Inuit grammar facts for kids

The Inuit languages, like other Eskimo–Aleut languages, are fascinating because of how they build words. They are known as agglutinative languages. This means words are created by adding many small parts, called suffixes, to a main word part, called a root. Imagine building a long train with a main engine and many cars attached! This makes Inuit words very long and often unique.

For example, in Nunavut Inuktitut, a single long word can mean a whole sentence:

This long word starts with the root tusaa- (meaning to hear). Then, seven suffixes are added to it. When a suffix starts with a vowel, it often replaces the last consonant of the part before it:

• -tsiaq-: "well"
• -junnaq- (or -gunnaq-): "be able to"
• -nngit-: "not" (this makes the word negative)
• -tu(q): shows it's about a third person (like "he" or "she")
• -alu(k)-: "very" (makes the meaning stronger)
• -u-: "to be"
• -junga: shows it's about the first person singular (meaning "I")

This way of building words is very common in Inuit languages and makes them quite different from English. In fact, in a large collection of Inuktitut texts from the Nunavut Hansard, 92% of all words appeared only once! This is very different from English, where many words are used over and over.

Also, in Inuit languages, a word can sometimes act as both a verb (an action word) and a noun (a naming word). For example, the word ilisaijuq can mean "he studies" (a verb) or "student" (a noun).

Because Inuit languages have such rich and complex ways of building words, this article will only show a few examples. It mostly focuses on the Inuktitut dialects spoken in north Baffin Island and central Nunavut. While there are some differences between dialects, the main ideas usually apply to all Inuit languages, and even to Yupik languages to some extent.

Verbs in Main Sentences

Inuktitut verbs (action words) fit into two main groups: non-specific verbs and specific verbs. Many verbs can be in both groups, depending on what the speaker wants to say about the people or things involved in the action. Other verbs might only belong to one group or need a small change to switch.

Every complete Inuktitut verb can stand alone as a full sentence. You don't need any other words to make a grammatically correct sentence.

This section will look at some common ways these two verb groups change and a few ways to modify verbs. Inuktitut has many ways to change verbs, and this article will only show a small part to give you an idea of how the language works.

Non-Specific Verbs

Non-specific verbs are used when:

• The verb doesn't have a direct object (it's an intransitive verb). For example, "He sleeps."
• The verb has an indefinite noun as its object. An indefinite noun is like saying "a dog" or "some dogs" in English, instead of "the dog." In Inuktitut, these nouns use a special ending with a non-specific verb. A definite noun (like "the dog") needs a specific verb.

How Non-Specific Verbs Change (Indicative Form)

Generally, a correct Inuktitut verb starts with a root and ends with a suffix that tells you who is doing the action (the subject):

The indicative form is the simplest verb form. For state verbs (verbs describing a condition, like "to be happy"), this form means it's happening right now. For action verbs (like "to go out"), it means the action just finished. Inuktitut verbs are divided into these two types, but they might not be what you expect. For example, pisuk- ("to be walking") is a state verb in Inuktitut.

pisuktunga – I am walking. (right now)

If the verb root ends with a consonant, the suffixes for the subject usually start with t. For example, pisuk- – to be walking – changes like this:

If the verb root ends with a vowel, the suffixes usually start with a j. For example, ani- – to go out:

Notice that Inuktitut uses a dual number. This means it has different forms for one person/thing (singular), two people/things (dual), and more than two people/things (plural).

Another Way to Say It

There's another way to change these verbs, and it's used differently depending on the dialect. Instead of starting with t (after a consonant) or j (after a vowel), this form starts with p (after a consonant) or v (after a vowel).

• In western dialects (like Inuinnaqtun), only the t/j forms are used for statements.
• In Greenland, only the p/v forms are used.
• In central and eastern Canadian dialects, both forms are used.

Asking Questions (Interrogatives)

These p/v forms are also used in Nunavut to ask questions. Sometimes, the last vowel is doubled to show a rising tone, like when you raise your voice at the end of a question in English. So, "Are we there yet?" can be Tikippita? or Tikippitaa?

This way, you can ask and answer simple yes/no questions very quickly:

Subjects of Non-Specific Verbs

The subject (the person or thing doing the action) of a non-specific verb doesn't need any special ending:

Objects of Non-Specific Verbs

The object (the person or thing receiving the action) of a non-specific verb needs a special suffix to show its role:

Here are the suffixes for objects of non-specific verbs, depending on if there's one, two, or many:

Indefinite Suffixes
Singular	ᒥᒃ -mik ᒥᒃ -mik	/m/ makes a consonant before it sound nasal (like through your nose)
Dual	ᕐᓂᒃ -rnik ᕐᓂᒃ -rnik	removes any consonant before it and makes the vowel before it longer
Plural	ᓂᒃ -nik ᓂᒃ -nik	/n/ makes a consonant before it sound nasal

Let's see an example using the verb taku- – to see – and inuviniq – dead person:

Singular:	ᐃᓄᕕᓂᕐᒥᒃ Inuvinirmik ᑕᑯᔪᖓ. takujunga. ᐃᓄᕕᓂᕐᒥᒃ ᑕᑯᔪᖓ. Inuvinirmik takujunga. I see a dead person.
Dual:	ᐃᓄᕕᓃᕐᓂᒃ Inuviniirnik ᑕᑯᔪᖓ. takujunga. ᐃᓄᕕᓃᕐᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᔪᖓ. Inuviniirnik takujunga. I see two dead people.
Plural:	ᐃᓄᕕᓂᕐᓂᒃ Inuvinirnik ᑕᑯᔪᖓ. takujunga. ᐃᓄᕕᓂᕐᓂᒃ ᑕᑯᔪᖓ. Inuvinirnik takujunga. I see dead people.

To say "I see the dead person" or "I see the dead people," you would need a specific verb, which we'll talk about next.

Specific Verbs

Specific verbs are used when their objects are definite (like "the dog" instead of "a dog"). These verbs use suffixes that tell you about both the subject (who is doing the action) and the object (who or what is receiving the action), but not how many there are.

How Specific Verbs Change (Indicative Form)

Keep in mind that these suffixes can't be used for reflexive verbs (like "I shot myself"). We'll talk about those later.

Another Way to Say It (Specific Verbs)

Just like with non-specific verbs, specific verbs also have an alternative form using v or p. This form is used exclusively in Greenland, sometimes interchangeably in Nunavut, and not at all in western dialects.

Asking Questions (Specific Verbs)

The specific interrogative form is also used for questions and sometimes for "if...then..." statements. It often overlaps with the v/p alternative form.

Subjects of Specific Verbs

The subject of a specific verb needs a special suffix to show its role:

Here are the suffixes for subjects of specific verbs, depending on if there's one, two, or many:

All these suffixes remove any consonant right before them. For example, qajaq (kayak) becomes qajaup in the singular, qajaak in the dual, and qajait in the plural when it's the subject of a specific verb.

So, for example:

Objects of Specific Verbs

The object of a specific verb doesn't need any special suffix at all. This is how we can tell the difference between "I see the dead person" (specific verb) and "I see a dead person" (non-specific verb, as shown in the table above).

Continuing our example:

Changing Verb Groups

Some verbs can automatically be both specific and non-specific, just by changing their suffixes. The verb taku- (to see) is one example. However, other verbs need an extra suffix to switch groups.

Many action verbs that involve one person doing something to another are specific verbs. They need the suffix -si- to become non-specific verbs:

Many verbs about feelings switch between the suffixes -suk- and -gi- to change whether they are specific or not:

This is important when you want to say someone feels an emotion without saying what caused it. Inuktitut always uses the non-specific form for this:

Reflexive Verbs

A reflexive verb is when the subject (who is doing the action) and the object (who is receiving the action) are the same. For example, "I shot myself." In Inuktitut, you use a specific verb but add a non-specific ending to it.

Verbs in Secondary Sentences

A verb that has been fully changed (inflected) can stand alone as a complete sentence. However, when sentences are linked together in Inuktitut, other grammar rules come into play.

Many secondary sentence structures use different verb suffixes than those used in main sentences. This article can't cover all of Inuktitut grammar, especially since each type of change has its own non-specific and specific endings, and they vary a lot between dialects. The examples below are based on the North Baffin dialect.

Fourth Person Ending

In secondary sentences, the third person endings must show if the subject of the two sentences is the same or different. In English, "He is leaving because he is tired" can be confusing because you don't know if both "he"s are the same person. In Inuktitut, this is clearly marked:

The endings used to show a different third person are sometimes called the third person different or often the fourth person. This extra grammatical person is a very common feature of Inuktitut.

Causative (Showing Cause and Effect)

The causative is used to link sentences where one thing logically follows another. It's used much more often in Inuktitut than similar structures are in English. The causative is one of the most important ways to connect two sentences in Inuktitut:

Conditional (If...Then...)

This structure is like an "if...then..." sentence in English. It usually involves adding a marker for the future tense or the conditional mood in the main part of the sentence:

Frequentative (Happens Often)

The frequentative endings show that two things usually happen together. In English, we use words like "usually," "often," or "whenever." In Inuktitut, it often involves adding a marker in the main sentence to show frequency:

Dubitative (Uncertainty)

The dubitative suffixes show that the speaker is uncertain or doesn't quite believe something:

Verb Modifiers

Besides the main verb roots and endings that show who is doing the action, Inuktitut has many other small parts (morphemes) that change the meaning of the verb. These can be placed between the root and the main ending, or sometimes at the very end. In language books, these are often called verb chunks. They tell you about the time of the action (tense), how the action happens (aspect or manner), and other things that in English might need extra verbs or adverbs.

Here are a few examples of these verb chunks to give you an idea of how they work:

Modifiers of Manner (How something happens)

So you can say:

Modifiers of Tense (When something happens)

While English often just says "past," "present," or "future," Inuktitut has more specific ways to show when something happened, like how long ago or how far in the future. In English, you'd need extra words, but in Inuktitut, the tense marker itself gives you a lot of that information.

How Inuktitut Shows Roles in Sentences

Inuktitut has a special way of showing the roles of words in a sentence. It marks the subject of a non-specific verb and the object of a specific verb in the same way (no special ending). But it marks the subject of a specific verb and the object of a non-specific verb with particular endings. This system is called an ergative structure.

In simpler terms, it's about how the language treats the "doer" and the "receiver" of an action, especially with different kinds of verbs. The endings like -up, -k, -it (for subjects of specific verbs) are sometimes called ergative suffixes, and the endings like -mik, -rnik, -nik (for objects of non-specific verbs) are called accusative. While these terms are used by language experts, most Inuit speakers don't use them.

See also

• Greenlandic grammar