Parts of Speech: Possession
Possession indicates close association with a person (our mother), animal (his dog), place (your village), or ownership/use of a thing (my snowshoes).
The possessor is indicated by either a proper noun (such as a person's name) or a possessive pronoun (my, your, his/her, our, their, etc.).
Possessed nouns fall into the categories of inherently possessed nouns such as relatives or body parts (my nose) and non-inherently possessed nouns that you wouldn’t automatically own (my gun).
Possession is indicated by a proper noun
An example of a proper noun is someone’s name.
When the possessor is indicated by a proper noun, such as a person's name, -a or -'a is attached as a suffix to the possessed person, animal, place, or thing. Consider the following example:
- Mary hał’a (ghał+’a) = Mary's backpack
- Mary = possessor noun
- hał = noun meaning backpack, (gh changes to h when it is the initial sound in a word)
- -'a is a suffix that indicates possession and is attached to the possessed noun, in this case her backpack (note: the apostrophe (') does not indicate ownership as in English, but represents a glottal stop (see sound system).
| Michael's sled | Michael ghetl'a (ghetl+'a) |
| Alice’s gloves | Alice lugech'a (lughech'+a) |
| Herman’s moose hide boat | Herman elgheji'a (elgheji+'a) |
| Mary’s steambath | Mary neli'a (neli+'a) |
The possessive suffix ('a) cannot be applied to all nouns. A complete list has not yet been made. If the suffix 'a cannot be added to indicate possession, one of the prefixes described in the section below can be used instead.
Possession is indicated by a possessive pronoun
A possessive pronoun is attached as a prefix to the possessed noun. Consider the following examples:
- beq'ildu (be+qenq'a) = her house
- be = possessive pronoun meaning his/her
- qenq'a = possessed noun meaning house
| Pronoun | Meaning |
| sh- | my |
| n- | your (singular) |
| be- | his/her |
| na- | our |
| h- | your (plural) |
| qu- | their |
| k'e- | someone's |
| de- | his/her own |
| deh- | their own |
| nił- | each other's |
| Example | Meaning |
| shqenq'a (sh+qenq'a) | my house |
| nqenq'a (n+qenq'a) | your (sg.) house |
| beqenq'a (be+qenq'a) | his/her house |
| naqenq'a (na+qenq'a) | our house |
| hqenq'a (h+qenq'a) | your (pl.) house |
| quqenq'a (qu+qenq'a) | their house |
| k'eqenq'a (k'e+qenq'a) | someone's house |
| deqenq'a (de+qenq'a) | his/her own house |
| dehqenq'a (deh+qenq'a) | their own house |
| niłqenq'a (nił+qenq'a) | each other's house |
In English possession with pronouns involves two words such as "my snowshoes." In Dena'ina possession with pronouns becomes one word, "shlugech'" (sh+lugech') or "my gloves."
When adding sh- (meaning my) to a word that begins with ł, s, sh, x, or h the sound changes to its voiced counterpart; l, z, zh, or gh.
For example dog is łika so following the rule "my dog" is shlik'a, not shłik'a (the ł changes to l).
In English the possessive pronouns "his" and "her" are different words (as described above). In Dena'ina the prefix "be-" stands for both "his" and "her" and you would know the difference from the context of the sentence.
Inherent possession
Some Dena'ina words consist of a prefix and a root that must occur together as one word and are called inherently possessed words. Words for relatives and body parts are common inherently possessed forms. Consider the following examples:
- shunkda (sh+unkda) = my mother
- sh- = possessive pronoun meaning “my”
- -unkda= possessed root meaning "mother"
| Pronoun | Meaning |
| sh- | my |
| n- | your (singular) |
| be- | his/her |
| na- | our |
| h- | your (plural) |
| qu- | their |
| k'e- | someone's |
| de- | his/her own |
| deh- | their own |
| nił- | each other's |
| Example | Meaning |
| shunkda (sh+unkda) | my mother |
| nunkda (n+unkda) | your (sg.) house |
| bunkda (be+unkda) | his/her mother |
| na'unkda (na+unkda) | our mother |
| hunkda (h+unkda) | your (pl.) mother |
| qunkda (qu+unkda) | their mother |
| k'unkda (k'e+unkda) | someone's mother |
| dunkda (de+unkda) | his/her own mother |
| dehunkda (deh+unkda) | their own mother |
| nił'unkda (nił+unkda) | each other's mother |
The same pronouns are used with body parts:
| Example | Meaning |
| syes (sh+yes) | my skin |
| nyes (n+yes) | your (sg.) skin |
| beyes (be+yes) | his/her skin |
| nayes (na+yes) | our skin |
| hyes (h+yes) | your (pl.) skin |
| quyes (qu+yes) | their skin |
| k'eyes (k'e+yes) | someone's skin |
| deyes (de+yes) | his/her own skin |
| dehyes (deh+yes) | their own skin |
| niłyes (nił+yes) | each other's skin |