Possession
How do you say "my," "your," "his"? Here's the happy surprise: OVP reuses the object prefixes you've already met. The prefix a- means "him/her" on a verb and "his/her" on a noun. Learn one set, use it two ways.
One set of prefixes, two uses
| Prefix | As object ("…me") | As possessive ("my…") |
|---|---|---|
| i- | me | my |
| ü- | you | your |
| ta- | you & me | our (you & me) |
| a- | him/her/it (nearby) | his/her/its (nearby) |
| ma- | him/her/it (nearby) | his/her/its (nearby) |
| u- | him/her/it (far) | his/her/its (far) |
| ni- | us (not you) | our (exclusive) |
| tei- | us (all of us) | our (inclusive) |
| üi- | you all | your (plural) |
| ai- / mai- | them (nearby) | their (nearby) |
| ui- | them (far) | their (far) |
How it works
To say "my X," attach the prefix straight to the noun:
| OVP | English | Breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| i-bia | my mother | i- (my) + bia (mother) |
| ü-bia | your mother | ü- (your) + bia |
| a-bia | his/her mother (nearby) | a- (his/her) + bia |
| u-bia | his/her mother (far) | u- (his/her) + bia |
And as always, watch the fortis/lenis softening: "horse" is puggu, but "my horse" is i-buggu (p→b).
The possessor's distance, not the thing's
The near/far on a possessive prefix marks where the owner is, not where the owned thing is:
A-bia-ii hibi-ti → "His/her mother is drinking". The person whose mother it is is nearby. U-bia-ii hibi-ti → "His/her mother is drinking". The person whose mother it is is far / out of sight.
The mother herself might be right in front of you (that's what the -ii on the noun says). The prefix is telling you about the possessor.
Family words have a special form
Most family terms come in two forms: an unpossessed form ending in -bi, and a possessed form that drops it and softens the first consonant.
| English | Unpossessed | Possessed (my) |
|---|---|---|
| mother | piabi | i-bia |
| father | nawabi | i-nawa |
| elder brother | pabi'ibi | i-babi' |
| younger brother | wanga'abi | i-gwanga' |
| son | tuabi | i-dua |
| daughter | pedübi | i-bedü |
You rarely talk about "a mother" in the abstract (you talk about someone's mother) which is exactly why family vocabulary is the natural place to practice possessives. See Family and Relatives for the full set.
This has tripped up researchers. When linguists have asked OVP speakers for a word like "mother," speakers often answered with the possessed form i-bia ("my mother") rather than the bare root pia. Saying just pia on its own just doesn't sound natural in OVP. A mother is always someone's mother!
Possessed nouns in sentences
A possessed noun behaves like any other noun (see Nouns): as a subject it still needs -ii / -uu, as an object it still needs -neika / -noka.
I-bia-ii tüka-ti → "My mother (nearby) is eating." (subject) Nüü ü-bia-neika a-buni-ti → "I see your mother." (object)
What's next
If you're following the suggested reading path, you've got everything you need to start Building Sentences: how to put it all together.