Some notes on birthdays.
| nalliutijuq | She has a birthday (that very day). |
| nalliutisuuq maimi. | She has his/her birthday in May. |
You will remember the affix -suuq (meaning “someone who does something regularly”) from such expressions as:
| immulisuunguvit? | immuliusuungujunga. |
| Do you take milk (with your coffee)? | I take milk. |
| Inuktitusuunguva? | ii, inuktituusuuq. |
| Does he/she speak Inuktitut? | Yes, he/she speaks Inuktitut. |
Remember that when making a simple statement in the third person (he / she / it), -suuq can appear, on its own, at the end of the word.
| Sitipirimi nalliutisuuq. |
| His/her birthday is in September. |
In any other situation, you normally add the verb -u-/-ngu- (meaning ‘to be’) after -suuq- followed by the appropriate ending:
| Tisipirimi nalliutisuunguvit? | Is your birthday in December? |
| Aagga, nalliutisuungujunga iipurimi. | No, my birthday is in April. |
| Maatsimi nalliutisuunguva? | Is his/her birthday in March? |
| ii, maatsimi nalliutisuuq. | Yes, his/her birthday is in March. |
Let’s say we want to ask someone how old they are:
| qatsit? | how many? |
| qatsiuvit? | How old are you (literally, how many are you?) |
In answering, we do like in French and talk about how many years we “have”:
| 30-nik + arraagu + qaq + tunga | |
| 30-nik arraaguqaqtunga. | I am 30 (literally, I have 30 years.) |
Remember that when -qaq- comes together with -tuq-, we get the affix -lik :
| Qatsiuva? | How old is he/she ? |
| 24-nik arraagulik. | He/she is 24. |
If, on the day of someone’s birthday, we want to ask them how old they are turning, we use the affix -liq-to express something that is changing:
| Qatsinik arraguqaliqqit? | How old are you turning today? |
| 8-nik arraaguqaliqtunga. | I am turning 8 (today). |
Finally, if you are looking for something to write on a birthday card:
| ᐅᓪᓗᒥ ᓇᓕᐅᑎᑦᓯᐊᕆᑦ ! | Happy Birthday! |