Written by Dyami Millarson

The pronominal adverb in Eilauners is der. This is normally translated into English as there. Example:

Der is gin braid. There is no bread.

Solely the personal pronouns of the inanimate 3rd person (hy, jò, it, jà = he, she, it, they) are turned into the pronominal adverb der in Eilauners. Example:

Wer is de mulkfles? Oh, hier is it! Maar jò is ne helendal leech. Der sit gin mulke mair yn. Where is the milk bottle? Oh, here it is! But it (lit. she) is now completely empty. There is no milk in it anymore.

How does the pronominal adverb come forth from an animate 3rd person? When inanimate hy, jò, it, jà come into contact with a preposition, they are always turned into the pronominal adverb der. So the general rule is: inanimate 3rd-person pronoun + preposition ⇛ pronominal adverb + preposition.

Observe in the last example that the preposition yn is located quite far away from der. When pronominal adverb + preposition occurs, the former usually stands at the beginning of the sentence and the latter at the end. Example:

Us hús is heel aud. It is yn 1909 beeuwd troch ús beite. Ik bin der wys mooi. Our house is very old. It was (lit. is) built in 1909 by my (lit. our) grandfather. I am happy about (lit. with) it.

What does it mean that solely the inanimate 3rd person is turned into the personal adverb? When hy, jò, it, jà refers to persons, never replace it with der. Example:

Anna is hier. Jò is myn soster. Mooi har kin ik altyd gúed prate. Anna is here. She is my sister. I can always talk well with her (i.e., I can always have a good conversation with her; our communication is good; we have a good relationship with each other”).