Stepping through a course - Lesson 12

Another short lesson. Only a couple new nouns and two more verbs, but important ones, and one of them was already introduced in my Summary of Lessons 1 through 10.

Dialog - 

M: Niwii-izhichige gegoo.
F: Aniish waa-izhichigeyan?
M: Niwii-adaawen gegoo.
F: Wegonen waa-adaaweyan?
M: Asemaa niwii-adaawen.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
M: Maamaanaan, giwii-wiisin na?
F: Gaawiin noongom; baanimaa.
M: Maamaanaan, aaniish apii wii-minikweyan aniibiishaaboo?


A line-by-line breakdown:

M: Niwii-izhichige gegoo.

• Here's one of the two new verbs, "izhichige" (do [something]). It needs an object [something] and can't be used on its own. He's saying "I'm going to do something," **

F: Aniish waa-izhichigeyan?

• Here "Aniish" means "What", so she is asking "What are you going to do?" **

M: Niwii-adaawen gegoo.

• I introduced this verb "adaawe" (buy) in my summary of Lessons 1-10. He's responding "I'm going to buy something." **

F: Wegonen waa-adaaweyan?

• She asks "What are you going to buy?" **

M: Asemaa niwii-adaawen.

• Here's a new noun, "asemaa", meaning tobacco. He's answering "I'm going to buy tobacco." **

** In all these cases, -wii- and waa- can be used as "going to"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

M: Maamaanaan, giwii-wiisin na?

• Here's our second new noun, "maamaanaan".  In the audio, we're told it means "grandmother", but it is also a way to say "Mother Earth", and is also used to speak affectionately to an elder woman. So he is asking "Would you like to eat?", with the affectionate title of "maamaanan".

F: Gaawiin noongom; baanimaa.

• As we've already learned, "noongom means either "today" or "now". She responds "Not now; later."

M: Maamaanaan, aaniish apii wii-minikweyan aniibiishaaboo?

• "When would you like to drink tea?", again affectionately referring to her as "maamaanan".

New words this lesson:

• asemaa - tobacco
• maamaanaan - grandmother
• izhichige (vai) - do [SOMETHING]; act so
• adaawe (vai) - buy; sell; traffic; trade; deal

Let's add some more vocabulary that fits in with buying things:

• bakwezhigan (bread) Bakwezhigan niwii-adaawen. (I'll buy some bread.)
• doodooshaaboo-bimide (butter)
• waawan/waawanoon (egg/eggs)
• gitigaanens/gitigaanensan (vegetable/vegetables)

• Adaawewigamigong ni-wii-izhaa. (I'm going to the store.) (Already introduced in Summary of Lessons 1-10).

• Aaniin ezhichigeyan? (What are you doing?) Here, "aaniin" functions as "what".

Ojibwe verbs are... complicated, and I don't want to introduce types of verbs that we've not yet learned in the lessons, so for now I'm sticking with VAI verbs.