Cherokee grammar facts for kids

The Cherokee language, also known as Tsalagi (ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, Tsalagi Gawonihisdi), is the native language of the Cherokee people. It's an Iroquoian language, which means it's related to languages like Mohawk and Oneida. Sadly, it's an endangered language, meaning fewer and fewer people speak it today.

How Cherokee Words Are Built

Cherokee is a very special kind of language called a polysynthetic language. This means that many parts of a sentence, like the subject, object, and even adverbs, can be combined into one long word, especially verbs! Imagine a whole sentence packed into a single word – that's how Cherokee often works!

Verbs: The Heart of Cherokee

In Cherokee, verbs are super important. You can't have a sentence without a verb. They carry most of the meaning. Unlike English, where we might use separate words for "I go" or "you eat," Cherokee verbs change their form a lot to show who is doing the action and who the action is being done to.

There are two main types of verbs in Cherokee, a bit like how some languages have different ways to change verbs depending on their group.

Building a Verb Word

Cherokee verbs are built by adding small pieces, called prefixes (at the beginning) and suffixes (at the end), to a main verb stem. Think of it like building with LEGOs, where each small piece adds a specific meaning.

• Prefixes come before the verb stem. They can tell you things like:

* Who is doing the action (I, you, he, she, we, they). * Who the action is being done to (me, you, him, her, us, them). * If the action is happening again. * If the action is moving towards or away from the speaker. * If the action is about "oneself" or "each other."

• Suffixes come after the verb stem. They often tell you about:

* When the action happened (past, present, future). * How the action happened (e.g., if it's a habit, or if it's still happening). * If it's a question.

It's like each little piece adds a layer of meaning to the verb!

Pronouns in Verbs

Instead of using separate words like "I," "you," or "they," Cherokee often attaches these "pronoun" meanings directly to the verb. For example, the verb for "to eat" will change its beginning depending on whether "I eat," "you eat," or "they eat."

When a verb has both a subject (who is doing it) and an object (who it's being done to), the verb combines both of these meanings into its prefixes. This can make Cherokee verbs very long and complex!

Nouns: People, Places, and Things

Nouns are words for people, places, things, or ideas. In Cherokee, nouns can sometimes act like verbs, especially when you're talking about "being" something. For example, "to be a person" might be expressed like a verb.

Making Nouns Plural

Just like in English where we add "s" to make a noun plural (e.g., "cat" to "cats"), Cherokee also has ways to show if a noun is plural. For people, a prefix like an(i)- is often used. For non-living things, a different prefix, di-, might be used.

Showing Possession

In Cherokee, if you're talking about a body part, you almost always have to show who it belongs to. So, you wouldn't just say "hand," you'd say "my hand" or "his hand" by adding a special prefix to the word for hand.

Family Relationships

When talking about family relationships, like "father" or "sister," Cherokee uses special verb-like forms that show who is related to whom. It's like saying "I-him-father" to mean "I am his father."

Describing Things: Adjectives and Adverbs

• Adjectives are words that describe nouns (like "big" or "red"). In Cherokee, adjectives often act like verbs that mean "to be [quality]." For example, "red" might be expressed as "it is red." They usually come before the noun they describe.
• Adverbs are words that describe verbs (like "quickly" or "loudly"). In Cherokee, adverbs also come before the verb they describe.

Cherokee is a fascinating language with a unique way of building words and sentences. Learning about its structure helps us understand how different languages can be!