Ojibwe grammar facts for kids

The Ojibwe language is an Algonquian Native American language. People speak it across the Great Lakes area and further west onto the northern plains. It is one of the largest Native American languages in North America, with many people speaking it. The language has different ways of speaking, called dialects. This article will mostly talk about the way it's spoken in Minnesota.

Ojibwe is a special kind of language called polysynthetic. This means that one word can be like a whole sentence! It builds words by adding many small parts, called morphemes, together. For example, the word for "they are Chinese" is aniibiishaabookewininiiwiwag. This single word has six parts that mean "leaf-liquid-make-man-be-plural." It's like saying "they are tea makers."

Ojibwe also has a unique way of talking about people. It uses two kinds of "third person" (like "he" or "she"). One is called proximate, and it's for the main person you're talking about. The other is obviative, and it's for a less important person. This helps avoid confusion. For example, in English, "John and Bill were friends, ever since he first saw him" can be confusing. In Ojibwe, one person would be marked as the main one (proximate), and the other as less important (obviative). This makes it clear who saw whom!

Word Classes in Ojibwe

Ojibwe words have special features that help us understand them. Let's explore some of these features.

Animate and Inanimate Words

Instead of words being "masculine" or "feminine" like in some languages, Ojibwe words are either animate or inanimate. Animate words are usually living things. Inanimate words are usually non-living things. But it's not always that simple! Sometimes, if something can move, or if it has a special "spirit" in the Ojibwe culture, it's considered animate. For example, rocks are often animate because they have great spiritual importance.

Some words can even change their meaning based on if they are animate or inanimate. For example, mitig means "tree" if it's animate. But if mitig is inanimate, it means "stick."

Singular and Plural Words

Ojibwe has a simple way to show if something is singular (one) or plural (more than one). Nouns and pronouns can be singular or plural. Verbs also change depending on if their subject or object is singular or plural.

Animate plural words usually end with -g. Inanimate plural words (and obviative words) usually end with -n. By looking at the plural form of a word, you can often tell if it's animate or inanimate.

Different "Persons"

In Ojibwe, there are many ways to talk about "persons" (like "I," "you," "he," "she," "we," "they"). There are 14 different combinations that show if something is animate or inanimate, proximate or obviative, and singular or plural. These different "persons" are built into Ojibwe nouns and pronouns. They also tell you which verb forms to use when speaking.

Pronouns in Ojibwe

Ojibwe pronouns are words like "I," "you," "he," "she," "we," "they." They show if someone is singular or plural, and if they are the first, second, third, or fourth (obviative) person.

A cool thing about Ojibwe is that it has two kinds of "we":

• An inclusive "we" (giinawind) means "we, including you."
• An exclusive "we" (niinawind) means "we, but not including you."

Other common pronouns are:

• niin (I)
• giin (you, singular)
• wiin (he/she/it, singular)
• giinawaa (you, plural)
• wiinawaa (they, plural)

Ojibwe also has "demonstrative pronouns." These are words like "this," "that," "these," and "those." They change depending on if the thing is animate or inanimate, singular or plural, and how far away it is (here, there, yonder). These words can sound very different depending on where people speak Ojibwe.

There are also "indefinite pronouns" like awiiya ("someone") and gegoo ("something"). You can add gaawiin or akina to these words to mean "no one/nothing" or "everyone/everything."

Ojibwe Verbs

Ojibwe verbs are packed with information! They tell you about the subject (who is doing the action) and the object (who or what the action is done to). Verbs also change based on if they are transitive (take an object, like "eat an apple") or intransitive (don't take an object, like "sleep"). They also change based on if their subject is animate or inanimate.

Verbs can show when something happened (past, future). They also use special small words called "preverbs." These preverbs add more information about the action. For example, the preverb izhi- means "in such a way." If you add it to -ayaa-, which means "to be," you get izhi-ayaa, meaning "to be a certain way." Another example is bimi-, meaning "along." Add it to -batoo-, "to run," and you get bimibatoo, meaning "to run along" or "run by."

Ojibwe verbs also have three "orders" or ways of being used:

• Independent Order: This is the basic way to state facts.
• Conjunct Order: This is used for verbs in sentences that depend on another part of the sentence, in questions, or to describe someone who does an action. For example, bebaamaadizid means "traveler" and literally means "someone who travels about."
• Imperative Order: This is used for commands.

To make a verb negative, you usually add the word gaawiin ("no") before the verb. The verb itself also changes by adding parts like sii or zii.

There are also different kinds of commands:

• Immediate command: Do it right now! (e.g., nibaan! - "Sleep (right now)!")
• Delayed command: Do it later! (e.g., nibaakan! - "Sleep (in a little bit)!")
• Prohibitive command: Don't do it! (e.g., (gego) nibaaken! - "Don't sleep!")

Verbs can also show how sure the speaker is about something. For example, bakade means "he is hungry." But bakadedog means "he must be hungry" or "he could be hungry."

Ojibwe Nouns

Nouns in Ojibwe show if they are plural, animate, obviative, and if they are in a special "case." Animacy is only clearly marked on plural nouns. Ojibwe doesn't have simple "subject" or "object" cases like English. Instead, it has other cases, like:

• Locative: This shows location. For example, wiisiniwigamig means "restaurant," and wiisiniwigamigong means "in the restaurant."
• Vocative plural: This is used to call out to a group of people. For example, Ojibwedog! means "(you) Ojibwes!"

Nouns can also have suffixes that change their meaning:

• Pejorative: Shows something is worthless (e.g., jiimaan "canoe" becomes jiimaanish "worthless canoe").
• Diminutive: Shows something is smaller or younger (e.g., zhooniyaa "money" becomes zhooniyaans "coin").
• Contemptive: Shows a negative feeling about something (e.g., odaabaan "car" becomes odaabaanenh "just some old car").
• Preterit: Marks someone or something that is no longer alive or doesn't exist anymore (e.g., nookomis "my grandmother" becomes nookomisiban "my late grandmother").

Some nouns are "dependent." This means they can't stand alone. They need a pronoun prefix or suffix attached to them. For example, nookomis ("my grandmother") uses the prefix n- with the root -ookomis- ("grandmother").

Diminutives and Contemptives

Diminutives make a noun sound smaller or younger. For example, the English word "chipmunk" comes from the Ojibwe word jidmoonh, which is a contemptive form of ajidamoo ("squirrel"). Contemptives show a negative or disapproving feeling about a noun.

Ojibwe Adjectives and Adverbs

Ojibwe doesn't have adjectives in the same way English does. Instead of saying "the flower is blue," Ojibwe says something like "the flower blues" (ozhaawashkwaa waabigwan). It's like the color is an action!

Ojibwe also uses "particles" to add emphasis or mood to words. These are small words that don't change their form. Some examples are:

• mii — to focus on a topic
• (i)dash — to shift to a new topic
• (i)go — to show strong confidence
• miigwech — "thank you"
• boozhoo — "hello"
• enh — "yes"
• gaawiin — "no"

Counting in Ojibwe

Ojibwe numbers are based on a system of fives and tens.

Sentence Structure

Because Ojibwe words carry so much information, the order of words in a sentence can be quite flexible. The subject (who is doing the action) can come before or after the verb. The object (who or what the action is done to) can also move around. However, the subject and object together cannot come before the verb.

Usually, the most important person or thing in the sentence comes first. For example, bakade a'aw asabikeshiinh means "that spider is hungry." Here, "is hungry" comes first, then "that spider."