Ternate - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

TERNATE 143
THE TERNATESE LANGUAGE
Possessive Pronouns
a. Singular
person
b. Plural
person
These come immediately before the noun and are much the same as the ones above.
masculine feminine
I ngori (ri) ngori (ri)
fangare fajaro
II ngana ni ngana ni
III una ge i mina ge mi
una i mina mi
i mi
masculine feminine
I ngomi ma ngomi ma
ngomi ngomi
II ngoni nia ngoni nia
III ana ge nga ana ge nga
nga nga
The demonstrative pronouns are: enane, “these, this;” and enage, “those, that.” The
interrogative pronouns are: nagi for persons and kogah for inanimate objects and animals.
The relative pronouns are rarely used.
The Verb
The verbal form is based on the combination of the personal pronoun with the stem.
[p. 200]
For the tenses, the past tense is formed by maruah or maraha, the past participle by
pasa maruah, and the indefinite future tense by domaha. All these words come after the
verb.
In the imperative, one uses particles such as no and ni, and for the negative form the
word afah or riafah.
To make the active voice one places ma before the stem. There is no definite passive
voice, except for causative verbs with which it is signalled by the prefix i. This usage,
however, is not completely certain.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES DIGITAL EDITION