Grammar » 4 » Simple Verb Endings

Verb roots in Inuktut describe actions or states of being. The verb ending tells us who is performing the action.

takujunga I see.

In the above word, taku- describes the action of seeing and the verb ending –junga describes who is seeing.
By using different verb endings we can talk about different people doing the same action:

nirijunga I am eating.
nirijutit You are eating.
nirijuq He / she is eating.
nirijuguk The two of us are eating.
nirijugut We (3+) eating.
nirijusik The two of you are eating.
nirijusi You (3+) are eating.
nirijuuk The two of them are eating.
nirijut They (3+) are eating.

The verb endings highlighted above in blue can be added to any root that ends in a vowel.  Remember Inuktut has three vowels i, u and a.

If the root ends in any other letter, we change the j that begins each of these verb endings to t:

uqalimaaqtunga I am reading.
sinittuq He/she is sleeping.