

Why should they be long words? short form is better

When you compare Spanish to other European languages, there are almost always more syllables for the same words.

However Japanese is more more, shall we say 'vowel friendly', than Spanish and it does not surprise me that the pronouns are longer.

But the whole point of pronouns are to refrain from using the nouns. If the pronoun is longer than the noun, then why use it? Other than for, what I suppose could be ceremonial usage and respectful general politeness.

And thanks guest, I finally know what Nanun stands for. I have a Korean song that says it abundantly and I didn't think it meant that. Btw, does 'wang' mean monarch/king, if anyone knows?

PUNJABI
He Oo,oh (Oh munda, Oh bhai, Oh bandi)
She Oo, oh (Oh Oorat, Oh kurri, Oh janani, Oh zanani)
You Tu,tusi (Tu ki kar da payaan ain?)
They Oo, Oh (Oh log, Ooh aa'ay san)

spanish

vosotros
nosotros
ustedes
yo
usted
ella
el
tu
ellos
ellas
aquellos
nosotras
vosotras

In Asturianu - Lliones we use:

You - I
Tu - You
El - He
Ella - She
Nos - We
Vos - You (Plural)
Ellos - Them

Happy new year to all.

I would like to know why do English people write the personal pronoun "I" in capital letters.

Romanian: "dumneavoastra" (you,formal,polite)