Dogri to Indonesian: decide whether we includes the listener
The Dogri first-person plural does not choose kami or kita by itself
Sawhney’s Dogri pronoun description lists ass as a first-person plural form. Indonesian distinguishes kami, excluding the listener, from kita, including the listener, as NIU’s pronoun summary explains. Translating a Dogri we therefore requires identifying the group’s membership. A plural subject alone does not determine whether the addressee belongs to that group.
In an original invitation scenario, a speaker can describe their family’s plan and then ask the listener to join. Before the invitation is accepted, the planning group need not already include that listener. In another conversation, speaker and listener may already be organizing the activity together. The same broad Dogri first-person-plural reference can call for different Indonesian choices depending on which situation the source establishes.
Our changes the same inclusion decision inside a noun phrase
NIU applies the distinction to possession as well as subjects: kita and kami can identify different our-groups. Dogri genitive agreement, by contrast, follows the head noun’s gender, number and case in Sawhney’s description. A plural genitive form can concern the things possessed, not a newly expanded group of owners. It cannot substitute for determining whether the Indonesian owner group includes the addressee.
Consider a Dogri message referring to our house. If the speaker is explaining their family home to a visiting friend, the friend is not necessarily part of its our-group. If housemates discuss their shared home, the listener may be included. The Indonesian noun phrase should preserve that relationship rather than choose a pronoun solely because the source noun or genitive marker looks plural.
Do not add the listener to a completed event
An Indonesian inclusive choice can imply participation that the Dogri context does not support. NIU contrasts inclusive and exclusive examples involving shared activity and past residence. For a Dogri report of a trip made before meeting the current listener, an inclusive translation could wrongly place that listener on the trip. The relevant question is group membership at the time of the event, not simply whether the listener is a friend now.
The opposite error can exclude somebody from a decision they helped make. If a Dogri account says that the present speakers agreed together, an exclusive Indonesian reference may attribute the decision to the speaker and other people while leaving out the person addressed. Read the surrounding interaction for who attended, agreed or owns the item. Formality is a separate choice: NIU also distinguishes saya from aku, but selecting a polite first-person style does not resolve kami versus kita. The translation needs both an appropriate way for the speaker to refer to themselves and the correct boundary around the plural group.
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