Stepping through a course - Lesson 17

Another short dialog with just a couple new verbs, a noun, and a number. I've supplemented this lesson with how to form negative statements.

Dialog -

F: Gidayaawaa na zhooniyaa?
M: Gaawiin. Imbiigoshkaa.
F: Indayaawaa zhooniyaa.
* * * * * * * * * *
F: Midaaswaabik na gidayaawaa?
M: Midaaswaabik indaaawaa.
* * * * * * * * * * *

Here's a line-by-line breakdown:

F: Gidayaawaa na zhooniyaa?

• Both the new verb have [SOMETHING] (ayaaw] and the noun for money (zhooniyaa) are introduced. She's asking "Do you have any money?"

M: Gaawiin. Imbiigoshkaa.

• Another new verb, "biigoshkaa", meaning "to be broke" in this case. He answers "No. I'm broke."

F: Indayaawaa zhooniyaa.

• She says "I have some money."

* * * * * * * * * *
F: Midaaswaabik na gidayaawaa?

• We have a new number "midaaswi" (ten). When combined with waabik (dollar), the "wi" is dropped to form "midaaswaabik" (ten dollars). Notice that waabik is not in a plural form.  She asks "Do you have ten dollars?"

M: Midaaswaabik indaaawaa.

• He answers "I have ten dollars."

New words this lesson:

• midaaswi - ten
• zhooniyaa - silver; money
• biigoshkaa - be broke
• ayaaw - have SOMETHING

Forming negative sentences

We briefly saw how to form a negative verb conjugation back in lesson three with the verb nisidotan (understand) and in lesson seven with gikendan (know), as well as the sentence "Gaawiin,Anishinaabe-inini aawisii." (He is not an Anishinaabe man).

In all these cases we used "gaawiin" in front of the verb, and added either "sii" or "ziin" at the end of the verb. The basic rule is that if the verb ends in a vowel, it takes "sii" as the ending and if it ends in a consonant it takes "ziin" as the ending.

So, some practice with some verbs we've already learned.

• Biigoshkaa? Henh. Gaawiin, odayaanziin zhooniyaa. Is he broke? Yes. He has no money.
• Gibaabaa na a'aw? Gaawiin, Nibaabaas aawisii. Is that your father? No, that's not my father.
• Bakwezhigan giwii-adaawen na? Gaawiin, niwii-adaawesii. Do you want to buy some bread? No, I don't want to buy any.
• Giwii-izhaa na iwidi adaawewigamigong? Gaawiin, Adaawewigamigong ni-wii-izhaasii. Do you want to go to the store? No, I don't want to go to the store.

In a future post I'll go over how to form negatives for weather verbs, since they're slightly different.