Personal Pronouns & Possessive Pronouns

These are also categorized by case which work like the nouns. Remember that direct pronoun case is used with Actor Focus form of the verb, and indirect is used with the Object Focus form of the verb

	Direct (ang)	Indirect (ng)	Oblique (sa)
1st person singular	Ako (I, me)	ko	akin
1st person dual	Kita
1st person plural inclusive	Tayo (we, us)	natin	atin
1st person plural exclusive	Kami (we, us)	namin	amin
2nd person singular	Ikaw, ka (you)	mo	iyo
2nd person plural	Kayo (you pl)	ninyo	inyo
3rd person singular	Siya (he/she)	niya	kaniya
3rd person plural	Sila (they, them)	nila	kanila

Direct Case

Ako ay si Luis./Si Luis ako.  I am Luis.

Kayo ba ang nagdala nito? Did you (guys/people) bring this?

Siya ay naglaba kanina. He/She washed some clothes a while ago.

Nagluto sila ng sinigang. They cooked sinigang.

Kita- has two meanings; it’s the combination of the 1st person singular (I) which is the doer of the action, and the 2nd person singular (You) which is the receiver of the action.

Mahal kita- I love you.

Susuntukin kita. I will punch you.

Tayo- means We or us, and the listener is included with the group pertained by We/Us.

Kumain na tayo. Let’s eat.

Mahal tayo ng diyos. God loves us.

Kami-means We or Us as well, but the listener is not included.

Kumain kami ng lomi. We eat lomi. (The listener is not included and the listener doesn’t eat lomi. The speaker and the rest of the group eat lomi)

Ikaw-means You

Ikaw ang magpasya. You decide.

Ikaw ay magtino. Behave yourself.

Usually Ikaw is used for emphasis. Sometimes using ikaw with actor focus form sounds odd to native speaker, instead ka is used with verbs.

Sinuntok ka ni Julius. Julius punched you.

Indirect Case

This can function as the subject of the verb in the object focus form, and as possessive pronouns. Remember to put the indirect case after the verb, or the noun. Other pronouns in the indirect case have the same meaning with their direct case equivalent.

Natin and Namin have the same meaning which we/us. Natin means the listener is included and namin means that listener is not included.

Kinain namin ang tinapay. We ate the bread. (The listener didn’t eat the bread with them.)

Kinain natin ang tinapay. We ate the bread. (The listener ate the bread with them.)

Oblique Case

This can function as the indirect object of the verb, or where the action happens, and as possessive pronouns.

Ginamit mo ang libro niya. = Ginamit mo ang kanyang libro. You used his/her book.

Usually indirect pronoun is used to show possession, oblique case is used to make formal constructions.

Nagpunta ako sa kanila pero wala pa siya. I went to their house but he was not yet there.

Sa is used with oblique case pronoun and this can mean the house of the someone, and to mark an indirect object like below.

Ibinigay ko sa kanya.  I gave it to him/her.

Atin means the listener is included and also the owner of the noun; and amin means that listener is not included.

Ating bahay ito. This is our house.  [The listener owns the house too.]

Aming mga tao ang nahihirap. Our people are the ones who experience difficulties. [The listener doesn’t have ownership or responsibility on the people, because it is the speaker’s people.]