LESSON 57

Object Pronouns

Vocabulary

gucungura (ye) - to redeem	gutegeka (tse) - to rule, govern, command
kurushya (hije) - to trouble, be difficult	guha (haye) - to give, give to
guhana (nnye) - to punish	guhana (nye) - to give to each other

115. Personal object pronouns. These are expressed by little particles inserted in the verb between the tense sign and the verb stem. These particles are:

n (or m) - me	tu (du) - us
ku (gu) - you (s.)	ba - you (pl.)
mu - him, her	ba - them

e.g. ndakubona - I see you (s.), Imana iratubabarira - God forgives us, turamushima - we praise him, irankunda - He loves me.

(For the use of gu or ku, and du or tu, remember the change-down rule in par. 21; and for the use of m for n, the rule in par. 14.)

116. These object pronouns are the same whether used as direct or indirect objects. e.g. I give you the book, is: Ndaguha igitabo, though “you” here is an indirect object. As indicated in par. 101, one would not say “Ndabona wowe” for “I see you”. However, for special emphasis one might say, “Ndakubona wowe.”- I see you, you there!”

Note: The k or t of an object pronoun changes according to the change-down rule, but the k or t of a syllable preceding the object pronoun is not changed by it. Thus: ndagusaba, kukubona.

Whenever an object pronoun intervenes between an infinitive prefix and the stem, the infinitive prefix reverts to ku- , even though originally it may have been -gu or kw- .

117. Kurushya. This is often used with impersonal prefixes (4th class):

: Biraruhije - it is difficult (for tense see par. 129).
: Byamuruhije - it was difficult for him.

Note 1: Observe the imperative of guha: “give me” is mpa. The stem is only -ha, of which the h changes to p because of the preceding m. To be polite one sometimes says: mpa se - please give me.

Note 2: the suffix -nnye (as, -hannye) is pronounced rather like n+ng (as in “ring”) + ye. Work on this sound with an African.

Exercises:

I. Translate into English:

: 1. Abahungu bari he? Ntitwababonye mu ishuri uyu munsi. 2. Umwana yakoze nabi cyane; umubyeyi we azamuhana. 3. Imana yaduhaye agakiza n’ibindi byiza byinshi. 4. Yesu yaje mu isi (earth) kuducungura no kudukiza (no = na). 5. Imana yambabariye ibyaha byanjye byose. 6. Twabahaye amakaramu n’impapuro. Biri he? 7. Biraturuhije kujya iwanyu ubu. Tuzababona ejo. 8. Mbese umuganga yakuvuye neza? Yagukijije indwara yawe? 9. Minani (a name) ntari hano; namutumye ku Gisenyi. 10. Yesu yabajije Petero, ati (don’t translate ati) Urankunda?

II. Translate into Kinyarwanda:

: 1. Where were you (pl.) yesterday? I did not see you the whole day. 2. The pupil is bad; his teacher cannot govern him. 3. I praise God because He saved me and He gave me peace and joy. 4. It is difficult for him to learn because he has much other work. 5. Jesus helps us every day to do His work; we praise Him with (in) all our hearts. 6. Andrew’s (Andereya) children are good; he governs them well. 7. What do you (s.) want? I paid you yesterday. 8. It was difficult for us to finish our work. Will you help us? 9. Where were you (pl.)? Your parents were looking everywhere for you. 10. We saw you (s.) yesterday near the old man’s kraal.