15 Kiap ukua?

Dialogue: Whose is this?

iiva:
Kiap una jaikanga?ᑭᐊᑉ ᐅᓇ ᔭᐃᑲᖓ? Whose is this jacket?
Aisaki:
Uvanga, jaikaga.ᐅᕙᖓ, ᔭᐃᑲᒐ. Mine, it's my jacket.
iiva:
Ukuali kiap pualungik?ᐅᑯᐊᓕ ᑭᐊᑉ ᐳᐊᓗᖏᒃ? And whose are these mitts?
Aisaki:
Taakkuak Jiilaup pualungik.ᑖᒃᑯᐊᒃ ᔩᓚᐅᑉ ᐳᐊᓗᖏᒃ. Those are Julia's mitts.
iiva:
Naulikiarngai nasara?ᓇᐅᓕᑭᐊᕐᖓᐃ ᓇᓴᕋ? I wonder where my hat is.
Aisaki:
Jiilaup jaikangata ataaniittuq.ᔩᓚᐅᑉ ᔭᐃᑲᖓᑕ ᐊᑖᓃᑦᑐᖅ. It is under Julia's jacket.

Vocabulary

Kiap una?
Who does this belong to?
una
this; this one
Kiap ukua?
Who do these (3+) belong to?
ukua
these (3+)
Una kiap nasanga?
Who does this hat belong to?
nasaq
hat
aggaak
gloves (two)
pualuuk
mittens (a pair of)
kamiik
boots (skin)
kamaaluuk ukiuqsiutiik
boots (winter)
kamikutaak
boots (long)
kamaaluuk
boots (rubber)
isigaujaak
shoes (a pair)
qulittaujaq
parka
silapaaq
parka outer shell
jaikak
jacket
nuijagaq
sweater
ikiaq
shirt
uviniruq
t-shirt
qarliik
pants
qiluaq
belt
angijuqtaq
skirt
atajuq
dress
kiati
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 atigiit

The same endings can be used for possessions or relations:

ataataga 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 (the house of you two)
iglukhi your (3+) house (the house of you 3+)
   
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:

kamik boot
kamiga my boot
   
qi'miq dog
qi'miktik your (2+) dog (the dog of you two)
   
titirarvik office
titirarvingat 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
   
nuviqšaaq parka
nuviqšaara 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 qi'minga
  • 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 qi'mingit 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 Nattilingmitut:

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.