Personal Pronouns
Here are the pronouns that you have learned in the first lesson:
| Subject Pronouns |
| Plural |
|
Singular |
| we |
mir |
מיר |
|
I |
ikh |
איך |
| you |
ir |
איר |
|
you |
du |
דו |
| they |
zey |
זײ |
|
he
she
it |
er
zi
es |
ער
זי
עס |
זײַן (zayn), Present Tense
Here are some examples of the verb זײַן (zayn), to be:
-
איך בין אַ מײדל.
Ikh bin a meydl.
I am a girl.
-
מיר זײַנען חבֿרים.
Mir zaynen khaveyrim.
We are friends.
-
עס איז גוט.
Es iz gut.
It is good.
-
דו ביסט דאָ.
Du bist do.
You are here.
Here are the forms of the verb זײַן in the present tense:
| זײַן (zayn) - Present Tense |
| Plural |
|
Singular |
| we are |
mir zaynen |
מיר זײַנען
|
|
I am |
ikh bin |
איך בין
|
| you are |
ir zayt |
איר זײַט
|
|
you are |
du bist |
דו ביסט
|
| they are |
zey zaynen |
זײ זײַנען
|
|
he is
she is
it is |
er iz
zi iz
es iz |
ער איז
זי איז
עס איז
|
Nouns: Singular and Plural
-
איך בין אַ מײדל. מיר זײַנען מײדלעך.
Ikh bin a meydl. Mir zaynen meydlekh.
I'm a girl. We're girls.
-
ער איז אַ ראָבאָט. זײ זײַנען ראָבאָטן.
Er iz a robot. Zey zaynen robotn.
He's a robot. They're robots.
-
מאירקע איז אַ חבֿר. מאירקע און איך זײַנען חבֿרים.
Meyerke iz a khaver. Meyerke un ikh zaynen khaveyrim.
Meyerke is a friend. Meyerke and I are friends.
You can't always tell what the plural form of a Yiddish noun will be just by looking at the singular form. For this reason, you will find the singular and plural forms in the vocabulary movies and in the feature װערטער.
Here are the singular and plural forms of the nouns in lesson 1:
| Plural |
|
Singular |
| meydlekh |
מײדלעך |
|
meydl |
מײדל |
| yinglekh |
ייִנגלעך |
|
yingl |
ייִנגל |
| robotn |
ראָבאָטן |
|
robot |
ראָבאָט |
| khaveyrim |
חבֿרים |
|
khaver |
חבֿר |
| khavertes |
חבֿרטעס |
|
khaverte |
חבֿרטע |
The letter י (yud): Vowel and Consonant
The letter י (yud) can be a vowel (זי - zi) or a consonant (יאָ - yo). When a י (vowel) and a י (consonant) appear next to each other, the vowel is written with a dot beneath the letter, as in the word (ייִנגל - yingl).
