The pronouns: ego, tu, nos, vos

Sort the Latin frequency list and the top is full of pronouns: qui is rank 8 and ille 46, and both outrank every noun in the language. You will meet these more than any other words. The personal pronouns come first, then is, then the one distinction worth reading twice, eius against suus.

The last four rows share one quirk: genitive -ius and dative -i, the same for masculine, feminine and neuter. Drill those eight forms and much of the rest follows.

ego, tu, nos, vos: the personal pronouns

The first- and second-person pronouns have their own endings:

Se has no nominative because it only ever points back to the subject: Se videt., he/she sees himself or herself.

The nominative is for contrast, because the verb already names its subject:

• Video. - I see.
• Ego dico, tu audis. - I am speaking; you are listening.

Cum is glued on after these pronouns:

For my and your, Latin uses adjectives that agree with the thing owned (meus, tuus, noster, vester, suus), so the genitives have narrower jobs:

• mater mea - my mother (the adjective)
• unus nostrum - one of us
• Miserere nostri. - Have mercy on us. (the Te Deum)