Grammar » double person endings

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

takujungaI 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:

basic endingdouble person ending
takujungatakujara
I see.I see her.
  
maliktungamaliktakka
I follow.I follow them.
  
tusaajuqtusaajaatit
She hears.She hears you.

Here are the simplest forms of these affixes:

 meyouhim/her/it
I 

takujagit

I see you.

takujara

I see him.

you

takujarma

You see me.		 

takujait

You see him.

he / she

takujaanga

She sees me.

takujaatit

She sees you.

takujanga

She sees him.

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.
ikajuqtaangaShe helps me.

ALTERNATES

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

takugikkitI see you.
takuginnga You see me.
takugaangaShe sees me.
takugaatitShe sees you.

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

 

after Q:

 

ikajuq-ikajuraangaHe helps me.

 

after T:

 

tukisinngit-tukisinngikkaangaShe doesn’t understand me.