Stepping through a course - Lesson 24

In this lesson, we do a little bit more practice with the imperative, and we also get some exposure to a VII verb and how it interacts with an inanimate object. I've included the relevant animate examples also in the vocabulary section, but there will be examples of their use in Lesson 25.

Dialog -

M: Biindigen!
F: Namadabin!
F: Wegonen menomaateg?
M: Minomaate i'iw wiiyaas.
M: Maamaanaan nitaa-jiibaakwe
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Here'a breakdown, line by line:

M: Biindigen!

• This was introduced in Lesson 19: "Enter/Come in!"

F: Namadabin!

• This was originally introduced in Summary, Lessons 1-10, but came up again in Lesson 19: "Sit!"

F: Wegonen minomaateg?

• minomaateg is actually a combination of the preverb "mino" and the verb "maate", meaning "smells good". I should note that "maate" one of a group a verbs that cannot be used on its own - it must be used with a preverb. She is asking "What smells so good?" Also notice that since we're using a question word, the verb must be in the conjunct (B-form) conjugation.

M: Minomaate i'iw wiiyaas.

• The word "i'iw" means "that", when referring to inanimate objects. "wiiyaas" means "meat (that is being cooked". So he's saying "That meat smells good."

M: Maamaanaan nitaa-jiibaakwe.

• "nitaa-" is a great preverb to know. it means to be good/an expert at [SOMETHING]. He's saying "Grandma is a great cook." Since nitaa- is attached to a verb, we could also think of it as "Grandma is great at cooking."

New words this lesson:

• nitaa- - skilled-, good at ...
• i'iw - that (inanimate)
• a'aw - that (animate)
• wiiyaas(an) - meat (inanimate)
• wiiyaas(ag) - flesh (animate)
• namadabi - sit (introduced in Summary, Lessons 1-10
• minomaate - SOMETHING smells good
• jiibaakwe - cook, prepare food (introduced in Summary, Lessons 1-10

Other vocabulary:

• gagwejichige - practice, try
• Giishpin gigagwejichige, giwii-nitaa-ojibwem. - If you practice, you'll speak Ojibwe well.

Note on intensifiers:

• Gichi-minomaate! - It smells really good! (gichi- can be added to VII type verbs as an intensifier.)

otherwise use niibowa following a VAI verb:

• Imbakade niibowa. - I'm really hungry.