Asteran Pronouns and Possession

Asteran has personal pronouns for three persons and two numbers.

Asteran does not mark gender in the third person. The same third-person singular pronoun can mean he, she, it, or singular they, depending on context.

Asteran is also pro-drop. Because the verb ending already marks person and number, subject pronouns are usually optional.

Example:

cala
= I bind

nan cala
= I bind / I myself bind / it is I who bind

The pronoun is used when emphasis, contrast, or clarity is needed.

Personal Pronouns

Person	Asteran	Meaning
1st singular	nan	I
2nd singular	cun	you
3rd singular	lein	he / she / it / singular they
1st plural	nain	we
2nd plural	cūs	you plural
3rd plural	leis	they

Pronoun Declension

Pronouns decline for case.

Singular pronouns use the singular case endings.
Plural pronouns use the plural case endings.

Asteran does not normally use vocative pronouns. Direct address usually uses names, titles, or the second-person nominative pronoun.

Singular Pronouns

Case	1st Singular	2nd Singular	3rd Singular
Nominative	nan	cun	lein
Genitive	nanēn	cunēn	leinēn
Dative	nanai	cunai	leinai
Accusative	nanam	cunam	leinam
Ablative	nanō	cunō	leinō
Locative	nanul	cunul	leinul

Plural Pronouns

Case	1st Plural	2nd Plural	3rd Plural
Nominative	nain	cūs	leis
Genitive	nainōn	cūsōn	leisōn
Dative	nainīs	cūsīs	leisīs
Accusative	nainās	cūsās	leisās
Ablative	nainūm	cūsūm	leisūm
Locative	nainīl	cūsīl	leisīl

Possession

Asteran does not have separate possessive determiners like English my, your, his, her, our, their.

Instead, Asteran uses the genitive case.

Possession is expressed as:

possessed noun + genitive possessor

Examples:

astor nanēn
= my cantor
Literally: cantor of me

astor cunēn
= your cantor
Literally: cantor of you

astor leinēn
= his/her/its/their cantor
Literally: cantor of him/her/it

astor nainōn
= our cantor
Literally: cantor of us

astor cūsōn
= your plural cantor
Literally: cantor of you all

astor leisōn
= their cantor
Literally: cantor of them

Genitive Order

The genitive possessor normally comes after the possessed noun.

Basic possessed noun phrase order:

Degree Marker + Adjective + Noun + Genitive Possessor

Examples:

sacrau astor nanēn
= my sacred cantor
Literally: sacred cantor of me

calaut malc leinēn
= his/her/its bound fracture
Literally: bound fracture of him/her/it

sacrawī astorī nainōn
= our sacred cantors
Literally: sacred cantors of us

Possessed Nouns in Sentences

The possessed noun takes the case required by its role in the sentence.

The possessor remains genitive.

Example:

sacrawam astoram nanēn cala
= I bind my sacred cantor.

Literally:

sacred-ACC cantor-ACC of-me I-bind

Here:

sacrawam astoram
= sacred cantor as object

nanēn
= of me

cala
= I bind

Independent Possessive Meaning

Because possession is expressed through the genitive case, genitive pronouns can also stand alone.

nanēn
= mine / of me

cunēn
= yours / of you

leinēn
= his / hers / its / theirs singular

nainōn
= ours / of us

cūsōn
= yours plural / of you all

leisōn
= theirs / of them

To form a full sentence such as the cantor is mine, Asteran uses the copula.

astor nanēn anei
= The cantor is mine.
Literally: cantor of me is

malc leinēn anei
= The fracture is his/hers/its/theirs.

astorī nainōn aneis
= The cantors are ours.

Asteran does not allow zero-copula predicate possession. Therefore:

astor nanēn
= my cantor / cantor of me

but:

astor nanēn anei
= the cantor is mine

Example Sentences

nan malgam cala
= I bind the fracture.

malgam cala
= I bind the fracture.
The subject pronoun can be omitted because -a already marks 1st person singular.

astor leinam calei
= The cantor binds him/her/it.

leis astoram caleis
= They bind the cantor.

astor leinēn malgam caltei
= His/her/its cantor will bind the fracture.

sacrawam astoram nanēn cala
= I bind my sacred cantor.

astor nanēn anei
= The cantor is mine.