2 Qanuippit?

Dialogue: What is your name?

Maina:
Unnusakkut.ᐅᓐᓄᓴᒃᑯᑦ. Good afternoon.
Taiviti:
Unnusakkut. ᐅᓐᓄᓴᒃᑯᑦ. Good afternoon
Maina:
Kinauvit?ᑭᓇᐅᕕᑦ?What's your name?
Taiviti:
Uvanga?ᐅᕙᖓ?(who) me?
Maina:
ii, ivvit.ᐄ, ᐃᕝᕕᑦ. Yes you.
Taiviti:
Taivitiujunga.ᑕᐃᕕᑎᐅᔪᖓ. My name is Taiviti.
Maina:
Asu. Unali kinauva? ᐊᓱ. ᐅᓇᓕ ᑭᓇᐅᕙ?I see. And who is this?
Taiviti:
Una Jaani.ᐅᓇ ᔮᓂ. This is Jaani.
Maina:
Tunngasugitsik.ᑐᙵᓱᒋᑦᓯᒃ. Welcome (to the two of you).
Taiviti:
Tunngasuppuguk.ᑐᙵᓱᑉᐳᒍᒃ. Response to "tunngasugitsik" (literally, 'We feel welcome.')

Vocabulary
qanuippit?
How are you?
qanuippisik?
How are you (2) ?
qanuippisi?
How are you (3+)?
qanuinngittunga
fine (I am...)
qanuinngittuguk
We (2) are fine.
qanuinngittugut
We (3+) are fine.
uvanga
I; me
ivvit
you (1)
ivvilli?
What about you (1)?
quviasuppit?
happy (Are you ...?)
quviasuttunga
happy (I am...)
quviasuttuq
happy (he/she is...)
uirngaqqit?
sleepy (Are you...?)
uirngaqtunga
sleepy (I am...)
uirngaqtuq
sleepy (he/she is...)
uqquuviit?
hot (Are you...?)
uqquujunga
hot (I am...)
qiuvit?
cold (Are you ...?)
tukisivit?
understand (Do you...?)
tukisijunga
understand (I...)

Grammar

5 » Asking Questions

Inuktut has a series of verb endings that are used just for asking questions. To ask a question, we add one of these endings to a verb root or affix. The verb ending indicates who we are asking about:
nigiven? Are you eating?
nigivâ / nigijon? Is he / she eating?

 

Question endings have different forms depending on the sound that comes before them. After a root or affix that ends in a vowel, the question endings look like this:

tukisi- to understand
tukisivingâ? Do I understand?
tukisiven? Do you understand?
tukisivâ? / tukisijon*? Does he/she understand?
tukisivinok? Do we (2) understand?
tukisivitâ? Do we (3+) understand?
tukisivitek? Do you (2) understand?
tukisivise? Do you (3+) understand?
tukisijok? Do they (2) understand?
tukisivât? / tukisijon*? Do they (3+) understand?

* The question ending -jon? can be used either in the singular (Is he/she...?) or the plural (Are they...?)

Pay close attention to the fact that Inuktut has different endings for the dual (dealing with two objects or people) and the plural (three or more objects or people) :
2 people 3+ people
uinngavitek? uinngavise?
Are you two sleepy? Are you (3+) sleepy?
   
uinngajok? uinngajon?
Are the two of them sleepy? Are they (3+) sleepy?
 

 

6 » Pronouns

In English, a verb must always be accompanied by a word to indicate who is doing the action:

I eat. She sleeps. They depart.

The highlighted words above are called pronouns.

Inuktut has pronouns although they aren't used as much as in English for reasons that will be explained below.

We'll start with the simplest pronouns:

uvanga I
uvaguk we; us (2)
uvagut we; us (3+)
ipvit you (1) 
ilittik you (2)
ilitsi you (3+)
una this person here

It is important to remember that Inuktut verbs always indicate who is doing the action through the verb ending so pronouns often aren’t needed: 

nigivunga I eat. 
sinijuk She sleeps.
aullavusi You (3+) are departing. 


Where personal pronouns are used is when :
  • you are talking about a person or an object without a verb
  • you are adding emphasis:
Kanuingilanga.  ipvilittauk? I am fine, what about you?
uvangâ? * (who) me?
uvangalu Kanuingilangatauk. I (too) am fine.

* When uvanga is used to ask a question (who me?), the final a sound is drawn out.  This is reflected in writing with a long a character (â).

Notice in the above examples the use of -littauk and -lu, endings that can be tacked on to the end of the pronouns.

-littauk is used in conversation when you want to change the person or object you are talking about :

ipvit + littauk = ipvilittauk? What about you (1)?
uvanga + littauk = uvangalittauk? What about me?

-lu is an ending meaning « and » or « too » :

uinngavunga I am sleepy.
uvangalu Me, too.