5.1. Possessive prefixes and suffixes
| Singular | Plural | |||
| 1 | NE-____ | ‘my’ | ____‑ȽTE | ‘our’ |
| 2 | EN¸‑____ | ‘your’ | EN¸‑____ HÁLE | ‘you folks’’ |
| 3 | ____ ‑S | ‘his, hers, its’ | ____‑S | ‘their’ |
Models
| 1) | NE TÁN | ‘my mother’ |
| 2) | TÁNȽTE | ‘our mother’ |
| 3) | EN¸ TÁN | ‘your mother’ |
| 4) | EN¸ TÁN HÁLE | ‘you folks’ mother’ |
| 5) | TÁNS | ‘his/her/its/their mother’ |
‣ 1 Note that forms meaning ‘my’ and ‘your’ (models 1, 3, and 4) are prefixes, while the forms meaning ‘our’ and ‘his/her/its/their’ (models 2 and 5) are suffixes.
‣ 2 Prefixes are usually written as attached to the word they modify. In SENĆOŦEN, however, the prefixes for ‘my’ and ‘your’ are traditionally written as separate words following the English pattern.
‣ 3 The suffix for ‘our’ sounds exactly the same as the ‘we’ subject (§1.1). This is why sometimes the ‘our’ suffix ȽTE is written as a separate word.
‣ 4 The ‘his/her/its/their’ suffix has no familiar pattern from English or from within SENĆOŦEN, so it is always written as a suffix attached to the word it modifies.
‣ 5 Some people write the S ‘his/her/its/their’ suffix as a small s.
‣ 6 Note that, just as in the previous sections, when there is more than one ‘you,’ HÁLE is put at the end.
‣ 7 When words with the possessive prefixes and suffixes are used in a noun phrase, they must be preceded by an article, just as any other noun, as in YÁ¸ TŦE NE TÁN ‘my mother goes.’
‣ 8 SENĆOŦEN differs from English, where the possessive word takes the place of the article. We do not need to say in English *‘the my mother goes;’ in fact, this is ungrammatical in English. However, in SENĆOŦEN the article must be there.
‣ 9 Just as with other nouns, words with the possessive pronouns can be used as nouns or verbs. For example,
XĆIT SEN TŦE NE TÁN. ‘ I know my mother’
NE TÁN E SW̱,. ‘ Are you my mother?’
‣ 10 Note that the possessive prefixes and suffixes are never stressed.
‣ 11 In fluent, connected speech we get a contraction of the E of an article such as TŦE and the E of the EN¸- ‘you prefix’. So TŦE EN¸ TÁN usually is pronounced like TŦEN TÁN.
‣ 12 The use and restrictions on the use of the possessive prefixes and suffixes are covered in much more detail in §49.
 | EMNI¸EṈ¸ E LE¸ SW̱? | ‘Did you go hunting?’ |
 | YÁ¸ SEN. | ‘I went.’ |
| QENNEW̱ E LE¸ SW̱? | ‘Did you see it?’ |
| QENNEW̱ LE¸ SEN ȻŦE SMÍYEŦ. | ‘I saw the doe.’ |
| 5.1A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. X̱OṈ E ȻSE EN¸ TÁN. 2. ȽÁU¸ SE¸ ȻSE EN¸ SMÍYEŦ. 3. JISEṈ ȻSE NE SḴAXE¸. 4. NEḴEṈ E LE¸ ȻSE MÁNS. 5. IȾEṈ SE¸ ȻŦE NE SÁĆS. 6. W̱ITEṈ ȻSE NE SḴAXE¸. 7. ITET E SE¸ ȻSE EN¸ TÁN HÁLE. 8. ȻONEṈET ȻSE SḴAXE¸S. 9. ŚTEṈ E LE¸ ȻSE MÁN ȽTE. 10. EN¸ SḴAXE¸ E. | 5.1B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN. 1. My father slept. 2. Is your dog going to run? 3. Our mother dove. 4. Did his dog run away? 5. You folks’ friend walked. 6. His dog jumped. 7. My mother will get dressed. 8. Is your aunt going to cry? 9. Do you know my uncle? 10. He is going to cut his deer. | |
| 5.1C. Write ten new SENĆOŦEN sentences with noun phrases using possessive forms. | ||