Pronouns have two versions with different functions called series I and II.
I | II | |
---|---|---|
1st person singular | ixé | xe |
2nd person singular | endé | nde/ne |
3rd person singular/plural | a'e | i |
1st person plural exclusive | oré | oré |
1st person plural inclusive | îandé | îandé |
2nd person plural | peẽ | pe(ẽ) |
Notice that there is no distinction between 3rd person singular and plural, and also between masculine and feminine, such as in English. Old Tupi in general does not distinguish singular from plural. It's the same for their 3rd person pronoun. Notice too that the 1st person plural has to different pronouns. Exclusive and inclusive refer to when we include or not the listener. When you use oré, you talk about yourself and other people, but not the person with whom you're talking. Îandé is when you include the listener, so it can be translated as "we, including you" or "you and I".
The first series is used for the most part of the time as the subject of the verbs, even though some verbs use series II pronouns. The second series is used for possessions and as a copula for adjectives.
inflexion | syk "to arrive" | só "to go" | pytá "to stay" | ker "to sleep" | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ixé | a- | asyk | asó | apytá | aker |
endé | ere- | eresyk | eresó | erepytá | ereker |
a'e | o- | osyk | osó | opytá | oker |
oré | oro- | orosyk | orosó | oropytá | oroker |
îandé | îa- | îasyk | îasó | îapytá | îaker |
peẽ | pe- | pesyk | pesó | pepytá | peker |
Transitive verbs have the same inflexions, but we have to add the affix -î- between the personal prefix and the verb. It represents the 3rd person object and it's used even if the object is explicit.
to do - apó
I do - ixé aîapó
Thou dost- endé ereîapó
He/she/it/they do - a'e oîapó
We (excl.) do - oré oroîapó
We (incl.) do - îandé îaîapó
You do - Peẽ peîapó
-î- turn into -îo- if the verb is monosyllabic, and î turn into nh when the verb sound nasal (îa- from 1st person plural inclusive turn into nha- for the same reason).
to plant - tym
I plant - anhotym
We plant - nhanhotym
The only transitive verb that don't receive -î- as the object marker is the 'u (to eat).
Even though verbal conjugation is consistent, there are some irregular verbs:
îur "come" | 'e/'i "say" | |
---|---|---|
ixé | aîur | a'e |
endé | ereîur | eré |
a'e | our | o'i |
oré | oroîur | oro'e |
îandé | îaîur | îa'e |
peẽ | peîur | peîé |
When using the verb 'e (say), we don't say as an indirect speech, because there is no such kind of phrase attested. E.g.: "He said that I'm a liar". We only say quoted phrases "He said: -You're a liar".