1 Tunngahuglutit

In English, the basic unit of meaning is the word. Each word (generally) expresses a separate idea:

The dog sleeps under the tree

 

In Inuktitut, the basic units of meaning are roots and affixes.

Roots involve basic vocabulary and always appear at the beginning of words in Inuktitut. Here are some examples:

niri-	aullaq-	tupiq
to eat	to depart; leave town	tent

Affixes are attached to the end of roots and other affixes. They can never begin a word. Here are three simple affixes:

-tunga	-tutit	-tuq
I	you	she or he

 

Roots and affixes cannot be used on their own.  Instead words are built in Inuktitut by attaching one or more affixes to a root.  Remember that in most cases, the root is the base of the word and appears at the beginning.

If we add different affixes to the same root, we get different meanings:

aullaqtuŋa	aullaqtutit	aullaqtuq
I depart	you depart	she departs

 

And if we throw in other affixes, we can change the meaning again.  -rumaaq- is an affix which marks the far future tense:

aullarumaaqtuŋa	aullarumaaqtutit	aullarumaaqtuq
I will be departing	you will be departing	he / she will be departing

In Inuktitut very long words can be put together using many affixes.  We end up with single words that would take an entire sentence to say in English:

miřviliariaqarniaqtuŋa  I’ll have to go to the airport.

 

In English, we often use pronouns to tell us who we are talking about in a sentence:

 

I ate.

Who are you?

He left yesterday.

 

In Inuktitut, we indicate who we are talking about by using an affix that appears (usually) at the very end of the word:

takuřuŋa

I see

 

In the above word, taku- describes the action of seeing and the affix –řunga describes who is seeing.
By using different affixes, we can talk about different people doing the same action: