Indoojibwem!

Indoojibwem!

When I set out to look for learning materials on the web, I was initially excited to find so many search results for the language. This excitement quickly faded with the number of 404 - Not Found messages I kept getting on each click of a link. So I've created this space as a repository of resources for learning Anishinaabemowin, or more specifically, Ojibwemowin. With time, I hope it can be of use not just to me, but to others.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Stepping through a course - Lesson 13

In this lesson we have some new words relating to days and parts of the day, such as tomorrow and morning. I've also included a note at the end regarding the use of "after" (introduced in this lesson) and "before", introduced in my "Other vocabulary" section.

Dialog - 

M: Aaniish apii asemaa wii-adaaweyan?
F: Ishkwaa-wiisiniyaan.
M: Ishkwaa-wiisiniyaang.
F: Aaniish apii wii-niimi'idiwaad?
M: Ishkwaa-naawakweg.


Breaking it down line by line:


M: Aaniish apii asemaa wii-adaaweyan?

  • When will you buy tobacco?
F: Ishkwaa-wiisiniyaan.
  • Here is the new word/preverb for "after". he answers "After I eat."
F: Aaniish apii wii-niimi'idiwaad?
  • "When are they dancing?"
M: Ishkwaa-naawakweg.
  • "After noon". The "eg" ending on "naawakweg" means "in" or "on", so this sentence could be translated as "in the afternoon."

New words this lesson (many of these were only introduced in the oral exercises, so they're extra vocabulary to play with):
  • zhebaa - this [past] morning
  • waabang - tomorrow; dawn; morning
  • waabang gigizheb - tomorrow morning
  • gigizheb - morning; early morning
  • ishkwaa- - after; completed; end of...
  • baabaanaan - grandfather (also means father)

Other vocabulary
  • jibwaa-before

*** A note about the preverbs ishkwaa- and jibwaa-

These two preverbs are important for our progress. With them, we can now begin to form more complex sentences with dependent clauses.
As such, when using "after" and "before" as a preverb, the verb must always be in conjunct form (yaan, 1st person singular and yan, 2nd person singular). As long as the person matches in both the main and dependent clause ("before/after I... [do something], I... [will/want to do something]" or "before/after you... [do something], you... [will/want to do something]"), the conjunct form can be thought of as "before/after [verb]ing"

Example sentences:
Oodenaang jibwaa-izhaayaan, niwii-jiibaakwe. (Before going/I go to town, I want to cook.)
Jibwaa-wiisiniyan, giwii-minikwen gegoo? (Before eating/you eat, do you want to drink something?)
Ishkwaa-wiisiniyaan, niwii-nibaa. (After eating/after I eat, I want to sleep.)

In these examples, the dependent, or subordinate clause comes before the main clause.

1 comment:

  1. About "ishkwaa-naawakweg" - it does mean "in the afternoon," but the "eg" ending is simple to understand - it is simply the plain conjunct form. Naawakwe is a VII verb meaning "it is noon" and ishkwaa-naawakweg is a conjunct form basically saying "after it is noon." It is exactly the same phenomenon that occurs in "Jibwaa-wiisiniyan" - before you eat.

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