In the Circassian language, pronouns belong to the following groups: personal, demonstrative, possessive, interrogative, reflexive, determinative, and indefinite.
Personal pronouns In Circassian, personal pronouns are strictly expressed only in the first person and second person in singular and plural forms.
Circassian does not have gender-distinguishing pronouns. Unlike most languages, it does not have "traditional" third-person pronouns (he, she, it, they). The concept of the third person is expressed using demonstrative pronouns.
Case 1st Person (I / We) 2nd Person (You) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) Singular Absolutive Ergative Instrumental Adverbial Plural Absolutive Ergative Instrumental Adverbial
Examples:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || I || you || I am looking at you |- |colspan=4|"I am looking at you."
| West || || || || |- | East || || || || |- | || this || work || for me || hard |- |colspan=4|"This work is hard for me."
Demonstrative pronouns (3rd Person) Circassian uses demonstrative pronouns to fulfill the role of the third person. Unlike English "he", "she", or "it", which are abstract references, Circassian pronouns are spatial—they point to "that one" or "this one".
There are three main demonstratives, distinguished by distance and visibility: (Neutral/Invisible): Refers to someone/something not visible, abstract, or mentioned previously. (Proximal): Refers to someone/something visible and close to the speaker ("this one"). (Distal): Refers to someone/something visible but far away ("that one over there").
Forms A major difference between West and East Circassian appears in the Oblique/Ergative case: West uses -щ (-ɕ), while East uses -бы (-bə).
Case Neutral (He/She/That) Proximal (This) Distal (That yonder) West East West East West East Singular Absolutive Ergative Instrumental Adverbial Plural Absolutive Ergative Instrumental Adverbial
Examples:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || that (visible) || you || your car |- |colspan=4|"That is your car."
| West || || || || |- | East || || || || |- | || that one (erg.) || the thing (s)he told me || this one (erg.) || I told him back |- |colspan=5|"I told this person the things that person told me."
| West || || || || || || |- | East || || || || || || |- | || for them || this || shirt || that one || wearing || beautiful |- |colspan=7|"According to them, the shirt that person is wearing is beautiful."
Reflexive pronouns Circassian has specific reflexive pronouns used when the subject and object are the same person (e.g., "He hurt himself"). These are primarily used for the third person.
Case Singular (Himself/Herself) Plural (Themselves) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) Absolutive Ergative Instrumental
Example:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || himself || I || (s)he told me |- |colspan=4|"He told me himself."
Possessive pronouns Possessive pronouns indicate ownership ("mine", "yours"). In Circassian, these are distinct from the possessive prefixes attached to nouns.
The base form of a possessive pronoun (e.g. "mine", "yours", "his") has no noun case: it is used predicatively, as the predicate of sentences such as "this house is mine", and it never takes case suffixes in this function. When the pronoun instead stands for the possessed object itself — "the one that is mine", "the one that is yours" — it is substantivized: it behaves like a noun and takes the regular noun case suffixes, the absolutive ( "the one that is mine"), the ergative () and the instrumental ( "with mine").
Form 1st (Mine/Ours) 2nd (Yours) 3rd (His/Theirs) West East West East West East Singular Possessor Base form ("mine") — caseless Substantivized("the one that is mine") Absolutive Ergative Instrumental Plural Possessor Base form ("ours") — caseless Substantivized("the one that is ours") Absolutive Ergative Instrumental
The third person also has an emphatic (reflexive) form built on "self": "his own" (East ), as in "Is this yours or his (own)?".
Examples:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || this || toys || they are mine |- |colspan=4|"These toys are mine."
| West || || || || |- | East || || || || |- | || that || house || seeing || mine |- |colspan=5|"That house you are seeing is mine."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || this || yours? || is it his? |- |colspan=4|"Is this yours or his?"
Examples of the substantivized (case-marked) forms:
| West || || |- | East || || |- | || the one that is mine || big |- |colspan=3|"Mine (the one that is mine) is big."
| West || || |- | East || || |- | || the one that is yours || beautiful |- |colspan=3|"Yours (the one that is yours) is beautiful."
| West || || |- | East || || |- | || at the one that is mine (erg.) || look! |- |colspan=3|"Look at mine."
| West || || |- | East || || |- | || with yours (instr.) || write! |- |colspan=3|"Write with yours."
Predicative forms Possessive pronouns are commonly used as predicates ("this is mine"). When the subject of such a predicate is a first or second person, the pronoun takes the corresponding absolutive person prefix, producing a single-word predicate: "you are mine", "I am yours". A third-person plural subject is marked by the plural suffix (West , East ): "they are mine".
After a person prefix, the third-person possessive pronouns "his" and "theirs" appear with the linking consonant : "I am his", "you are theirs".
A dash marks combinations in which the possessor and the subject refer (in part) to the same person(s) (e.g. *"I am mine", *"we are mine"); such combinations do not occur.
+ West Adyghe Possessor Subject I You (sg.) He/She/It We You (pl.) They Mine — — Yours (sg.) — — His/Hers Ours — — Yours (pl.) — — Theirs
In Kabardian the same construction uses the Kabardian person prefixes (, , , ), and the final element of the Western forms corresponds to Eastern / (West → East ). In declarative sentences the predicate additionally takes the affirmative suffix : "you are mine", "they are mine". The suffix is absent in questions: "are you mine?".
+ East Circassian (Kabardian) Possessor Subject I You (sg.) He/She/It We You (pl.) They Mine — — Yours (sg.) — — His/Hers Ours — — Yours (pl.) — — Theirs
Examples:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || you || I || you are mine |- |colspan=4|"You are mine."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || I || you (pl.) || you (pl.) are mine |- |colspan=4|"You (plural) are mine."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || I || you || I am yours |- |colspan=4|"I am yours."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || I || you (pl.) || I am yours (pl.) |- |colspan=4|"I am yours (plural)."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || you || we || you are ours |- |colspan=4|"You are ours."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || this || house || it is ours |- |colspan=4|"This house is ours."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || him || I || I am his |- |colspan=4|"I am his."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || his || it || it is his |- |colspan=4|"It is his."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || this || books || they are theirs |- |colspan=4|"These books are theirs."
Possessive Prefixes Possession is a key grammatical feature in Adyghe. Unlike independent possessive pronouns ("mine"), these are prefixes attached directly to the noun. Nouns are divided into two categories based on the relationship between the possessor and the possessed: Inalienable (Organic) possession: Used for things that cannot be separated from the possessor (body parts, family, intrinsic positions). Alienable (Proprietary) possession: Used for transferable property, objects, and concepts.
Note: This distinction is strictly maintained in West Adyghe. In Eastern Circassian (Kabardian), this distinction has largely disappeared, and the "Alienable" prefixes are used for almost all nouns.
Inalienable possession In West Adyghe, inalienable possession is marked by short prefixes attached to the noun stem. This category includes: Body parts: e.g., head, heart, leg. Kinship terms: e.g., mother, brother, daughter. Name: Part-whole relations: (its under), (its inside), (its front/nose).
Person Prefix Example (Head) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) 1st Sing / 2nd Sing / 3rd Sing 1st Plur / 2nd Plur 3rd Plur
Alienable possession Alienable possession is used for separable items, such as property, animals, concepts, and material objects. In West Adyghe, these prefixes involve the additional vowel -и- (-i-). In Kabardian, these same prefixes are used for almost all situations.
Person Prefix Example (House) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) 1st Sing 2nd Sing 3rd Sing 1st Plur 2nd Plur 3rd Plur
Predicative possession The possessive prefixes can likewise combine with the absolutive person prefixes directly on a possessed noun, producing predicates of the type "you are my child". The structure is [subject prefix] + [possessive prefix] + noun: "you are my child" (2sg. subject + 1sg. possessor + "child").
As with the possessive pronouns, the third-person possessive prefixes and take the linking consonant after a subject prefix: "you are his child".
+ West Adyghe (prefix combinations) Possessor Subject I You (sg.) He/She/It We You (pl.) They My — — Your (sg.) — — His/Her Our — — Your (pl.) — — Their
+ East Circassian (Kabardian; declaratives additionally take ) Possessor Subject I You (sg.) He/She/It We You (pl.) They My — — Your (sg.) — — His/Her Our — — Your (pl.) — — Their
A plural subject is marked on the noun: "you (pl.) are my children" (East ).
Examples:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || you || I || you are my child |- |colspan=4|"You are my child."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || I || you || I am your child |- |colspan=4|"I am your child."
| West || || |- | East || || |- | || he || he is my child |- |colspan=3|"He is my child."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || his || you || you are his child |- |colspan=4|"You are his child."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || you || we || you are our child |- |colspan=4|"You are our child."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || you || I || you are my friend |- |colspan=4|"You are my friend."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || you (pl.) || I || you are my children |- |colspan=4|"You (plural) are my children."
Interrogative pronouns Interrogative pronouns correspond to English Wh-words.
Interrogative Pronous Meaning West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) who what / which why where how much which one when
Examples:
| West || || |- | East || || |- | || who || came |- |colspan=3|"Who came?"
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || what || the boy || his name |- |colspan=4|"What is the boy's name?"
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || today || where || you will be |- |colspan=4|"Today where will you be?"
Indefinite pronouns The main indefinite pronoun is someone/something.
Case Singular Plural West East West East Absolutive Ergative Instrumental
Examples:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || someone || door || knocked |- |colspan=4|"Someone has knocked the door."
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || some boy || banana || eats |- |colspan=4|"Some boy is eating the banana."
| West || || || || |- | East || || || || |- | || girl || some pretty || this || (s)he told me |- |colspan=5|"Some pretty girl told me this."
Indicatory pronouns Indicatory pronouns are predicative forms used to say "It is X".
Meaning West (Adyghe) East (Kabardian) Cyrillic IPA Cyrillic IPA it is me it is you it is him/her it is us it is you (pl) it is them that is it this one is that one is exactly that
Examples:
| West || || || |- | East || || || |- | || it is me || to find || necessary |- |colspan=4|"The one you must find is me."
| West || || |-