נאָך פּרטים

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).