jien

Japanese

Romanization

jien

1. Rōmaji transcription of じえん

Maltese

Alternative forms

• jiena

Etymology

From Arabic أَنَا (ʔanā) with expressive lengthening of the first syllable (*ʾānā) as generally in Maghrebi dialects; compare Tunisian Arabic آنا (ʔāna), Moroccan Arabic آنا (ʔāna). Eventually from Proto-Semitic *ʔanāku. Prefixed j- occurs more often in Maltese (compare jew); in this case perhaps generalised from a position after the personal suffixes -i, -ni, as in dari jien(a) (“my own house”). This construction is not very common anymore in Maltese, but it is throughout Arabic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɪːn/

Pronoun

jien

1. I (first-person singular subject pronoun)

Usage notes

• In a standalone context absent of a conjugated verb, this takes on the present tense first person singular meaning of "to be".

Inflection

Inflected forms of jien
positive	jiena, jien
negative	ma jiniex, miniex
possessive pronoun	tiegħi
basic suffix	-i, -ja
direct object suffix	-ni
indirect object suffix	-li