Chapter 08 - Somali Preverbal Particles

Inventory on the preverbal particles :

1. Somali preverbal particles are like verbal affixes, except they stand detached from the verb.
2. They mostly occur before the verb in the verbal phrase.
3. We can distinguish two main categories of preverbal particles :
   • The pronoun particles.
   • The locative and relational particles.
4. Both categories of preverbal particles have pre-assigned positions in the verbal phrase.
5. Some particles can coalesce with other particles, both pronoun and/or locative, leading to phonetic changes.

Word order of the verbal phrase :

Subject Pronoun + Object Pronoun (1st series) + Locative Particle + Negation + Relational Particle + Verb + Object Pronoun (2nd series)

Ordered table of Preverbal markers

Word order :	Subject Pronoun	Object Pronoun (1st series)	Locative	Negation	Relational	Object Pronoun (2nd series)
1st pers. sing.	waan waxaan	i	u (for) ku (in) ka (from) la (with)	ma (not)	soo (towards) sii (away) wada (together) kala (apart)	kay
2nd pers. sing.	waad waxaad	ku				kaa
3rd pers. sing. masc.	wuu waxuu
3rd pers. sing. fem.	way waxay
1st pers plur. excl.	waannu waxaannu	na				kayo
1st pers. plur. incl.	waynu waxaynu	ina				keen
2nd pers. plur.	waydin waxaydin	idin				kiin
3rd pers. plur.	way waxay

 Combinations of preverbal particles and pronouns : 

Preverbal locative and relational particles combine with each other and with various preverbal object and subject pronouns, often with phonological changes, and become amalgamated words.
There are three types of combination schemes :

1. Locative particle + locative particle combinations
2. Object pronoun particle + locative particle combinations
3. Pronoun particle + [particle + particle] clusters combinations

 Two locative particles combinations : 

locative / locative combination		ú	kú	ká	lá
		= for	= in	= from	= with
ú	= for	ugú	ugú	ugá	ulá
kú	= in		kagá	kagá	kulá
ká	= from			kagá	kalá
lá	= with

Examples :

sidée	bùu	ugá	baxay ?
sí-dée	bàa-uu	ú-ká	baxay ?
way-which	FOCUS-he	in-from	went out
= How did he get out of it ? (lit. 'in what way did he go out from [it] ?')

nínkíi	bàan	cèelka	xádhig	kagá	sóo	saaray
nín-kíi	bàa-aan	cèel-ka	xádhig	kú-ká	sóo	saaray
man-the	FOCUS-I	well-the	rope	with-from	towards_me	raised
= I pulled the man out of the well with a rope

 Object pronoun + locative particle combinations : 

The locative particles or "prepositions" also combine phonologically with the preverbal object pronouns and with the impersonal subject pronoun la.
The preverbal pronoun takes the first position in the combination.

Pronoun / Locative combination		ú	kú	ká	lá
		= for	= in	= from	= with
i	= me	íi	igú	igá	ilá
ku	= you	kúu	kugú	káa	kulá
na	= we [excl.]	nóo	nagú	nagá	nalá
ina	= we [incl.]	inóo	inagú	inagá	inalá
idin	= you [pl.]	idíin	idinkú	idinká	idinlá
la	= one [subj.]	lóo	lagú	lagá	lalá

Examples :

wuu	i	dhiibay
waa-uu	i-	dhiibay
he	me-to	handed
= He handed [it] to me
way	káa	qaadday
waa-ay	ku-ká	qaadday
she	you-from	took
= She took [it] from you
way	nóo	qoreen
waa-ay	na-ú	qoreen
they	us-for	wrote
= They wrote [it] for us

sidée	bàa	lóo	sameeyey
sí-dée	bàa	la-ú	sameeyey
way-which	FOCUS	one-in	did
= How was it done ? (lit. 'in which way did one do [it] ?')

 Pronouns and particle clusters combinations : 

Pronoun / particle cluster combination		ugú	ugá	ulá	kagá	kulá	kalá
i	= me	iigú	iigá	iilá	igagá	igulá	igalá
ku	= you	kuugú	kaagá	kuulá	kaagá	kugulá	kaalá
na	= we [excl.]	noogú	noogá	noolá	nagagá	nagulá	nagalá
ina	= we [incl.]	inoogú	inoogá	inoolá	inagagá	inagulá	inagalá
idin	= you [pl.]	idiinkú	idiinká	idiinlá	idinkagá	idinkulá	idinkalá
la	= one [subj.]	loogú	loogá	loolá	lagagá	lagulá	lagalá

Examples :

way	ká	qaadeen
waa-ay	ká	qaadeen
they	from	took
= They took [it] from [him]
way	nóo	qaadeen
waa-ay	na-ú	qaadeen
they	us-for	took
= They took [it] for us
way	noogá	qaadeen
waa-ay	na-ú-ká	qaadeen
they	us-for-from	took
= They took [it] from [him] for us

                Source: http://hooyo.web.free.fr