Albanian: më / mua

[Gavril]

I tried putting the following phrases into Google Translate to see how they would be translated in Albanian:

"They hit me." --> Ata goditi mua.
"They gave me a book" --> Ata më dha një libër.

Is it accurate to say that mua is the direct-object form of "me", whereas më is the indirect form ("to me"), or is the situation more complex?

Thanks

 

[123xyz]

While you are waiting for native speakers, I will give my input, which shouldn't be accepted without verification (and is most probably wrong in some way): both "më" and "mua" are both direct and indirect objects, the former being the short form and the latter being the long form, comparable to "mi" and "me" in Italian as in the following examples:

Lei mi ama.
Lei ama me.

Lei mi da un libro.
Lei da un libro a me.

A similar principle can be observed in Spanish, which has clitic doubling (which Albanian has too):

Ella me quiere.
Ella me quiere a mi.

Ella me da un libro.
Ella me da un libro a mi.

Thus, in Albanian, we might have something as follows:

Ajo më do.
Ajo më do mua.

Ajo më jep një libër.
Ajo më jep mua një libër.

P.S. The form "mua" is used with prepositions, e.g. "për mua" (for me), just like in Italian in Spanish (per me & para mi)

P.P.S. The sentences from Google Translate are wrong, because of the verbs, if nothing else. Namely, both "goditi" and "dha" are third person singular (rather than plural) preterite forms. So, I would suggest:

Ata/ato (depending on gender) më goditën (mua).
Ata/ato më dhanë (mua) një libër.

Anyway, as I said, let's wait for someone who actually knows Albanian - I just answered so that you can at least get some information without waiting a lot. I hope you don't mind.

 

[Gavril]

Thanks, 123xyz!

Interestingly enough, when I typed "They hit me" into Google Translate, without a period at the end, it gave the translation Ata më goditi, but when I added a period ("They hit me."), the translation changed to Ata goditi mua.

 

[AgonSK]

Hi,

the examples 123xyz are all correct (I'm not 100% sure if the terms "long form" and "short form" are correct ...it's not so important though).

I'd add the following information:

Ajo më do. --> the më form always goes before the verb and can appear alone.
Ajo më do mua. --> the mua form can go after the verb or before the më form and cannot appear alone -> by adding it the speaker usually wants to emphasize/reinforce the message, like in these examples:

A: ajo më do (she loves me)
B: jo! ajo më do mua! / jo! ajo mua më do! (no! she loves me!)

or

A: të kam thënë t'i blejsh pes molla. (I told you to buy five apples)
B: I ka blerë vëllau im. (My brother bought them)
A: Por ty të kam thënë! / Por të kam thënë ty! (But I told you!)

[In albanian, words can be put in many different positions, contrary to english, so there are other examples which could be added, but these two ways of emphasizing the message are the most common ones.]

In addition to that, 123xyz is right when he says that the "mua forms" are used with prepositions, but the same doesn't apply to many adverbs, which take the genitive pronouns. Examples: "Afër banesës" (close to the apartment), "larg teje" (away from you), "sipas meje" ("according to me"/in my opinion).