Ilakka | Inuktut Tusaalanga

Dialogue: Birthdays

Aani:

Pinasuarusiup nunnguani sulauqqit?ᐱᓇᓱᐊᕈᓯᐅᑉ ᓄᙳᐊᓂ ᓱᓚᐅᖅᑭ?What did you do this weekend?

Simiuni:

Anaanakkutinnuulauqtunga. Ivvilli?ᐊᓈᓇᒃᑯᑎᓐᓅᓚᐅᖅᑐᖓ. ᐃᕝᕕᓪᓕ? I went to my mother's place. What about you?

Aani:

Nukakkutinnuulauqtunga. Nalliutilaurmat. ᓄᑲᒃᑯᑎᓐᓅᓚᐅᖅᑐᖓ. ᓇᓪᓕᐅᑎᓚᐅᕐᒪᑦ.I went to my younger sister's place. It was her birthday.

Simiuni:

Asukuluk. Nukait qatsiuliqqa? ᐊᓱᑯᓗᒃ. ᓄᑲᐃᑦ ᖃᑦᓯᐅᓕᖅᑲ?I see. How old is your sister now?

Aani:

37-nik arraaguqaliqtuq.37-ᓂᒃ ᐊᕐᕌᒍᖃᓕᖅᑐᖅ. She is thirty-seven.

Simiuni:

Qangakkut nalliutisuunguvilli? ᖃᖓᒃᑯᑦ ᓇᓪᓕᐅᑎᓲᖑᕕᓪᓕ?And when is your birthday?

Aani:

Juunimi nalliutisuungujunga. ᔫᓂᒥ ᓇᓪᓕᐅᑎᓲᖑᔪᖓ.My birthday is in June.

	airaapik ᐊᐃᕌᐱᒃ sister-in-law (brother’s wife)
	airaapik ᐊᐃᕌᐱᒃ brother-in-law (sister’s husband)
	ajak ᐊᔭᒃ aunt (mother’s sister)
	akkak ᐊᒃᑲᒃ uncle (father’s brother)
	anaana ᐊᓈᓇ mother
	anaanatsiaq ᐊᓈᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ grandmother
	angak ᐊᖓᒃ uncle (mother’s brother)
	angijuk ᐊᖏᔪᒃ older sibling (same sex)
	anik ᐊᓂᒃ brother of a female
	anikuluapik ᐊᓂᑯᓗᐊᐱᒃ cousin (a female’s male cousin)
	ataata ᐊᑖᑕ father
	ataatatsiaq ᐊᑖᑕᑦᓯᐊᖅ grandfather
	attak ᐊᑦᑕᒃ aunt (father’s sister)
	ilagiit ᐃᓚᒌᑦ family
	illuarjuk ᐃᓪᓗᐊᕐᔪᒃ cousins (both male)
	illukuluapik ᐃᓪᓗᑯᓗᐊᐱᒃ cousins (both female)
	irniq ᐃᕐᓂᖅ son
	najak ᓇᔭᒃ sister of a male
	ningauk ᓂᖓᐅᒃ son-in-law; brother-in-law (of the same sex)
	nukaq ᓄᑲᖅ younger sibling (of the same sex)
	nuliaq ᓄᓕᐊᖅ wife
	panik ᐸᓂᒃ daughter
	sakiaq ᓴᑭᐊᖅ sister-in-law (husband’s sister)
	sakik ᓴᑭᒃ parents-in-law
	sakiqpaaq ᓴᑭᖅᐹᖅ grandparents-in-law
	uik ᐅᐃᒃ husband
	ukuaq ᐅᑯᐊᖅ daughter-in-law; sister-in-law (brother’s wife)

So far, we have been using simple endings with verbs:

takujunga

I see.

-junga indicates the subject of the sentence, or who does the seeing. It doesn’t indicate the object of the sentence, or what we see.

In English, if we want to talk about what we see, we would add a pronoun to the sentence to indicate an object:

I see her.

In Inuktitut, we add an affix to the end of the verb that indicates both the subject and the object of the sentence:

Here are the simplest forms of these affixes:

Remember that if these affixes are added to roots that end in a consonant, the first letter of the affix changes to t:

maliktara	I am following him.
ikajuqtaanga	She helps me.

ALTERNATES

Be aware that you may hear or see the following alternate endings to the above in the Uqqurmiut dialect:

These endings vary depending on the last consonant of the root they are added to:

after Q:

ikajuq-

ikajuraanga

He helps me.

after T:

tukisinngit-

tukisinngikkaanga

She doesn’t understand me.