Stepping through a course - Lesson 26

In this lesson we talk about feeling cold, and I also add a couple examples of cold weather at the end, using a new clause-builder, or connector - "because" or "that's why". We also learn how to ask what's happening and how to answer.

Dialog -
M: Aaniish apii wii-piindigewaad?
F: Gigiikaji na?
M: Enh, ingiikaj.
F: Gaawiin, ingiikajisii.
F: Aaniish ezhiwebak?
* * * * * * * * * * * *

Here's a line-by-line breakdown:

M: Aaniish apii wii-piindigewaad?

• Because "wii-" is affixed to "bindige", the "b" changes to a "p". He says "When are they coming?"

F: Gigiikaji na?

• Here's a new verb, "giikaji" be or feel cold.  She's asking "Are you cold?"

M: Henh, ingiikaj.

• Yes, I'm cold. (Notice the way the verb is conjugated.)

F: Gaawiin, ingiikajisii.

• And the negative response "No, I'm not cold." (Notice that an "i" is inserted before the negative suffix "sii".)

F: Aaniish ezhiwebak?

• Here's another new verb - izhiwebad, meaning "happens". She's asking "What's happening?/What's new?" (Again, notice that because we're using a question word, we need to conjugate the verb in the conjunct form.)

New words this lesson:

• gimiwan - be raining
• giikaji - feel cold, be feeling cold
• izhiwebad - happen so, be an event

Other vocabulary:

• gaawiin gegoo - nothing
• ganage - in the least, at all
• Aaniish ezhiwebak? Gaawiin ganage gegoo. - What's happening? Nothing at all.

• wenji- that's why/because **
• Gisinaa agwajiing wenji-zoogipon. - It's cold out, that's why it's snowing.

• ondin - wind comes from [A CERTAIN DIRECTION]
• giwedin - north
• Giiwedinong ondaanimad wenji-gisinaag. - The wind is from the north, that's why it's cold.

** A note on wenji- :

As far as I can tell, there is no straightforward way to say "because" in Ojibwe. It's translated more as "that's why", so usually we see the clauses reversed from what they would be in English.

So "Gisinaa agwajiing wenji-zoogipon." can mean either "It's cold out, that's why it's snowing." or "It's snowing because it's cold out." and "Giiwedinong ondaanimad wenji-gisinaag." can mean either "The wind is from the north, that's why it's cold." or "It's cold because the wind is from the north."

Stepping through a course - Lesson 25

This really should have been combined with Lesson 24, since Pimsleur only introduces the animate form of the verb "smells good" and an animate noun. I've added a few more vocabulary examples to play with, and how to form the compound noun for [animal-] meat.

Dialog -

F: Minomaate i'iw waawaashkeshiiwi-wiiyaas.
M: Minomaaso a'aw ogaa.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Here's a line-by-line breakdown:

F: Minomaate i'iw waawaashkeshiiwi-wiiyaas.

• "Waawaashkeshiiwi-wiiyaas" is a combination of "deer" and "meat" (although, see below). She's saying "That deer meat smells good."

M: Minomaaso a'aw ogaa.

• Here, "ogaa" (walleye) is an animate noun, so we need to use an animate form of the verb "smells good" - "minomaaso". In addition, we need to use the animate version of "that" - "a'aw". He says "That walleye smells good."  

New words this lesson:

• waawaashkeshiiwi-wiyaas - venison, deer-meat
• ogaa - walleye, walleyed-pike
• minomaaso - SOMETHING (animate) smells good

Note:

Often, when we want to talk about specific meats, we use the animal name and turn it into a verb, for example: waawaashkeshiiwi-wiyaas is deer+the verb wi (be [SOMETHING])-wiiyaas. So waawaashkeshiiwi then becomes a sort of preverb adjective for wiiyaas. In effect, what we're saying is "the deering meat" and not "deer-meat".

Other vocabulary:

• bizhiki - cow
• makwa - bear
• baaka'aakwenh - chicken
• gookooshi - pork
• bizhikiwi-wiiyaas - beef
• mako-wiiyaas - bear meat
• baaka'aakwenh-wiiyaas - chicken meat
• gookooshi-wiiyaas - pork

• ode'imin - strawberry

Here is another take on "smell":

• minomaam - enjoy the smell of SOMETHING
• Niminomaamaa ode'iminan. - I like the smell of strawberries.

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.

VTA verbs

It occurred to me after writing yesterday's post that I should probably start to document how verb forms other than VAI are handled and conjugated. We've already seen several VTA verbs in previous lessons. These are verbs that were introduced in Lesson 23:

• nooji' - seek, hunt, go after
• nandawaabam - look for, search for, track
• maakinaw - (shoot and) wound
• waabam - see

Where VAI verbs generally have no object in a clause, VTA verbs do, specifically animate objects.

Conjugation of VTA verbs is regular, but handled differently. In VTA verbs, the main thing to remember is that the conjugation matches the object as well as the subject.

The list of conjugations I'm including is not complete. It only includes the nouns we've already covered - 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular for the subject and 2nd and 3rd person plural. I am, however, including a new construct - the reflexive pronoun for myself and yourself (-idiz(o)).

I will most likely use the information in this post to create a static page as I've done for VAI verbs.

Let's take the verb see someone - waabaam:

Independent order:

Positive:

• i see myself - niwaabamidiz 
• i see you (singl.) - giwaabamin
• i see him - niwaabamaa
• i see you (pl.) - giwaabamininim
• i see them - niwaabamaag

• you (singl.) see me - giwaabam 
• you (singl.) see yourself - giwaabamidiz
• you (singl.) see him - giwaabamaa
• you (singl.) see them - giwaabamaag

• he sees me - niwaabamig
• he sees you (singl.) - giwaabamig
• he sees himself - waabamidizo
• he sees you (pl.) - giwaabamigoowaa 

Negative:

• i don't see myself - niwaabamidizosii
• i don't see you (singl.) - giwaabamisiinon
• i don't see him - niwaabamaasii
• i don't see you (pl.) - giwaabamisinoonim 
• i don't see them - niwaabamaasiig

• you (singl.) don't see me - giwaabamisii
• you (singl.) don't see yourself - giwaabamidizosii
• you (singl.) don't see him - giwaabamaasii
• you (singl.) don't see them - giwaabamaasiig

• he doesn't see me - niwaabamigosii
• he doesn't see you (singl.) - giwaabamigosii
• he doesn't see himself - waabamidizosii
• he doesn't see you (pl.) - giwaabamigoosiiwaa

Conjunct order:

Positive:

• i see myself - waabamidizoyaan
• i see you (singl.) - waabaminan
• i see him - waabamag
• i see you (pl.) - waabamininagog
• i see them - waabamagwaa

• you (singl.) see me - waabamiyan
• you (singl.) see yourself - waabamidizoyan
• you (singl.) see him - waabamad
• you (singl.) see them - waabamadwaa

• he sees me - waabamid
• he sees you (singl.) - waabamik
• he sees himself - waabamidizod
• he sees you (pl.) - waabamineg
• he sees them - waabamaad

Negative:

• i don't see myself - waabamidizosiwaan
• i don't see you (singl.) - waabamisinowaan
• i don't see him - waabamaasiwag 
• i don't see you (pl.) - waabamisinoonagog
• i don't see them - waabamaasiwagwaa

• you (singl.) don't see me - waabamisiwan
• you (singl.) don't see yourself - waabamidizosiwan
• you (singl.) don't see him - waabamaasiwad
• you (singl.) don't see them - waabamaasiwadwaa

• he doesn't see me - waabamisig
• he doesn't see you (singl.) - waabamisinog
• he doesn't see himself - waabamidizosig
• he doesn't see you (pl.) - waabamisinoweg 
• he doesn't see them - waabamaasig

And here are some example sentences to put these conjugations to work:

• Ningikenimaa - I know him/her
• Gigikenimaa - You know him/her
• Ogikenimaan - S/he knows him/her
• Ningikenimaag - I know them
• Gigikenimaag - You know them
• Ogikenimaan - S/he knows him/her/them

Tense prefixes are constructed just as they would be in the present tense, that is: personal prefix+tense prefix+verb stem.

• Gigii-gikenimaag ina? - Did you know them?
• Henh, nigii-gikenimaag. - Yes, I knew them.

Stepping through a course - Lesson 23

This lesson is all about hunting and fishing. In addition to the regular verb "giwose" (hunt), I've included more specific verbs and examples at the end of the lesson.

Dialog -

F: Ningii-waabamaa waawaashkeshi.
M: Ningii-waabamaag niswi waawaashkeshiwag.
M: Giwii-kiiwose na?
F: Gaawiin, niwii-kiiwosesii.
F: Henyaanh, niwii-kiiwose.
* * * * * * * * * * * *

And here's the line-by-line breakdown:

F: Ningii-waabamaa waawaashkeshi.

• Two new words, "waabam" (see somebody/something animate) and "waawaashkeshi" (deer). She says "I was a deer."

M: Ningii-waabamaag niswi waawaashkeshiwag.

• Here's a plural example: "I saw three deer." Notice that the verb "waabam" and  "waawaashkeshi" match in plural.

M: Giwii-kiiwose na?

• Here, "giiwose" changes to "kiiwose" when the prefix "giwii-" is added to ease pronunciation. He says "Are you going to hunt?"  

F: Gaawiin, niwii-kiiwosesii.

• "No, I am not going to hunt."

F: Henyaanh, niwii-kiiwose.

• "Yes, I'm going to hunt."

New words this lesson:

• waawaashkeshi - deer
• waabam - see [SOMEBODY/SOMETHING ANIMATE]

Other vocabulary:

• esiban - raccoon
• waagosh - fox
• Giwii-waabamaa esiban maagizhaa waagosh. - You'll see a raccoon or maybe a fox. (see the Animals page for other examples:)

In addition to the generic "giwose" (hunt) verb, there are more specific ways to say you're hunting for something. Here are some examples:

• nandawaabam - look for, search for, track
• maakinaw - wound
• Onandawaabamaan iniw gaa-maakinawaad waawaashkeshiwan. - He's looking for the deer he wounded.

The following incorporate both verb and object into a single word (however, notice the use of "nand" and "nood"):

• nandawenjige - hunt for fish for food
• nandawishibe - hunt ducks
• nandawaaboozwe - hunt rabbits
• noodamikwe - hunt beaver

• giniizhe - northern pike
• agwadaashi - sunfish
• nooji' - hunt for, go after (this verb is conjugated differently than others we've seen so far. See The Ojibwe People's Dictionary for conjugations.)
• Mekiskanikewaad onooji'aawaan ginoozhen. - Anglers fish for northern pikes.** Notice that the verb and object (ginoozhe) match as plural.
• Bijiinaago ingii-nooji'aag agwadaashiwag. - Yesterday I fished for sunfish (plural). ** Notice that the verb and object (agwadaashi) match as plural.