5 Tiiturumavit?

-suuq is added to roots to express the idea of

The affix -tuq- is used after noun roots to indicate something one eats, something one drinks or something that one uses somehow:

tiituqtugut	We (3+) are drinking tea.
natsiminiqtuqtuq	He/she is eating seal meat.
umiaqtuqtut	They are boating.
kaapiturumavit?	Do you want some coffee?

-tuq- can be attached to any root without changing the consonant sound that comes before it.

The root imiq on its own means “water” or it can become a verb root, followed by a verb ending, to mean “to drink”.  If you want to ask someone if they would like some water, do not use the affix –tuq- with the root imiq-.  The correct way to ask the question is:

imirumavit?	Do you want to drink (some water)?
imirumajunga	I want to drink some water.
imiqtuq	He is drinking water.

 

As you put together roots, affixes and grammatical endings to build words, the first letter or the last letter of these elements will often change. These spelling changes allow for smoother pronunciation.

Let's look at the verb -juma-. This is a common affix used to express in Inuktitut to want.

Because -juma- is an affix, it must be added to a root. ilau- is a root meaning to come along.

The affix -juma- can be inserted between the root (ilau-) and the subject ending:

ilaujumava?	Does he / she want to come along?
ii, ilaujumajuq.	Yes, he / she wants come along.

-juma- works fine when it is added to a root ending in a vowel. If it is added to a root that ends in -q, though, a spelling change happens:

kaapituq-	to have coffee
kaapiturumavit?	Do you want some coffee?
ii, kaapiturumajunga.	Yes, I want to have some coffee.

 

If -juma- is added to a root ending in a -k, we get a different change:

sinik-	to sleep
sinigumavisi?	Do you (3+) want to sleep?
ii, sinigumajugut.	Yes, we want to sleep.

 

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:

nirivit?	Are you eating?
niriva?	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
tukisivunga?	Do I understand?
tukisivit?	Do you understand?
tukisiva?	Does he/she understand?
tukisivinuk?	Do we (2) understand?
tukisivita?	Do we (3+) understand?
tukisivisik?	Do you (2) understand?
tukisivisi?	Do you (3+) understand?
tukisivak?	Do they (2) understand?
tukisivat?	Do they (3+) understand?

 

After a root or affix that ends in q-, you use the same endings as above, replacing the v with a q.

isiq-	to come in
isiqqunga?	Am I coming in?
isiqqit?	Are you coming in?
isiqqa?	Is he / she coming in?
isiqqinuk?	Are we (2) coming in?
isiqqita?	Are we (3+) coming in?
isiqqisik?	Are you two coming in?
isiqqisi?	Are you (3+) coming in?
isiqqak?	Are the two of them coming in?
isiqqat?	Are they (3+) coming in?

If the root or affix ends in any other consonant, you do the following:

• replace the final consonant of the verb with a p
• use the same endings above, replacing the v with a p.

As an example, let's use the verb root sinit-meaning to sleep:

sinippunga?	Am I sleeping?
sinippit?	Are you sleeping?
sinippa?	Is he/she sleeping?
sinippinuk?	Are the two of us sleeping?
sinippita?	Are we (3+) sleeping?
sinippisik?	Are you two sleeping?
sinippisi?	Are you (3+) sleeping?
sinippak?	Are the two of them sleeping?
sinippat?	Are they (3+) sleeping?