Glossary

A word that always appears with nouns in natural speech and indicates which noun the speaker might be talking about. They correspond to “this,” “that,” “these,” and “those” in English.

ąįį   jii   zhat   zhìk  

A single word (or sound), phrase, or short sentence that speakers use to express an emotion. All interjections (see below) are a type of exclamation.

Dinjyaa tsii!   Łyâa lee! Łyâa gwinzįį!   Ąįį googà'?   Nidivee goozu'!  

A word, short phrase, or sentence that expresses an idea or feeling that cannot be interpreted by the meanings of the individual words in the phrase.
For example, “gwinzįį nàa gòo'e'” is said to express “Goodbye” or “Farewell, however, the literal translations is “May good things go where you go.”

ahtr'aii tsuh   Gineiiłyaa k'ìt t’igwii'in!   Gwats'à' dhichii.   gwit'ee gwin'aii  

A noun that can't be separated from its possessor in natural speech. These are usually body parts and words for family members (a.k.a. kinship terms). In this dictionary, as much as possible, inalienable nouns that can belong to humans are presented with the first person singular possessive form as the headword (e.g., shahan ‘my mother’). Inalienable nouns that primarily belong to animals are presented with the third person indefinite possessive form as the headword (e.g., ch'ijì' ‘its antler’). Additional possessive forms (your, his/her, our, etc..) are included in each entry as inflected forms.

shahan   shajoh k'ìt   shakwài'   ch'ijì'   ch'ats'àn  

An exclamatory word (or sound) that speakers use to express a strong or sudden emotion. They are grammatically independent from the words around them.

Ava'!   Inits'u'!   Chya'!   It'ee nats'àatee!  

These verbs, though usually translated with the English present progressive tense, indicate that the action or state of being is ongoing or uncompleted. Imperfective verbs can be used to talk about present or past events (e.g., both ‘I am walking’ and ‘I was walking’).

A verb that is grammatically treated like a noun. For example, “ch'adantł'oo” which literally translates to and can be used as a verb to mean “s/he is writing”, but can also be used as a noun to refer to “a writer” or “a clerk”.

ch'adantł'oo   dlok   ch'adzah   ts'ik   ch'aghan  

A verb and a modifier (like an adverb) that is grammatically treated like a noun. For example, “” which literally translates to something like “s/he is searching for fish” but can be used as a noun meaning “fisherman”.

łuk kee'in   khwaii daak'a'   vành ch'ara'àa   zhyą̀ą deegwiiłtsaii  

A noun and a modifier (like a demonstrative, an adjective, or another noun) that describes or gives more information about that noun. For example, “ch'izhìn t'èe” meaning “eagle feather”.

ch'izhìn t'èe   drin tthak   geh zhuu   gwit'eh k'ik   kìi gąįį  

These verbs, though usually translated with the English past tense, indicate that the action or state of being is completed or already done. Perfective verbs can be used to talk about past or very recent past events (e.g., both ‘It was completely dried out.’ and ‘Now it has completely dried out.’)

A complete sentence that is grammatically and semantically treated like a noun. These are usually very descriptive in nature. For example, “drin tł'an ch'ara'àa” which literally translates to “we eat at midday” but is understood to indicate the noun, “lunch”, and is treated like a noun in larger sentences.

dideezhuu diitth'ak   drin tł'an ch'ara'àa   khwaii daak'ą' tyąh   kii vaa tr'ahaatthak  

A word that appears after the nouns and pronouns it modifies in order to express that word’s relationship to another word in the sentence. These correspond to “at,” “for,” “by,” “in,” “to,” “about,” “over,” “on,” “with,” “away from,” “like,” “around,” “after,” “ahead of,” etc… in English.

hàa   kat   tee   tł'ęę   eenjit   ehdan  

A postposition with the word (or words) it modifies. For example, “akhài' gàa” meaning “instead of this” or “actually”.

akhài' gàa   dachan tee   gwihkįį dą̀į'   khaii hee  

A noun that is used to indicate a physical part of something larger. For example, “summit” or “base” in English.

ch'angwąhts'ąįį   gwitł'ęę   khagohdįį   gwitsįį  

A verb and a modifier (like an adverb) that tells us more information about the quality or manner of the action. For example, “ak'ii kwàa” meaning “s/he/it is skinny” or (literally) “s/he/it is not fat”.

ak'ii kwàa   akǫ̀ǫ t'indhan   gàandaii kwàa  

Curly brackets are used in this dictionary as a placeholder for a required word that fits the criteria inside them. In natural speech, the headword will not make sense unless the {} is replaced. For example, “naljat” means “I am afraid” but “{past time word} naljat” means “I was afraid” as long as the {} is replaced with a past time word like “k'ehdài'” (yesterday): “k'ehdài' naljat” (I was afraid yesterday).

The O here stands for “Object” which is the grammatical term for something that is acted upon or affected by a verb or a postposition. This O is in curly brackets, so it is required by the entry’s headword in order to be used correctly. You’ll see this most often with verbs that do not make sense in natural speech without an object. For example, “{O} ih'àa” means “I’m eating {O}.” This form of the verb doesn’t make sense in natural speech unless the speaker replaces {O} with what is being eaten.

{O} ih'àa   {O} gwihch'įį   {O} vakałch'yàa   {O} t'ąąłch'yaa