Declensions of Pronouns – 4

The ablative case in Konkani is actually a compounded case. It is the genitive instrumental, or the  instrumental of the genitive case, and its usage is very restricted and yet not uncommon, and hence its importance. It is used mainly to express a person’s ability or inability, competence or incompetence, etc or the legitimacy or illegitimacy, permissibility or the opposite of a certain behaviour or action. The ablative is used when one wants to convey a meaning similar to सकना in Hindi or शकणे in Marathi.  For example, the Konkani version of मै कर सकता हूं (Hindi) or मी करूं शकतों (Marathi) is “Mhojean korum ieta”

. And mhojean is the ablative of hanv. (I have heard some people use the Marathi version in Konkani: Hanv korum xoktam. I won’t say it is incorrect. But I feel it is sheer apery of Marathi). The ablative is also used when giving an oath or swearing: Hanv Devachean sangtam  = I swear in God’s name. Devachean is the ablative of Dev, i.e., God.

It is interesting to note that Marathi too has a similar ablative case. However, it is perhaps considered as archaic and is mostly found in old writings such as translations of the Bible. For instance, the Marathi form of mhojean is माझ्याने. And unless one is familiar with Marathi literature, one may never have even heard the word माझ्याने, which is the ablative of मी.

Here are the ablatives of personal pronouns:

	Singular		Plural
1st Person	Mhojean	I	Amchean	We
2nd Person	Tujean	Thou	Tumchean	You
3rd Person masc.	Tachean	He	Tanchean	They
3rd Person fem.	Tichean	She
3rd Person neut.	Tachean	It

Examples:

Mhojean hem sonsum nozo

 =   I cannot bear this  (sonsunk = to suffer).

Tujean tem kam’ oxem korum ieta 

= You can do that job this way.