Haav (hahv), Makka (mah-kkah)
In English, we have “I” and “Me” pronouns that we use to describe ourselves in a sentence.
“I” is a subject pronoun whereas “Me” is an object pronoun. A good way to remember the difference is to think about whether the pronoun is performing the action (use "I") or receiving the action (use "me").
Similarly, in Konkani, we have Haav and Makka which are used as subject and object pronouns respectively.
Haav shikthasa = I am learning
In the above sentence, I am the subject (one performing the action) and hence we use “Haav”.
Note: The word shiktha (shik-tha) in Konkani is derived from the Sanskrit word siksa which means to learn. And shikthasa is a combined form of shiktha + assa.
Let us consider following example,
Tuv makka shikaithasa = You are teaching me
In the above sentence, you are the one doing the action and I am the object (one receiving the action) and hence we use “Makka”.
Note: While shiktha is to learn, shikaitha (shee-kai-tha) is to teach.
Tuv (thoov), Tukka (thu-kkah)
English has just one word “you” in both subject and object case. However, in Konkani, similar to “Haav” and “Makka”, we have Tuv and Tukka to distinguish between subject you and object you respectively.
“I am” and “You are”
We quickly see that “I” is not just used an a subject pronoun, but is used together with “am” to indicate one’s identity or condition.
Examples:
I am Connor
I am cold
You are hungry
However, Konkani makes a distinction between one’s state of being (identity) versus one’s state of condition. To indicate identity, you use Haav/Tuv. But in cases of condition, you use Makka/Tukka. The reasoning behind such a distinction is very simple. When something is your identity, you exist as that person, i.e you are performing that action of existing with that identity. Whereas, when something is your condition, it describes what is happening to you in that particular moment i.e. you are receiving an action.
Examples (translations of above English examples)
Haav Connor
Makka Shinkkartha (sheenk-kar-tha)
Tukka bhukartha (bhook-kar-tha)