15 Kia ukuat?

Dialogue: Whose is this?

iiva:
Kiap una jaakinga?ᑭᐊᑉ ᐅᓇ ᔮᑭᖓ? Whose is this jacket?
Taami:
Uvanga, jaakiga.ᐅᕙᖓ, ᔮᑭᒐ. Mine, it's my jacket.
iiva:
Ukuagli kiap pualungik?ᐅᑯᐊᒡᓕ ᑭᐊᑉ ᐳᐊᓗᖏᒃ? And whose are these mitts?
Taami:
Taapkuak Jiilaup pualungik.ᑖᑉᑯᐊ ᔩᓚᐅᑉ ᐳᐊᓗᖏᒃ. Those are Julia's mitts.
iiva:
Nauglikiaqqaak nahara?ᓇᐅᒡᓕᑭᐊᖅᑳ ᓇᓴᕋ? I wonder where my hat is.
Taami:
Jiilaup jaakiata ataaniittuq.ᔩᓚᐅᑉ ᔮᑭᐊᑕ ᐊᑖᓃᑦᑐᖅ. It is under Julia's jacket.

Vocabulary

Kiap una piutaa?
Who does this belong to?
una
this; this one
Kiap ukuat piutait?
Who do these (3+) belong to?
ukuat
these (3+)
Una kiap nahanga?
Who does this hat belong to?
nahaq
hat
algaak
gloves (two)
pualluk
mittens (a pair of)
kamiik
boots (skin)
kammak ukiuqhiutiik
boots (winter)
kammak takijuk
boots (long)
ulapapuuk
boots (rubber)
kammak
shoes (a pair)
atigi
parka
hilapaaq
parka outer shell
jaikak
jacket
suviataq
sweater
atigi
shirt
atigi
t-shirt
qarliik
pants
taffi
belt
akurun
skirt
qitaujaq
dress
aannuraaq
blouse

Grammar

29 » Possessions & Relations

In English we have words that we put before nouns to indicate who they belong to:

my mitten your parka

In Inuktut, we add an affix to the end of the noun. The above would be translated:

pualuga qulitaujait

The same endings can be used for possessions or relations:

aappaga my father
irniit your son

In English the words that indicate possession: my, your, our, etc. are fairly straightforward. There is only one form that we use before any noun, be it singular or plural:

my car my cars

 

ONE POSSESSION OR RELATION

igluga my house
igluvuk our (2) house
igluvut our (3+) house
   
iglut your (1) house
igluktik your (2) house 
iglukhi your (3+) house 
   
iglua his/her house
igluak their (2) house
igluat their (3+) house

 

SOME TRICKIER DETAILS...

(i) For nouns that end in vowels, you just add the ending.

If these endings are added to a noun that ends in a consonant, the last consonant is deleted:

kammak shoe
kammaga my shoe
   
qinmiq dog
qinmiktik your (2+) dog (the dog of you two)
   
havagvik office
havagvingat their (3+) office

 

(ii) -ga (my) has a second form, -ra, that is used after any noun that ends in -q:

nahaq hat
nahara my hat
   
qulittaq parka
qulittara my parka

 

TWO POSSESSIONS OR RELATIONS

 

DUAL FORMS

panik daughter
paniikkak my two daughters
paniikkik your two daughters (talking to 1 person)
paningik his or her two daughters
panivuk our two daughters
paniktik your two daughters (talking to more than 2)
paningik their two daughters
 

 

3+ POSSESSIONS OR RELATIONS

irniq son
irnitka my sons (3+)
irnivut our sons (3+)
   
irnitit your (1) sons (3+)
irnihi your (2+) sons (3+)
   
irningit his/her/their sons (3+)
  • All plural possessive endings delete the last consonant of roots they are added to.
  • The endings for “her/his” and “their” are the same. Context makes it clear who you are speaking of.
 

NAMING THE PERSON WHO POSSESSES SOMETHING

In English, when we want to name a person that something belongs to, we add an apostrophe + s to the person's name, followed by the object:

Mary's car Piita's dog

 

In Inuktut, these three sentences would be written this way:

Mialiup akhaluutinga Piitaup qinminga
  • Note that the affix -up is attached to the possessor's name, much like apostrophe + s is used in English.
  • the affix -nga is added to the person or thing that is possessed if it is singular; -ngik if it is dual; and -ngit if it is plural:
arnaup qullinga the woman’s qulliq
angutiup pualungik the man's mittens (2)
Naullaup qinmingit Naullaq’s dogs (3+)
 

30 » This & That

Inuktut has a complex system of words to talk about an object based on where it is located (this one right here, that one over there, this one up here, etc.). At this stage, we will just look at the simplest forms.

These words have a singular, dual and plural form in Inuinnaqtun:

una this one here
ukuak these two here
ukuat these ones (3+) here
   
taamna that one
taakkuak those two 
taakkua those (3+)

Una ukuak ukua generally refer to something close to the speaker while taamna / taakkuak / taakkua efer to something farther away. This very much depends on the context of the conversation, however.

In this lesson we see localizers used to ask who something belongs to:

Una kiap nahanga?  Whose hat is this?
Una nahaga. This is my hat
   
Taakkuak kiap pualungik? Whose mitts (2) are those?
Taakkuak pualukkik. Those are your mitts.

 

31 » Mine, Yours, Theirs

MINE, YOURS, THEIRS

To express these concepts in Inuktut, we take the possessive endings that we learned in the previous lesson and add the prefix pi-:

Una piga. It's mine.
Una piit. It's yours.
Una pinga. It's his/hers.
Una pingat. It's theirs.

 

Dual forms 

Taakkuak piikkak. Those two things are mine.
Taakkuak piikkik. Those two things are yours.
Taakkuak pingik. Those two things are his/hers/theirs

 

Plural forms:

Taakkua pitka. Those are mine.
Taakkua pitit. Those are yours.
Taakkua pingit. Those are his/hers/theirs.