8.1 Personal Pronouns
8.1.1 First and Second Persons
The first and second person pronouns are descended directly from the Common Slavic ones, with the exception of the nominative dual forms, which come from "we-two" and "you-two".
| 1Sg | 1Dl | 1Pl | 2Sg | 2Dl | 2Pl | |
| Nominative | яс (iás) | надуа (naduá) | муи (muí) | ти (tí) | вадуа (vaduá) | вуи (vuí) |
| Genitive | мене (mené) | наю (náiu) | насе (náse) | тебе (tebé) | ваю (váiu) | васе (váse) |
| Accusative | мене (mené) | наю (náiu) | насе (náse) | тебе (tebé) | ваю (váiu) | васе (váse) |
| Dat.-Instr. | мнѣ (mně́) | нама (náma) | наме (náme) | тибѣ (tibě́) | вама (váma) | ваме (váme) |
| Partitive | мене (mené) | наю (náiu) | насе (náse) | тебе (tebé) | ваю (váiu) | васе (váse) |
| Locative | мнѣ (mně́) | наю (náiu) | насе (náse) | тибѣ (tibě́) | ваю (váiu) | васе (váse) |
| Lative | ме (mé) | на (ná) | ни (ní) | те (té) | ва (vá) | вуи (vuí) |
When the genitive took over as the direct object of accusative sentences with animate nouns, the same thing happened in the pronouns - the original accusative form disappeared in favor of the genitive. Interestingly, it is the lative case that now uses the original pronouns, because the lative arose as a variant of the accusative when not used as a direct object, meaning the genitive never replaced it anywhere. The partitive, whose functions were originally performed by the genitive, also shares the genitive pronouns.
The reflexive pronoun *ши conjugates exactly the same as ти - шебе, шибѣ, ше śebé, śibě́, śé. The nominative form is of course hypothetical, as a reflexive form can never be used as the subject of a sentence.
The pronoun яс iás loses its final /s/, becoming /ja/, whenever the following word begins with a fricative consonant. This reduction is not indicated in writing, however.
8.1.2 Third Person
Common Slavic originally lacked third person pronouns, but later formed them in oblique cases using the anaphoric pronoun *j-. The relation between the forms of the Novegradian third person pronouns and the endings taken by definite adjectives can be seen clearly.
| 3Sg (M/N) | 3Sg (F) | 3Dl | 3Pl | |
| Nominative | оне (óne) | она (oná) | ондуа (onduá) | они (oní) |
| Genitive | ево (ievó) | ѣ (iě́) | ею (iéiu) | их (íh) |
| Accusative | ево (ievó) | ѣ (iě́) | ею (iéiu) | их (íh) |
| Dat.-Instr. | ему (iemú) | ей (iéi) | ема (iemá) | име (íme) |
| Partitive | ево (ievó) | ѣ (iě́) | ею (iéiu) | их (íh) |
| Locative | ем (iém) | ей (iéi) | ею (iéiu) | их (íh) |
| Lative | неи (néji) | нею (néiu) | нея (néia) | неѣ (néiě) |
The anaphoric pronoun was never allowed to stand on its own in its original nominative/accusative case form, so an old demonstrative pronoun он- with endings was used to stand in its place. This nominative form is to be avoided when at all possible.
The original accusative was replaced by the genitive, avoiding the problem of the lone anaphoric pronoun. In the lative form of the old accusative, however, an epenthetic /n/ was acquired to allow the nominative form to stand on its own, in a way. The /n/ likely came from the prepositions that usually preceded nouns in this case, several of which ended in an /n/ which was lost at a later point (eg, Novegradian во "into" < Common Slavic *vъn, although this /n/ reemerges in certain situations).
There is also a second set of third person pronouns, this one derived from the former demonstrative *to, the same that cliticizes to nouns to topicalize them. True to this function, however, this set cannot be used to refer to third person nouns that have not been topicalized. Within the realm of topicalized nouns, however, то and оне exist in free variation.
These forms do not mark gender, only case and optionally number. The singular forms may refer to plural antecedents (especially when in the nominative case, since ти tí could potentially mean either "they" or "you").
| Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | то (tó) | ти (tí) |
| Genitive | тово (tovó) | тѣх (tě́h) |
| Accusative | тово (tovó) | тѣх (tě́h) |
| Dat.-Instr. | тѣм (tě́m) | тѣми (tě́mi) |
| Partitive | тово (tovó) | тѣх (tě́h) |
| Locative | том (tóm) | тѣх (tě́h) |
| Lative | то (tó) | то (tó) |
8.1.3 Possessives
Possession can be indicated in two ways in Novegradian - with the possessive adjectives inherited from Common Slavic, or using an analytic construction borrowed from Finnish.
The inherited adjectives are мой mói (1Sg), туой tuói (2Sg), суой suói (reflex.), наин nájin (1Dl), ваин vájin (2Dl), наш náś (1Pl), and ваш váś (2Pl). The three singular adjectives decline the same way, the duals a different way, and the plurals according to a third pattern.
| мой/туой/суой | наин/ваин | наш/ваш | ||||||||||
| M | N | F | Pl | M | N | F | Pl | M | N | F | Pl | |
| Nominative | мой (mói) |
мое (moié) |
моя (moiá) |
мои (mojí) |
наин (nájin) |
нае (náie) |
ная (náia) |
наи (náji) |
наш (náś) |
наше (náśe) |
наша (náśa) |
наши (náśi) |
| Genitive | моево (moievó) |
моево (moievó) |
моей (moiéi) |
моих (mojíh) |
наево (náievo) |
наево (náievo) |
наей (náiei) |
наих (nájih) |
нашево (náśevo) |
нашево (náśevo) |
нашѣ (náśě) |
наших (náśih) |
| Accusative | мой (mói) |
мое (moié) |
мою (moiú) |
мои (mojí) |
наин (nájin) |
нае (náie) |
наю (náiu) |
наи (náji) |
наш (náś) |
наше (náśe) |
нашу (náśu) |
наши (náśi) |
| Dat.-Instr. | моим (mojím) |
моим (mojím) |
моей (moiéi) |
моими (mojími) |
наим (nájim) |
наим (nájim) |
наей (náiej) |
наими (nájimi) |
нашим (náśim) |
нашим (náśim) |
нашѣ (náśě) |
нашими (náśimi) |
| Partitive | моево (moievó) |
моево (moievó) |
моей (moiéi) |
моих (mojíh) |
наево (náievo) |
наево (náievo) |
наей (náiei) |
наих (nájih) |
нашево (náśevo) |
нашево (náśevo) |
нашѣ (náśě) |
наших (náśih) |
| Locative | моем (moiém) |
моем (moiém) |
моей (moiéi) |
моих (mojíh) |
наем (náiem) |
нам (náiem) |
наей (náiei) |
наих (nájih) |
нашем (náśem) |
нашем (náśem) |
нашѣ (náśě) |
наших (náśih) |
| Lative | мой (mói) |
мое (moié) |
мою (moiú) |
мои (mojí) |
наин (nájin) |
нае (náie) |
наю (náiu) |
наи (náji) |
наш (náś) |
наше (náśe) |
нашу (náśu) |
наши (náśi) |
In the third person, the possessive pronouns are ево ievó (M/N sg), ѣ iě́ (F Sg), ею iéiu (Dl), and ех iéh (Pl) in all cases, derived from the anaphoric pronoun. They do not agree with the noun they modify in any way.
All of the above forms, however, are considered a little formal (though not extremely so), and in all but formal writing the analytic forms are dominant. They are formed using the prepostion о o "at" with a pronoun in the genitive case: о мене o mené "my" (lit. "at me"). In the third person, /n/ is inserted in between: о нево o nevó "his". These forms are required to go after the possessed noun, never before. In much of the northern and eastern parts of the Republic of Novegrad, it is common to use the lative case instead of the genitive, give о ме, о неи, etc, instead.
8.2 Demonstrative Pronouns
Novegradian has only one main demonstrative pronoun, ше śé, which can be translated as either "this" or "that", depending on context. It originally meant just "this", but its use increased as the other demonstratives were lost, and may have acquired wider usage due to influence from the Finnish pronoun/demonstrative se "it, that". The adjective form declines using the same sorts of endings as the possessive adjectives.
| M | N | F | Pl | |
| Nominative | ше (śé) | ше (śé) | ша (śá) | ши (śí) |
| Genitive | шево (śevó) | шево (śevó) | шей (śéi) | ших (śíh) |
| Accusative | ше (śé) | ше (śé) | шу (śú) | ши (śí) |
| Dat.-Instr. | шим (śím) | шим (śím) | шей (śéi) | шими (śími) |
| Partitive | шево (śevó) | шево (śevó) | шей (śéi) | ших (śíh) |
| Locative | шем (śém) | шем (śém) | шей (śéi) | ших (śíh) |
| Lative | ше (śé) | ше (śé) | шу (śú) | ши (śí) |
When used on its own as a pronoun, the masculine/neuter form is used.
If distance (ie, "that" as opposed to "this") needs to be emphasized, the defective demonstrative он- on-, the same one forming the nominative third person pronouns, may be used. When used as adjectives (or perhaps just pronouns in apposition), only the forms оне óne (M/N), она oná (F), and они oní (Pl) exist.
8.3 Absolute Pronouns
The absolute pronouns are special pronominal forms used in isolation, when the verb and environment they should appear in is completely implied by context. In particular, they are used in response to questions such as "Who...?" and "Which...?". The phenominon is similar to the colloquial English habit of answering questions like "Who did this?" with "Me" in place of "I did", or answering "Which do you want?" with "That one" in place of "I want that one".
They were originally formed by adding the topical -то -to to the personal and demonstrative pronouns, but have since undergone their own phonological evolution. There are two variant spellings, an older one more clearly preserving their origin, and a newer one more accurately reflecting colloquial speech. Both are seen frequently, although the newer spellings are becoming more common as fewer and fewer speakers use the older variants in speech.
The absolute personal pronouns are as follows. They are shown alongside the topicalized personal pronouns for comparison.
| Old Spelling | New Spelling | Topicalized Pronoun | |
| 1 Sg | яс-ёт ias-iót | язёт iaziót | яс-от ias-ót |
| 2 Sg | ти-те tí-te | тите títe | ти-то tí-to |
| 3 Sg | он-ёт on-iót | нёт niót | оне-то óne-to |
| 3 Sg | она-та oná-ta | ната náta | она-та oná-ta |
| 1 Dl | надуа-та naduá-ta | надуата naduáta | надуа-то naduá-to |
| 2 Dl | вадуа-та vaduá-ta | вадуата vaduáta | вадуа-то vaduá-to |
| 3 Dl | ондуа-та onduá-ta | дуата duáta | ондуа-то onduá-to |
| 1 Pl | муи-то muí-to | муито muíto | муи-то muí-to |
| 2 Pl | вуи-то vuí-to | вуито vuíto | вуи-то vuí-to |
| 3 Pl | они-те oní-te | ните níte | они-то oní-to |
Note how the /o/ of the third person forms drops in the new spelling, more accurately reflecting speech. The /o/ is only preserved in the speech of older speakers.
The demonstrative pronoun ше similarly has absolute forms:
| Old Spelling | New Spelling | Topicalized Pronoun | |
| Masc Sg | шё-т śió-t | шёт śiót | ше-то śé-to |
| Neut Sg | ше-то śé-to | шето śéto | ше-то śé-to |
| Fem Sg | ша-та śá-ta | шата śáta | ша-та śá-ta |
| Pl | ши-те śí-te | шите śíte | ши-то śí-to |
8.4 Interrogative Pronouns
Novegradian has two interrogative pronouns that have a full pronominal declension, four with an adjectival declension, and several others that don't decline at all.
The two declining pronouns are што śtó "what?" and кето ketó "who?" Being pronouns, they decline using the same sort of endings used by the anaphoric pronoun:
| што "what?" | кето "who?" | |
| Nominative | што (śtó) | кето (ketó) |
| Genitive | цево (cevó) | ково (kovó) |
| Accusative | што (śtó) | ково (kovó) |
| Dat.-Instr. | цему (cemú) | кому (komú) |
| Partitive | цево (cevó) | ково (kovó) |
| Locative | цем (cém) | кем (kém) |
| Lative | це (cé) | ке (ké) |
The /t/ present in the nominative forms comes from the demonstrative то, which was inserted as the original nominative form eroded to almost nothing.
The interrogatives каде kadé "what kind of?" (from Old Novegradian каге, g > d by dissimilation), какове kákove "what kind of?" (in free variation with каде), and котре kótre "which?" decline as adjectives, because they directly modify a noun. They are both regular.
The word кей kéi is an emphatic interrogative, which can mean "what?", "which?", or "what kind of?" depending on the context. It is adjectival as well, but only declines using the definite endings (кей kéi, кая káia, кое kóie, кие kíje).
Other interrogatives, which do not decline, include:
- куде kudé "where?"
- куди kudí "to where?"
- оскуд oskúd "from where?"
- када káda "when?"
- зацем zácem "why?"
- како káko "how?"
- колкѣ kólkě "how much/many?"
Old Novegradian цей céi "whose?" is no longer used, having been replaced by о ково o kovó "at whom".
8.5 Negative and Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite and negative pronouns ("some-X, no-X") are all formed by adding affixes to the interrogative pronouns. The indefinite pronouns are formed from some form of the suffix -ш -ś, a reduced form of an earlier demonstrative pronoun. The negatives are formed with the prefix не- ne-. The addition of these affixes can cause other changes to occur, as they would interfere with the original balance of stress and yer vowels. For example, with the addition of не-, there was no reason to add the -то to the interrogatives "what?" and "who?".
The negative and indefinite forms of што and кето have a complete declension:
| цеш "something" | кош "someone" | неце "nothing" | неке "no one" | |
| Nominative | цеш céś | кош kóś | неце néce | неке néke |
| Genitive | цевош cevóś | ковош kovóś | нецево necevó | неково nekovó |
| Accusative | цеш céś | ковош kovóś | нецево necevó | неково nekovó |
| Dat.-Instr. | цемуш cemúś | комуш komúś | нецему necemú | некому nekomú |
| Partitive | цевош cevóś | ковош kovóś | нецево necevó | неково nekovó |
| Locative | цемеш cémeś | кемеш kémeś | нецем nécem | некем nékem |
| Lative | цеш céś | кош kóś | неце néce | неке néke |
The indefinite and negative adverbs are formed the same way, but do not decline.
| куде "where" | куди "to where" | оскуд "from where" | када "when" | како "how" | |
| Indefinite | кудеш (kudéś) "somewhere" |
кудиш (kudíś) "to somewhere" |
оскудаш (oskúdaś) "from somewhere" |
кадаш (kádaś) "some time" |
какош (kákoś) "somehow" |
| Negative | некуде (nékude) "nowhere" |
некуди (nekúdi) "to nowhere" |
невоскуд (nevoskúd) "from nowhere" |
некада (nekáda) "never" |
некако (nékako) "by no means" |
The negative adjective некаде nekadé "no kind of" is regular. The indefinite counterpart, каде-ш kadé-ś "some kind of", is a little more complicated. The regular interrogative каде kadé is declined regularly, then the suffix -(е)ш -(e)ś is added to the end. Orthographically, it is separated from the adjective base with a hyphen. For example, the nominative indefinite and definite forms are:
| M | N | F | Pl | |
| Indefinite | каде-ш kadé-ś | када-ш kadá-ś | кадо-ш kadó-ś | кади-ш kadí-ś |
| Definite | кадей-еш kadéi-eś | кадая-ш kadáia-ś | кадое-ш kadóie-ś | кадие-ш kadíje-ś |
Какове kákove does not have indefinite or negative forms. Those of каде kadé are used instead.
8.6 Determiners
Common determiners in Novegradian include вехе véhe "all", многе mnóge "many, much", кожне kóźne "each, every", таде tadé "such", видоре vidóre "other", саме sáme "same", and оба oba "both".
Кожне, таде, видоре, and саме are all treated as normal adjectives. Многе, despite how it looks, is not an adjective and does not decline (although the form многи, borrowed from Russian and declined like a plural adjective, is used to mean "many people"); there is an adjective многе, but it means "multiple". Оба is declined exactly the same way as the numeral дова, including having a feminine form обѣ óbě. Вехе takes a pronominal declension like ше or мой, but with a number of irregularities:
| M | N | F | Pl | |
| Nominative | вехе (véhe) | виғо (viğó) | виға (viğá) | вие (vijé) |
| Genitive | вихево (vihevó) | вихево (vihevó) | вией (vijéi) | виех (vijéh) |
| Accusative | вехе (véhe) | виғо (viğó) | виғу (viğú) | вие (vijé) |
| Dat.-Instr. | вихѣм (víhěm) | вихѣм (víhěm) | вией (vijéi) | виѣми (vijě́mi) |
| Partitive | вихево (vihevó) | вихево (vihevó) | вией (vijéi) | виех (vijéh) |
| Locative | вием (vijém) | вием (vijém) | вией (vijéi) | виех (vijéh) |
| Lative | вехе (véhe) | виғо (viğó) | виғу (viğú) | вие (vijé) |
The second consonant of the root alternates between /x/, /ɣ/, and /j/. The original /x/ would voice before the accented syllable, but if it was a front vowel, it would further elide to /j/.
The neuter form, виғо viğó, can be used by itself as a pronoun to mean "everything". The plural, вие vijé, can be used to mean "everyone".
8.7 Table of Correlatives
The above information dealing with pronouns may be summarized in a table of correlatives:
| Interrogative | Proximal | Distal | Existential | Negative | Universal | Indefinite | Diminutive | |
| Determiner | котре (kótre) "which" |
ше (śé) "this" |
ше (śé) "that" |
нѣкотре (ně́kotre) "some" |
некаде (nekadé) "no" |
кожне (kóźne) "every" |
котре (kótre) "whichever" |
малокотре (malokótre) "few" |
| Person | кето (ketó) "who" |
ше (śé) "this" |
ше (śé) "that" |
кош (kóś) "someone" |
неке (néke) "no one" |
вие (vijé) "everyone" |
кето-ко (ketó-ko) "whoever" |
малокето (maloketó) "few people" |
| Thing | што (śtó) "what" |
ше (śé) "this" |
ше (śé) "that" |
цеш (céś) "something" |
неце (néce) "nothing" |
виғо (viğó) "everything" |
што-ко (śtó-ko) "whatever" |
малошто (malośtó) "few things" |
| Place | куде (kudé) "where" |
суде (sudé) "here" |
тамо (támo) "there" |
кудеш (kudéś) "somewhere" |
некуде (nékude) "nowhere" |
веходе (vehodé) "everywhere" |
куде-ко (kudé-ko) "wherever" |
малокуде (malokudé) "in few places" |
| Direction | куди (kudí) "whither" |
суди (sudí) "hither" |
туди (tudí) "thither" |
кудиш (kudíś) "to somewhere" |
некуди (nekúdi) "to nowhere" |
куди-ко (kudí-ko) "to wherever" |
||
| Origin | оскуд (oskúd) "whence" |
оцуда (ocúda) "hence" |
остуда (ostúda) "thence" |
оскудаш (oskúdaś) "from somewhere" |
невоскуд (nevoskúd) "from nowhere" |
|||
| Time | када (káda) "when" |
соѕаса (sodzása) "now" |
тогод (tógod) "then" |
кадаш (kádaś) "sometime" |
некада (nekáda) "never" |
вехода (vehodá) "always" |
када-ко (káda-ko) "whenever" |
малокада (malokáda) "seldom" |
| Amount | колкѣ (kólkě) "how much" |
толкѣ (tólkě) "this much" |
толкѣ (tólkě) "that much" |
нѣколкѣ (ně́kolkě) "some amount" |
колкѣ-ко (kółkě-ko) "however much" |
|||
| Way | како (káko) "how" |
тако (táko) "this way" |
тако (táko) "that way" |
какош (kákoś) "somehow" |
некако (nékako) "no way" |
како-ко (káko-ko) "however" |
||
| Reason | зацем (zácem) "why" |
Any gaps appearing in the table must be filled in with periphrastic constructions.
A few interesting patterns appear in the table above, particularly the K-S-T triplets in the interrogative, proximal, and distal forms, which go back to Proto-Indo-European (cf. English "where~here~there"), although the pattern has been disrupted due to centuries of sound changes. The form суде sudé for "here" is actually an analogous formation based on суди and осуда, as the original form had been *сиде (cf. Russian здесь). The forms веходе vehodé "everywhere" and вехода vehodá "always" come from вехе "all" plus the base of the interrogative: вехода (older form *vьхъ-gъda < vьxъ + (kъ)-gъda, where the *kъ- is the same interrogative element found in most other interrogative words, as well as the /k/ in кето. The word соѕаса sodzása "now" originally meant "with the time/hour", although the Russian calque шеѕас śedzás (lit. "this hour") exists in free variation.
The indefinite forms are formed by suffixing -ко -ko to the base interrogative, except in the case of котре (which can mean both "which" or "whichever"). In the case of кето-ко "whoever" and што-ко "whatever", the interrogative base conjugates normally before the suffix -ко is added. The ending is related to the interrogative како "how?".
Some other correlatives do not fit neatly into the above table. There is one locative based on the root *ien-, meaning "another": енде iendé "elsewhere". There is also the adverb веғаде veğáde, generally translated as "all over". It is similar in meaning to веходе, but whereas веходе implies complete coverage, веғаде implies more of a scattering.
Novegradian also frequently makes use of rhyming compounds based on the proximal and distal forms of various correlatives to indicate a sort of random universality. These are more dependent on keeping up the S~T pattern than using actual correlatives, so such "compounds" make use of a number of nonce words: суде-туде sudé-tudé "here and there", суди-туди sudí-tudí "hither and thither", оцуда-остуда ocúda-ostúda "hence and thence, from all over", согод-тогод sógod-tógod "now and then, occasionally", and солкѣ-толкѣ sólkě-tólkě "a random amount, a jumble". These are all acceptable in the standard language, though none of the nonce forms are allowed in isolation.
8.8 Relative Pronouns
There are two sorts of relative constructions in use in Novegradian.
When the relative clause is pegged to a noun, there are two relative adjectives that may be used - котре kótre and какове kákove. The former links a relative clause specifically to the noun it modifies (eg, "This is the book that I do not like"). The latter links the relative clause to a quality of the noun it modifies, or to the class it forms a part of (eg, "This is the book, the type of which I do not like"). Both decline as regular adjectives, agreeing in gender and number with the noun they modify, but in case with the noun's position in the relative clause.
However, when there is no noun to subordinate the clause to (eg, "I know that he's coming tomorrow" or "Remember who helped you"), a different construction must be used. Here the relativizer consists of two parts - a form of то tó, declined according to its function in the main clause, and a relative pronoun (generally што or кето), declined according to its function in the subclause. То declines using just the neuter and plural pronominal endings, identical to то when used as a personal pronoun, except with animacy distinguished in the accusative.
| Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | то (tó) | ти (tí) |
| Genitive | тово (tovó) | тѣх (tě́h) |
| Animate Accusative |
тово (tovó) | тѣх (tě́h) |
| Inanimate Accusative |
то (tó) | ти (tí) |
| Dat.-Instr. | тѣм (tě́m) | тѣми (tě́mi) |
| Partitive | то (tó) | то (tó) |
| Locative | том (tóm) | тѣх (tě́h) |
| Lative | то (tó) | то (tó) |
These are then followed immediately by a form of што/кето. Note that if these pronouns are supposed to appear in the nominative (which they most frequently are), they appear as це ce or ко ko, respectively, because the /to/ element in them drops. The two halves of the relativizer are written as one word, hyphenated: тѣх-ко tě́h-ko "those.gen-who.nom".