Italian Particles

>> Nik wrote:
>
>> > o ami
>> > tu amis
>> > al ame
>> > o amìn
>> > o amais
>> > a amin
>>
>> "O" can mean "I", "we", and "y'all"?  Does the grave on -in indicate
>> stress?
>
> 'O' doesn't mean 'I', 'we' and 'y'all' (BTW, is Dutch 'julle' a contraction
> of *jou alle(n)?). It's a particel you put before the verb. These are very
> common also in Northern Italian dialects: in my dialect, to conjugate a
> verb, you have to follow this scheme:
>
> (Personal Pronoun) + (Particel) + verb-time-personal ending,
> so you can have things like:
>
> (mi)     (a)      canti
> 1s       ***    sing+1s
>
> (ti)       ta     cantat
> 2s       2s      sing+2s
>
> (lüü)    al      canta
> 3s       3s      sing+3s
>
> (nümm)     (a)    cantum
> 1p            ***    sing+1p
>
> (vialtar)     (a)    cantuf
> 2p            ***    sing+2p
>
> (luur)        (i)       cantan
> 3s            3s        sing+3p
>
> So, in a statement as 'ti ta vörat' (you want), you have three elements to
> determinate the subject:
> the pronoun 'ti'
> the particel 'ta'
> the desinence '-at'
>
> Isn't it cool? English uses only pronouns!
So are there times when you would drop either the particle or the pronoun
(I'm assuming you would never drop the person agreement suffix on the verb)?

Do you have any idea about how these particles arose historically?

-Doug