Lesson 7: Possessive Pronouns

Timucua has several possessive pronouns. These suffixes indicate that something is mine, yours, hers, theirs, etc. Here is a chart with the most common ones:

	singular	plural
1st person	–na	–mile, –nica (rare)
2nd	–ye	–yaqe
3rd	–mi, –miti*	–mi,  –miti*
3rd (honorific)	–mitono

First Person 

The -na at the end of the word paha (house) or qie (son) indicates that the house or son in the phrase are possessed by the speaker. The –na attaches to the main noun it modifies. For example, in the phrase ulena miso “my older child“, the –na is attached to ule (child) and not to the describing adjective, miso (older).

Second Person

In the second person, the possessive pronouns are –ye (singular) and –yaqe (plural).

isayemate itayemate

mother-2sgPoss-and father-2sgPoss-and

your mother and your father… 

nasimitaye

mother:in:law-2sgPoss

your mother-in-law

pahayaqe

house-2plPoss

y’all’s house

checaba atichicoloyaqe

You (pl) soul-2plPoss

y’all’s soul 

Note: checaba “you all” is a pronoun
and can be optionally added before
a possessed noun.

Third Person

In the third person, the -mi suffix refers to her/his/one’s as well as to theirs. It is often the context that determines whether the possessor is singular or plural. 

niama ulemicare

woman-art child-3poss-plural

the children of the woman

oqe itimima

that:one father-3poss-art

that one’s father

ytora mulumima

grandfather/uncle great-3poss-def

his/her/their great grandfather

Honorific Possessives

The suffix -mitono is a second or third person honorific possessive pronoun. It is used when an important person/deity/thing possesses something.

pahamitonoma

house-2:poss:hon-def

your (honorable) house

Santo visa mitonoma

saint name-3:poss:hon-def

the (honored) saint’s name

niamitono

woman-3plPoss

his (honored) woman

Note: in this example, it is the possessor that is honored,
not necessarily the woman.