Nora Diana Coman Professor: Conf. univ. dr.

Sava Dan erban

Lingvistic contrastiv anglo-romn n practica traducerii

4 February 2012

The Possessive Pronoun

Merriam Webster dictionary defines possessive pronoun as a pronoun that derives from a personal pronoun and denotes possession and analogous relationships. In Romanian, possessive pronouns/ adjectives agree in gender and number with the possessor while in English the possessive pronoun stands alone and the possessive adjective agrees in gender and number with the possessor and not with the thing possessed.

In Romanian, the possessive pronouns are formed with the help of the possessive adjectives preceded by the possessive articles al, a, ai, ale. Depending on the gender and number of the possessed object, four main forms (masculine and feminine, singular and plural) are available for each of the three persons:

1st person: singular- meu, mea plural: mei, mele. Cinele meu = my dog Cinii mei= my dogs Pisica mea= my cat Pisicile mele= my cats

2nd person: Masculine singular: tu/dumitale/dumneavoastr. plural: ti/ dumitale/ dumneavoastr Feminine singular: ta/dumitale/dumneavoastr Plural: tale/dumitale/dumneavoastr.

The second person possessives function very much like the first person pronouns, but the changes occur regarding the three degrees of politeness.

3rd person: Masculine singular: su/ (dumnea)lui plural : si/ (dumnea)lui Feminine singular : sa/ (dumnea) ei sale/ (dumnea)ei

The possessive pronoun replaces a noun, indicating the idea of possession. The possessive markers are: al (masc.,sg. ) a (fem., sg.) ai (masc., pl) ale (fem., pl.)

Examples :

Maina mea e Renault, ca i a dumneavoastr. My car is Renault, just like yours.

Numele meu este romnesc, al lui este francez. My name is Romanian, his is French.

Dicionarele mele sunt franuzeti, ale ei sunt englezeti. My dictionaries are French, hers are English. As we can notice in these examples, the possessive markers (al, ai, a, ale) change structures like my + noun into `mine`, in which the possessive pronoun refers to a previously mentioned noun.

The possessive adjective takes the gender and the number of the noun it modifies: fiul meu- my son, fiica mea- my daughter, fiii mei- my sons, fiicele tale- your daughters, etc. It is placed after
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the modified noun. In contrast with English, the noun followed by a possessive adjective takes the definite article: soia mea- my wife, soul meu- my husband, scaunele noastre- my chairs, etc. For the third person, the possessive adjective has forms only for the singular (one possessor only): su, sa, si, sale. In the plural, the genitive personal pronoun lor is used throughout:

Fraii notri sunt studeni, fraii lor sunt elevi. Our brothers are college students, their brothers are school students.

In general, the forms su, sa, si, sale are rarely used and are replaced by the genitive forms of the personal pronoun lui and ei: Fratele meu este scriitor, fratele lui este avocat. My brother is a writer, his brother is a lawyer.

Sora ei are doar 4 ani. Her sister is only 4 years old.

The forms su, sa, si, sale, are preferred when the possessed object belongs to the subject of the sentence: Eu vorbesc cu prietenul lui. I speak with his friend. El vorbete cu prietenul lui. He speaks with his friend. (his own or someone other`s friend) El vorbete cu prietenul su. He speaks with his friend. (his own friend).

The pronouns of politeness in the genitive will replace the possessive pronouns tu, ta, ti, tale, vostru, voastr, votri, voastre or the personal pronoun on the genitive (3 rd person) in formal addressing to other people:

prietenul dumneavoastr- your friend, prietenii dumneavoastr- your friends, prietenii dumnealui- his friends, etc.

In Romanian, the possessive pronouns are identical to the possessive adjectives, but in order to function as pronouns, they take the possessive or genitival article: al meu, a mea, ai mei, ale mele, al tu,a ta, ai ti, ale tale, etc. The possessive or genitival article will take the gender and the number of the noun that designates the object(s) owned:

un frate al meu/ one brother of mine, o sor a mea- one sister of mine, doi frai ai mei- two brothers of mine, etc. The possessive article precedes a possessive adjective, transforming it into a pronoun when:

The possessive is independent: Ale cui sunt crile de aici? Whose are the books over here? Ale noastre. Ours.

The noun modified by the pronoun takes the indefinite article un, o, nite: Cartea de pe mas e cartea lui? Is the book on the table his? Da, e cartea lui. Yes, this is his book. but Ce carte este pe mas? What book is on the table ? O carte a lui. A book of his.

A noun modified by the pronoun is not immediately followed by the pronoun, but there are other modifiers between them: Pe mas sunt crile mele. My books are on the table. but Pe mas sunt crile vechi ale mele. My old books are on the table.

The noun modified by the pronoun has two or more possessive modifiers and the pronouns are on the second, third, etc, position: Crie mele i ale lui sunt pe mas. My books and his are on the table.

The possessive pronoun functions as a nominal part in the predicate: Aici este cartea lui. His book is here. but Cartea de aici este a lui. The book over here is his.
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The independent possessive pronouns can have the meaning my/your/ his, etc. family/folks: Ai mei sunt acas. Ai ti unde sunt? My folks are at home. Where are your folks? Ai mei sunt n Germania. My parents are in Germany.

The possessive value of the unstressed personal and reflexive pronouns in the dative

Unstressed personal and reflexive pronouns in the dative can have possessive meaning in Romanian. The possessive meaning is obvious when such a pronoun modifies a noun. In contemporary Romanian, the noun can be only in the nominative or in the accusative. The nominal structures including a possessive dative are typical of poetic texts:

Eu strng la piept averea-mi de amor i frumusei . (Mihai Eminescu) I embrace my fortune made of love and beauties.

In contemporary standard speech, structures including an unstressed personal or reflexive pronoun with possessive value joined with a verb are very common: I-ai luat tu bicicleta? = Ai luat tu bicicleta ei/lui? Did you take her/his bike ? i-ai luat medicamentele? Ai luat medicamentele tale? Did you take your medication? *

In theory, the structures with the possessive datives can be replaced with structures with possessive pronouns. In fact, the former are more frequent in standard speech, while the latter are less common. Many time, this replacement is not even accepted, like in the example preceded by an asterisk.

In English, we can notice less variations of the possessive pronoun:

1st person: mine (sg) Ours (pl.) 2nd person: yours sg. and pl. 3rd person: his/hers/its- sg.
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theirs- pl.

As for the possessive adjectives, we encounter the following forms: 1st person: my- sg., our-pl. 2nd person: yours sg. and pl. 3rd person: his/her/its-sg., their-pl.

The possessive pronoun its is very rarely used, but it could be encountered in such sentences where ellipsis occurs as:

The tree has its own shadows and the flowers has its. Copacul are umbrele sale, iar florile pe ale lor.

In English, the possessive adjective has an attributive usage:

This is his car. Aceasta este maina lui. While the possessive pronoun has a predicative usage: That car is his. Aceast main este a lui.

There are cases when we can use either the possessive pronoun or the possessive adjective:
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usually with own to give emphasis to the idea of personal possession: He has bought his own record player, he doesn`t need anybody else`s. i-a cumprat propriul su picup, nu are nevoie de al altora.

There are cases when the pronominal forms replace the possessive adjective. This usually happens in expressions where no possessive adjectives can be used:
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That will be the death of him. Acesta i va fi sfritul.

The possessive pronouns are used:

in predicative contexts: That book is yours. Aceea carte este a ta. in such phrases as : My best wishes to you and yours from me and mine. Cele mai bune urri ie i alor ti din partea mea i a familiei. in conventional ending to letters: yours sincerely, yours faithfully. (It does not have a possessive equivalent in Romanian).

The possessive adjectives are used:

1) in front of nouns and one, having an attributive function:

This is your book. Aceasta este cartea ta.

2) if the subject of the verb requiring a gerund is different from the subject of the gerund. In

this case, the possessive adjective is used in English to make the subject of the gerund clear: I don`t like his borrowing money. Nu-mi place c mprumut bani.
3) in less formal English, we will use the personal pronoun instead.

I don`t like him borrowing money. Nu-mi place c mprumut bani.

4) if the subject of the verb requiring a gerund is identical with the subject of the gerund, the

second one is omitted, thus the possessive is not required: I don`t mind going there alone. Nu m deranjeaz s merg acolo singur.

As we have seen, the possessive pronoun differs in English and Romanian, starting with the definition, the form which has more variations in Romanian than in English and ending with their use which is more ample in Romanian.

Bibliography

1) Alexandra, Cornilescu, Alexandru Nicolae. Romanian Possessives: Adjectives or

Pronouns?: online.
2) Barbu B, Berceanu. Sistemul Gramatical al Limbii Romne: Bucureti, Editura

tiinific, 1971.
3) Christina N., Hoffman. Romanian Reference Grammar: US Department of State, 1989. 4) Constantin, Paidos. Gramatica Limbii Engleze: Instititul European, Iai, 1993. 5) Dana, Cojocaru. Romanian Grammar: SEELRC, 2003, online. 6) Mihai Mircea, Zdrenghea, Luminia Greere. A practical English grammar with exercices:

Clusium, 1999.