In Lingala, as in English, we can substitute any noun (whether an inanimate thing, or a human or animal) with a relevant personal pronoun. For example:
bana ya Jean
Could be written as:
bana na ye
Notice that the person Jean was replaced by the pronoun ye which means he/she. The complete list of personal pronouns is:
| ngai | I/me | na ngai | mine (with me) |
| biso | us | na biso | our (with us) |
| ye | he/she | na ye | his/her (with him/her) |
| bango | them | na bango | their (with them) |
| yo | you (singular) | na yo | your (singular) (with you (singular)) |
| bino | you (plural) | na bino | your (plural) (with you (plural)) |
| yango | it or them (inanimate) | na yango | its or their (inanimate) (with it or them (inanimate)) |
Notice that yango is used for both singular and plural of inanimate objects, whereas in English we would use it and them to mean the same thing. It also is a word that is used as that when referring to something, usually physical. Notice too that yo is the singular form of you and that bino is the plural form of you.
Also, we use the word na to show possession, meaning that when something is mine, in Lingala we are saying it is with me (na ngai). Some Lingala speakers will choose to use ya instead of na. This word (ya ) has the meaning of of and indicates possession in a similar way to na. So we could say na ngai or ya ngai to mean mine.