Naasautiit amiallu | Inuktut Tusaalanga

Dialogue: Red pen, blue pen

Ilisapi:

Aupaqtumik titirautiqaqqit? ᐊᐅᐸᖅᑐᒥᒃ ᑎᑎᕋᐅᑎᖃᖅᑭᑦ?Do you have a red pen?

Juana:

Aagga kisiani tungujuqtamik titirautiqaqtunga. ᐋᒡᒐ, ᑭᓯᐊᓂ ᑐᖑᔪᖅᑕᒥᒃ ᑎᑎᕋᐅᑎᖃᖅᑐᖓ. No, but I have a blue pen.

Ilisapi:

Kina titirautiqaqqa aupaqtumik ?ᑭᓇ ᑎᑎᕋᐅᑎᖃᖅᑲ ᐊᐅᐸᖅᑐᒥᒃ? Who would have a red pen?

Juana:

Suusaqai titirautilik aupaqtumik.ᓲᓴᖃᐃ ᑎᑎᕋᐅᑎᓕᒃ ᐊᐅᐸᖅᑐᒥᒃ. Suusa has a red pen.

Ilisapi:

Nakurmiik.ᓇᑯᕐᒦᒃ. Thanks.

Vocabulary

	qirniqtaq ᕿᕐᓂᖅᑕᖅ black
	tungujuqtaq ᑐᖑᔪᖅᑕᖅ blue
	kajuq ᑲᔪᖅ brown
	nunasiut ᓄᓇᓯᐅᑦ car
	amiat ᐊᒥᐊᑦ colours
	panik ᐸᓂᒃ daughter
	pai ᐸᐃ five
	pua ᐳᐊ four
	uujaujaq ᐆᔭᐅᔭᖅ green
	isuqtaq ᐃᓱᖅᑕᖅ grey
	nasaq ᓇᓴᖅ hat
	qatsinik ᖃᑦᓯᓂᒃ how many?
	pualuuk ᐳᐊᓘᒃ mittens (a pair of)
	maanna ᒫᓐᓇ now
	naasauti ᓈᓴᐅᑎ number
	uan ᐅᐊᓐ one
	only
	aupajaangajuq ᐊᐅᐸᔮᖓᔪᖅ orange
	aupajaattuq ᐊᐅᐸᔮᑦᑐᖅ pink
	tungujuangajuq ᑐᖑᔪᐊᖓᔪᖅ purple
	aupaqtuq ᐊᐅᐸᖅᑐᖅ red
	irniq ᐃᕐᓂᖅ son
	tajan ᑕᔭᓐ ten
	talii ᑕᓖ three
	tuu ᑑ two
	Una qanuittuuva? ᐅᓇ ᖃᓄᐃᑦᑑᕙ? What colour is this?
	qakuqtaq ᖃᑯᖅᑕᖅ white
	kina? ᑭᓇ? who?
	quqsuqtaq ᖁᖅᓱᖅᑕᖅ yellow

Grammar

15. The Affix -mik

-mik and its plural form -nik are used very frequently in Inuktitut and require a detailed explanation. Consider the following two sentences in English:

He bought the blue car.

He bought a blue car.

In the first sentence, we are talking about a specific car that is known both to the person who is speaking and the person he is talking with. In the second sentence, the speaker refers to the car very generally. The exact car that was purchased is irrelevant to the conversation they are having.

In Inuktut, when we are speaking very generally about a person or a thing, we attach the affix-mik to the person or thing.

illumik takujuq.

She sees a house.

Note, too, that -mik is added to words that describe the object:

Atausirmik illumik takujuq.	Quqsuqtumik illumik takujuq.
She sees one house.	She sees a yellow house.

When -mik is added to a noun ending in q, it normally changes this q to r. An exception, though, happens with the names of colours. When -mik is added to a colour, it deletes final q.

The dual form of -mik is -nik :

Quqsuqtuunnik pualuqaqtutit.

You have two yellow mittens.

Note above how the word for yellow, quqsuqtuq, changes to quqsuqtuuk in the dual.

The plural form of -mik is also -nik :

Pingasunik qiturngaqaqtunga.

I have three children.

In the above sentence, the speaker says very generally that she has three children. The person she is speaking to probably doesn't know the children or very much about them.

An easy way to learn -mik and -nik is to use them with numbers and colours

Ququsuqtumik nasaqsimajuq.	Tallimaniktuttunik takujunga.
He is wearing a yellow hat.	I see five caribou.

-mik is also used frequently with people's names:

Mialimik nulialik.

He has a wife named Mary.

Note the spelling changes that happen with -mik and -nik are added to roots ending in consonants:

When -mik and -nik (plural) are added to stems that end in q, they change the q to r:

surusiq + mik =	surusirmik
	a child
surusiq + nik =	surusirnik
	some children (3+)

In the South Qikiqtaaluk dialect, when -mik or -nik (dual or plural) are added to a stem ending in k, the k changes to match either the m or n that follows:

>inuk + mik =	inummik
	a person
inuuk + nik =	inuunnik
	two people
inuk + nik =	inunnik
	some people (3+)

When -nik (plural) is added to a root ending in t, it deletes the final t:

tallimat + nik =	talimanik
	five of something

16. Commands (The Imperative)

The imperative is used to tell someone to do something, or indicate something that you would like to happen.

-git is used when you are speaking to one other person:

niri-	to eat
nirigit	Eat!

-git can be added directly to roots ending in vowels. When it is added to roots ending in k or t, it deletes the final consonant:

tupak-	to wake up
tupagit	Wake up!

ingit-	to sit down
ingigit	Please, sit down.

With roots that end in -q, use -rit instead:

uqalimaaq-	to read
uqalimaarit	Read!

When telling someone to do something, there is often an object or another person involved. In which, case we use different endings:

qai-	to come
qaigit	Come here!
qaiguk	Bring it here!

like -git, the first letter of -guk changes to r when added to a stem ending in q:

qiniq-	to look for something
qiniruk	Go look for it!

Finally, if you are talking about more than one object, the affix you use changes:

qaiguk	Bring it here.
qaikkik	Bring the two of them here.
qaikkit	Bring them here.

8 Naasautiit amiallu

Dialogue: Red pen, blue pen

Vocabulary

Grammar

15. The Affix -mik

16. Commands (The Imperative)