my

See also: Appendix:Variations of "my"

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of English Myanmar, formerly Burma, where Burmese is spoken.

Symbol

my

(international standards) ISO 639-1 language code for Burmese.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

my

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

ma, mah, me, muh, I's

Pronunciation

(stressed) enPR: mī IPA^(key): /maɪ/
- Audio (US): (file)
(unstressed) IPA^(key): /maɪ/, /mə/
- (unstressed, UK) IPA^(key): /mɪ/, /mi/
(Ireland, Scouse, some speakers) IPA^(key): /mi/
Rhymes: -aɪ
Homophones: muh, me (some dialects)

Etymology 1

From Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).

Cognate with West Frisian myn (“my”), Afrikaans my (“my”), Dutch mijn (“my”), German mein (“my”), Swedish min (“my”). More at me.

Determiner

my

First-person singular possessive determiner. See Appendix:Possessive#English.
1. Belonging to me.
  I can't find my book.
2. Associated with me.
  My seat at the restaurant was uncomfortable.
  
  Don't you know my name?
  
  I recognised him because he had attended my school.
3. Related to me.
  My parents won't let me go out tonight.
  - 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 10, lines 165-166:
    From what conſummate vertue I have choſe / This perfect Man, by merit call'd my Son,
4. In the possession of me.
  I have to take my books back to the library soon.

Derived terms

Related terms

mine

Translations

belonging to me

Afrikaans: my (af)
Albanian: im (sq)
Alutor: гымнин (ɣəmnin)
American Sign Language: FlatB@Chest-PalmBack
Arabic: ـِي (ar) (-ī) (suffix, enclitic pronoun)
Egyptian Arabic: ـي (-i), ـيا (ya)
Armenian: իմ (hy) (im)
Aromanian: njeu m, meu m, nja f, mea f
Assamese: মোৰ (mür)
Asturian: mio (ast), míu (ast) m, mía (ast) f
Azerbaijani: mənim
Bashkir: минең (mineñ)
Belarusian: мой (moj)
Bengali: আমার (bn) (amar)
Bikol Central: sako (bcl), sakuya (bcl) (before a noun); ko (bcl) (after a noun)
Brahui: kanna
Breton: ma (br)
Bulgarian: мой (bg) (moj)
Burmese: ကျွန်တော့် (kywantau.) (male speaker), ကျွန်မ (my) (kywanma.) (female speaker)
Catalan: meu (ca) m
Cebuano: aku
Chakma: 𑄟𑄧 (ma)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 我嘅 (ngo⁵ ge³), 我的 (ngo⁵ dik¹) (formal, written)

Mandarin: 我的 (zh) (wǒ de)
Coptic: ⲡⲁ m (pa), ⲧⲁ f (ta), ⲛⲁ m pl or f pl (na)
Cornish: ow
Crimean Tatar: menim
Czech: můj (cs) m
Danish: min (da) c
Dutch: mijn (nl)
Dzongkha: ངའི (nga'i)
Egyptian:

(.j m),

(.j f),

(.j m or f)
Esperanto: mia (eo)
Estonian: minu, mu (et)
Faroese: mín
Finnish: minun ...ni, -ni (fi), minun (fi)
French: mon (fr) m, ma (fr) f, mes (fr) pl
Friulian: gno m
Fula: am
Galician: meu (gl) m, miña (gl) f, mi (gl) m or f (honorific)
Georgian: ჩემი (čemi)
German: mein (de) m
Greek: μου (el) (mou)
Ancient: ἐμός (emós), μου (mou) (genitive personal pronoun)
Hawaiian: koʻu, kaʻu
Hebrew: שֶׁלִּי (shelí)
Hindi: मेरा (hi) (merā)
Hungarian: -m (hu), -om (hu), -am (hu), -em (hu), -öm
Icelandic: minn (is)
Ido: mea (io)
Indonesian: saya (id)
Interlingua: mi
Irish: mo (ga) (before a consonant), m' (before a vowel)
Istriot: meîo m, mio m
Italian: mio (it) m
Japanese: 私の (ja) (わたしの, watashi no), (male speaker) 僕の (ja) (ぼくの, boku no), 我が (ja) (わが, waga) (also written: 我 (ja))
Kabuverdianu: nha
Kalmyk: мини (mini)
Kazakh: менің (menıñ)
Khmer: របស់ខ្ញុំ (rɔbɑh kñom)
Korean: 나의 (naui), 내 (ko) (nae), 저의 (ko) (jeoui), 제 (ko) (je)
Kyrgyz: менин (ky) (menin)
Lao: ຂອງຂ້ອຍ (khǭng khǭi)
Latin: meus (la) m
Latvian: mans
Lithuanian: mano (lt)
Louisiana Creole French: mô m, mâ f, mê pl
Low German: min (nds)
Lü: ᦃᦸᧂᦃᦾᧉ (ẋoangẋoay²)
Macedonian: мој (moj)
Malay: saya (ms)
Malayalam: എന്റെ (ml) (enṟe)
Maltese: tiegħi
Manchu: ᠮᡳᠨᡳ (mini)
Maore Comorian: -angu
Maori: tāku sg, āku pl (dominant), tōku sg, ōku pl (subordinate)
Mazanderani: مه (me)
Middle English: mi (before a consonant), min (before a vowel)
Mirandese: miu m
Mongolian: миний (mn) (minii)
Nahuatl: noca, no (nah)
Navajo: shi-
Nepali: मेरो m (mero)
North Frisian:
Föhr: man m
Norwegian: min (no) m
Occitan: meu (oc) m
Odia: ମୋର (or) (morô), ମୋ (or) (mo)
Ojibwe: nii-
Old Church Slavonic: мои (moi)
Old English: mīn
Persian: ـم (fa) (-am) (suffix), من (fa) (... man)
Pipil: nu-
Pitjantjatjara: ngayuku
Polish: mój (pl) m
Portuguese: meu (pt) m, minha (pt) f, meus (pt) m pl, minhas (pt) f pl
Quechua: (possessive suffix) -y
Romani: mirro m, mirri f, mirre pl
Romanian: meu (ro) m
Russian: мой (ru) m (moj)
Sanskrit: मम (sa) (mama)
Sardinian: meu m, miu m
Logudorese: meu m
Scots: ma
Scottish Gaelic: mo
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: мој

Roman: moj
Shor: меең
Sicilian: meu (scn) m, mìu m
Sinhalese: මගේ (magē)
Slovak: môj (sk)
Slovene: mój (sl)
Slovincian: mój
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: mój
Southern Altai: мениҥ (meniŋ)
Spanish: mi (es), mis (es) m pl or f pl
Swedish: min (sv) c, mitt (sv) n
Tagalog: (after noun) ko (tl), (before noun) aking
Tajik: ... ман (tg) (... man)
Talysh: چمن (cəmən), (for all persons) اشتن (əštan)
Tamil: என் (ta) (eṉ)
Tarantino: mije
Tatar: минем (minem)
Telugu: నా (te) (nā), నా యొక్క (nā yokka)
Thai: ของ ผม (kɔ̌ɔng pǒm) (male speaker), ของ ดิฉัน (kɔ̌ɔng dì-chǎn) (female speaker), ของ ฉัน (kɔ̌ɔng chǎn) (generic, informal)
Tibetan: ངའི (nga'i)
Tlingit: ax̱
Turkish: benim (tr)
Turkmen: meniň
Ukrainian: мій (uk) (mij)
Urdu: میرا (merā)
Uzbek: mening (uz)
Vietnamese: của tôi, tôi (vi) (usually post-position)
Volapük: obik (vo)
Welsh: fy
West Frisian: myn (fy)
White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
Yagara: ariba
Yiddish: מײַן (mayn)
Yup'ik: -qa/ka (sg), -gka (dual), -nka (pl.)
Zhuang: duh gou
Zulu: possessive concord + -mi

Etymology 2

An abbreviation of an oath such as my word or my Lord

Interjection

my

Used to express surprise, shock or amazement.
My, what big teeth you have!

Derived terms

my my

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /məi/

Etymology 1

From Dutch mij.

Pronoun

my (subject ek)

me (object)

Alternative forms

mij (obsolete)
mijn (obsolete, rare)

Etymology 2

From Dutch mijn.

Determiner

my

my; of me

Alternative forms

mij (obsolete)
mijn (obsolete)

Cameroon Pidgin

Alternative forms

ma

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ma/

Determiner

my

1st person singular possessive determiner

Chinese Pidgin English

Etymology

From English my.

Pronoun

my

I (subject pronoun)
Synonyms: I, me
- 1836 January, “Jargon spoken at Canton: how it originated and has grown into use; mode in which the Chinese learn English; examples of the language in common use between foreigners and Chinese”, in The Chinese Repository, volume IV, number 9, page 433:
  ‘My wanchee takee go away alla this cover, putee nother piece,’ replied I.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)
me (object pronoun)
Synonym: me
my (possessive pronoun)

Cornish

Alternative forms

(Standard Cornish) me

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *mi, from Proto-Celtic *mī.

Pronoun

my

I, me

Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Old Czech my, from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈmɪ]
Audio: (file)

Pronoun

my

we

Declension

Declension of my (pl-only animate pronoun)

	plural
nominative	my
genitive	nás
dative	nám
accusative	nás
vocative	—
locative	nás
instrumental	námi

Related terms

Czech personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		já	my
2nd person	familiar	ty	vy
2nd person	polite	vy	vy
3rd person	m	on	oni*
	f	ona	ony
	n	ono	ona
reflexive		sebe, se (clitic)
* animate referents only, for inanimate ones ony is used.

Danish

Noun

my n (singular definite myet, plural indefinite myer)

The Greek letter μ (mu)

Declension

Declension of my

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
neuter gender	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	my	myet	myer	myerne
genitive	mys	myets	myers	myernes

Noun

my c

micron

Synonyms

References

“my” in Den Danske Ordbog

Egyptian

Etymology

mj (“like”) +‎ -j (“adverbializing suffix”).

Pronunciation

(modern Egyptological) IPA^(key): /miː/
- Conventional anglicization: my

Adverb

References

James P[eter] Allen (2010) Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 86.

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.

Pronoun

my pl

we

Declension

Declension of the first-person pronouns

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ja	mej	my
Genitive	mě (after preposition) mnjo	naju	nas
Dative	mě (after preposition) mnjo	nama	nam
Accusative	mě (after preposition) mnjo	naju	nas
Instrumental	mnu	nama	nami
Locative	mnjo	nama	nas
Possessive determiner	mój	naju	naš

Manx

Etymology

From Old Irish má, from Proto-Celtic *mā, *ma (compare Cornish and Breton mar), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂.

Conjunction

my

if

Middle English

Determiner

my (subjective pronoun I)

Alternative form of mi

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈmɨ/
IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈmi/

Pronoun

my

we (first person plural)

Declension

Declension of the personal pronouns

Singular	1st person	2nd person	Reflexive
Nominative	jáz, já	ty	—
Genitive	mne, mě	tebe, tě	sebe, sě
Dative	mně, mi	tobě, ti	sobě, si
Accusative	mě, mne	tě, tebe	sě, sebe
Locative	mně	tobě	sobě
Instrumental	mnú	tobú, tebú	sobú, sebú

Possessive	mój	tvój	svój
Dual	1st person	2nd person	Reflexive
Nominative	vě, va, ma	vy	—
Genitive	najú	vajú	sebe, sě
Dative	náma	váma	sobě, si
Accusative	ny, najú	vy, vajú	sě, sebe
Locative	najú	vajú	sobě
Instrumental	náma	váma	sobú, sebú

Possessive	náš, najú	váš, vajú	svój
Plural	1st person	2nd person	Reflexive
Nominative	my	vy	—
Genitive	nás	vás	sebe, sě
Dative	nám, nem	vám, vem	sobě, si
Accusative	ny, nás	vy, vás	sě, sebe
Locative	nás	vás	sobě
Instrumental	námi	vámi	sobú, sebú

Possessive	náš	váš	svój

Descendants

Czech: my

References

Jan Gebauer (1903–1916) “my”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /mɨ/
IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /mɨ/

Pronoun

my

we; first person plural
we; I royal first person plural

Declension

Declension of my

	plural	dual
nominative	my	wa
genitive	nas	naju
dative	nam	nama
accusative	nas	wa
instrumental	nami	nama
locative	nas	naju

Descendants

Masurian: mi
Polish: my
Silesian: my

References

B. Sieradzka-Baziur, editor (2011–2015), “my, ny (?)”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

my

Wikipedia ^pl

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /mɨ/
(Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈmɨ/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -ɨ
Syllabification: my

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old Polish my.

Pronoun

my

we; first person plural
we; I royal first person plural
we; I editorial first person plural

Declension

Declension of my

	plural
nominative	my
genitive	nas
dative	nam
accusative	nas
instrumental	nami
locative	nas
vocative	—

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Ancient Greek μῦ (mû), from Phoenician 𐤌 (m‬ /⁠mēm⁠/).

Alternative forms

mi

Noun

my n (indeclinable)

mu (Greek letter Μ, μ)

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), my is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 88 times in scientific texts, 30 times in news, 138 times in essays, 200 times in fiction, and 419 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 875 times, making it the 49th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.^[1]

References

^ Ida Kurcz (1990) “my”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language]‎^[1] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 259

Portuguese

Pronoun

my

Obsolete form of mim.

Scots

Alternative forms

ma, me

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English mi, my, apocopated form of min, myn, from Old English mīn (“my, mine”), from Proto-West Germanic *mīn, from Proto-Germanic *mīnaz (“my, mine”, pron.) (possessive of *ek (“I”)), from Proto-Indo-European *méynos (“my; mine”).

Determiner

my

my
Synonym: mine

References

“my, possess. pron.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 23 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.
“my, poss. adj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 23 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Silesian

Etymology

Inherited from Old Polish my.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈmɪ/
Rhymes: -mɪ
Syllabification: my

Pronoun

my

we; first person plural

Declension

Declension of my

	plural
nominative	my
genitive	nŏs, nas
dative	nōm, nam
accusative	nŏs, nas
instrumental	nami
locative	nŏs, nas

Slovak

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *nos.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [mi]

Pronoun

my

we

Related terms

Swedish

Noun

my n

The Greek letter μ (mu)

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *my, from Proto-Indo-European *wéy.

Pronoun

my

we

Declension

Upper Sorbian personal pronouns

First person pronouns
	Singular			Dual		Plural
Nominative	ja			mój		my
Genitive	mje (after preposition) mnje			naju		nas
Dative	mi (after preposition) mni			namaj		nam
Accusative	mje (after preposition) mnje			naju		nas
Instrumental	mnu			namaj		nami
Locative	mni			namaj		nas
Second person pronouns
	Singular			Dual		Plural
Nominative	ty			wój		wy
Genitive	će (after preposition) tebje			waju		was
Dative	ći (after preposition) tebi			wamaj		wam
Accusative	će (after preposition) tebje			waju		was
Instrumental	tobu			wamaj		wami
Locative	tebi			wamaj		was
Third person pronouns
	Masculine singular	Feminine singular	Neuter singular	Dual virile	Dual nonvirile	Plural virile	Plural nonvirile
Nominative	wón	wona	wono	wonaj	wonej	woni	wone
Genitive	jeho (after preposition) njeho	jeje (after preposition) njeje	jeho (after preposition) njeho	jeju		jich (after preposition) nich
Dative	jemu (after preposition) njemu	jej (after preposition) njej	jemu (after preposition) njemu	jimaj (after preposition) nimaj		jim (after preposition) nim
Accusative	jón (after preposition) njón (animate) jeho (animate after preposition) njeho	ju (after preposition) nju	jo, je (after preposition) njo, nje	jeju (after preposition) njeju	jej (after preposition) njej	jich (after preposition) nich	je (after preposition) nje
Instrumental	nim	njej	nim	nimaj		nimi
Locative	nim	njej	nim	nimaj		nich

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian mī, from Proto-Germanic *miz.

Pronunciation

(Clay) IPA^(key): /mɛi̯/
(Wood) IPA^(key): /mi/

Pronoun

my

object of ik

[1] Ida Kurcz (1990) “my”, in Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language]‎^[1] (in Polish), volume 1, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page 259

[1]

			personal pronoun			possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
			subjective	objective	reflexive	possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
first person	singular		I me (colloquial)	me	myself me mysen	mine	my mine (before vowels, archaic) me
first person	plural		we	us	ourselves ourself oursen	ours	our
second person	singular	standard, formal	you	you	yourself yoursen	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
	singular	archaic, informal	thou	thee	thyself theeself thysen	thine	thy thine (before vowels)
	plural	standard	you ye (archaic)	you	yourselves	yours yourn (obsolete outside dialects)	your
		colloquial	you all y'all you guys	you all y'all you guys	y'allselves	y'all's you guys' your guys' (proscribed)	y'all's your all's (nonstandard) you guys' your guys' (proscribed)
		informal / dialectal	(see list of dialectal forms at you* and inflected forms in those entries*)
third person	singular	masculine	he	him	himself hisself (archaic) hissen	his hisn (obsolete outside dialects)	his
		feminine	she	her	herself hersen	hers hern (obsolete outside dialects)	her
		neuter	it hit	it hit	itself hitself	its his (archaic)	its his (archaic) hits
		genderless	they	them	themself, themselves	theirs	their
		genderless, nonspecific (formal)	one	one	oneself	–	one's
	plural		they	them hem, 'em	themselves theirsen	theirs theirn (obsolete outside dialects)	their

		subjective	objective	possessive determiner	possessive pronoun
singular	1st	ek	my		myne
	2nd	jy	jou		joune
	2nd, formal	u			u s’n
	3rd, masc	hy	hom	sy	syne
	3rd, fem	sy	haar		hare
	3rd, neut	dit		sy	syne
plural	1st	ons			ons s’n
	2nd	julle / jul¹			julle s’n
	3rd	hulle / hul¹			hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

		subjective	objective	possessive determiner	possessive pronoun
singular	1st	ek	my		myne
	2nd	jy	jou		joune
	2nd, formal	u			u s’n
	3rd, masc	hy	hom	sy	syne
	3rd, fem	sy	haar		hare
	3rd, neut	dit		sy	syne
plural	1st	ons			ons s’n
	2nd	julle / jul¹			julle s’n
	3rd	hulle / hul¹			hulle s’n
1. The forms jul and hul are unstressed variants. They are used mostly in possessive function, but also otherwise, chiefly when the pronoun is repeated within the same sentence.

			personal pronoun			possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
			subjective	objective	reflexive	possessive pronoun	possessive determiner
first person	singular		A, I, Ik	me	mysel	mine, mines	mine, my
first person	plural		we	us, we	oorsel, oorsels	oors	our
second person	singular	standard (formal)	ye you, yow	ye you, yow	yersel yoursel	yers yours	yer your
	singular	Insular (informal)	thoo	thee	thysel, theesel	thines	thy, thee, thees
	plural		ye, yese you, youse	ye, yese you, youse theer	yesels yoursels	yers yours	yer your
third person	singular	masculine	he, e	him, im	himsel, hissel	his, is	his, is
		feminine	scho, she, shu	her, er	hersel	hers	her, er
		neuter	it hit	it hit	itsel hitsel	its hits	its hits
		genderless, nonspecific (formal)	ane	ane	–	–	ane's
	plural		thay	thaim	thaimsel, thaimsels	thairs	thair

my

Translingual

Etymology

Symbol

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Determiner

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Interjection

Derived terms

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Pronoun

Alternative forms

See also

Etymology 2

Determiner

Alternative forms

See also

Cameroon Pidgin

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Determiner

See also

Chinese Pidgin English

Etymology

Pronoun

Cornish

Alternative forms

Etymology

Pronoun

Czech

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

Danish

Noun

Declension

Noun

Synonyms

References

Egyptian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Adverb

References

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

Pronoun

Declension

Manx

Etymology

Conjunction

Middle English

Determiner

Old Czech

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Declension

Descendants

References

Old Polish

Etymology

Pronunciation

Pronoun

Declension

Descendants

References

Polish