Appendix:Old Galician-Portuguese personal pronouns

Nominative forms of Old Galician-Portuguese pronouns function as the subject of a sentence. However, because Old Galician-Portugese verb conjugation implies the subject pronoun, these forms are often omitted except in cases where the subject pronoun is given emphasis.

• Subject implied by verb:

  Sõo de Espanha. — “I am from Spain.”

• Subject given for emphasis:

  El de Portugal é, pero eu sõo de Espanha. — “He is from Portugal, but I am from Spain.”

The third-person pronouns o, os, a, and as, have variant forms prefixed with l- or n- which appear depending on the ending of the preceding word. The l- forms are used when the preceding word ends in -r or -s. With that, the sentence “o ajudar” can become “ajudá-lo”. The same is applied to “e tu o negas?” which can be replaced by “e tu negá-lo?” analogously. The n- forms are used when the preceding word ends with any nasal sound, that is, the sentence “elas o acusam?” can be “elas acusam-no” as the letter <m> is nasal to that language.

In addition to it, there are two other third-person pronouns -u and -us. They generally are suffixed to verbs whose infinitive forms end with -ar and are in the third-person singular of the present tense. See the following examples: amoou-u, amoo-u, amó-u (from amar); catoou-u, catoo-u, cató-u (from catar); amoou-us, amoo-us, amó-us; catoou-us, catoo-us, cató-us. The pronouns such as o and os can replace them, but only when the verb ends with the ou diphthong as in: amou-o, amou-os; catou-o and catou-os.

In all other situations, the standard forms of the pronouns are used (o, os, a, as) and are not suffixed to the preceding word. In that case, neither -u nor -us are included as they, by contrast, are suffixed to verbs only.

All personal pronouns may compound with the preposition con (“with”), but the meaning varies with grammatical person. Such first and second person compounds may function as an objective or reflexive form, e.g. comigo (“with me; with myself”), but third person compounds may function only as a reflexive form, e.g. consigo (“with himself/herself”).

The third-person oblique pronouns el, ele, ela, eles, elas, and even elo form contractions when they follow the prepositions de (“of, from”) or en (“in”). For example, de el contracts to del and en elas contracts to nelas.

The third-person accusative pronouns o, a, os, as, lo, la, los, and las form contractions when they follow a dative pronoun.

These contracted forms may be added as a suffix to the preceding verb.

Nominative forms of Old Galician-Portuguese pronouns function as the subject of a sentence. However, because Old Galician-Portugese verb conjugation implies the subject pronoun, these forms are often omitted except in cases where the subject pronoun is given emphasis.

• Subject implied by verb:

  Sõo de Espanha. — “I am from Spain.”

• Subject given for emphasis:

  El de Portugal é, pero eu sõo de Espanha. — “He is from Portugal, but I am from Spain.”

The third-person pronouns o, os, a, and as, have variant forms prefixed with l- or n- which appear depending on the ending of the preceding word. The l- forms are used when the preceding word ends in -r or -s. With that, the sentence “o ajudar” can become “ajudá-lo”. The same is applied to “e tu o negas?” which can be replaced by “e tu negá-lo?” analogously. The n- forms are used when the preceding word ends with any nasal sound, that is, the sentence “elas o acusam?” can be “elas acusam-no” as the letter <m> is nasal to that language.

In addition to it, there are two other third-person pronouns -u and -us. They generally are suffixed to verbs whose infinitive forms end with -ar and are in the third-person singular of the present tense. See the following examples: amoou-u, amoo-u, amó-u (from amar); catoou-u, catoo-u, cató-u (from catar); amoou-us, amoo-us, amó-us; catoou-us, catoo-us, cató-us. The pronouns such as o and os can replace them, but only when the verb ends with the ou diphthong as in: amou-o, amou-os; catou-o and catou-os.

In all other situations, the standard forms of the pronouns are used (o, os, a, as) and are not suffixed to the preceding word. In that case, neither -u nor -us are included as they, by contrast, are suffixed to verbs only.

All personal pronouns may compound with the preposition con (“with”), but the meaning varies with grammatical person. Such first and second person compounds may function as an objective or reflexive form, e.g. comigo (“with me; with myself”), but third person compounds may function only as a reflexive form, e.g. consigo (“with himself/herself”).

The third-person oblique pronouns el, ele, ela, eles, elas, and even elo form contractions when they follow the prepositions de (“of, from”) or en (“in”). For example, de el contracts to del and en elas contracts to nelas.

The third-person accusative pronouns o, a, os, as, lo, la, los, and las form contractions when they follow a dative pronoun.

These contracted forms may be added as a suffix to the preceding verb.

Possessive pronouns and pronouns are a special class of personal pronouns which indicate a relationship of ownership or possession. However, they may serve as either as a pronoun or as an adjective.

The choice of gender and number matches the noun possessed, not the gender and number of the possessor.

The possessives may be suffixed to the preceding word.

The demonstratives are another class of pronoun that have both pronomial and adjectival functions.

The demonstrative pronouns form contractions when used following the prepositions de (“of, from”) and en (“in”). For example, de este contracts to deste and en aquela contracts to naquela.

The demonstrative pronouns also form contractions when they precede the determiner outro (“other, another”). For example, este outro contracts to estoutro and aquelas outras contracts to aqueloutras.