7. Possession (my, your, his...)

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7. Possession (my, your, his...)

Add a suffix to the end of the noun to express possession.

In Kabyle, we don't use a separate word for "my", "your", "his". We add a suffix directly to the end of the noun. The suffix changes according to the person and sometimes their gender.

7.1. The possessive suffix table

Possessive suffixes (examples with a masculine and a feminine noun)
PersonneSuffixeaxxam (house, m.)taddart (village, f.)
I (1sg)-iwaxxam-iwtaddart-iw
You (2sg m.)-ikaxxam-iktaddart-ik
You (2sg f.)-imaxxam-imtaddart-im
He (3sg m.)-isaxxam-istaddart-is
She (3sg f.)-isaxxam-istaddart-is
We (1pl)-nneɣaxxam-nneɣtaddart-nneɣ
You (2pl m.)-nnwenaxxam-nnwentaddart-nnwen
You (2pl f.)-nnkentaxxam-nnkenttaddart-nnkent
They (3pl m.)-nsenaxxam-nsentaddart-nsen
They (3pl f.)-nsentaxxam-nsenttaddart-nsent

7.2. In context

Axxam-iw d ameqqran.
My house is big.
Taddart-ik d taẓurit.
Your village is famous.
Yemma-s tettraǧu.
His mother is waiting.

7.3. Key takeaways

  • The suffix attaches directly to the noun, without a visible space or hyphen in speech.
  • Some feminine nouns ending in -t may undergo a slight vowel change (vowel harmony).
  • For a feminine noun, the suffix form is the same as in the masculine, but the noun keeps its gender: taddart-iw, not taddart-u.
  • The suffixes -nneɣ, -nnwen, -nsen, -nsent are longer and easier to recognize in speech.
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