Authors: michael conrad

Cherokee is a language of relationship. Most words and sentences describe the relationship between things on a continuous basis. For example, to talk about someone being a friend, requires that you indicate with whom they are friends. While Cherokee has a word that can be translated as “friendship”, there is no word that directly translates to “a friend” without indicating with whom the friendship resides. It is always “his friend”, “my friend”, “your friend”, “their friend”. A person who is not in relationship to anyone, has no friends, therefore can not be called “a friend”, no matter how friendly they may be.

ᏘᎪᎵᏯ (Read them)

• ᎠᎨᏳᏣ
  [ạ²ge²hyu⁴ja] “A girl.”

  • ᎠᏂᎨᏳᏣ
    [ạ²ni²ge²hyu⁴ja] “Girls.”

• ᎠᏧᏣ
  [ạ²chu⁴ja] “A boy.”

  • ᎠᏂᏧᏣ
    [ạ²ni²chu⁴ja] “Boys.”

• ᎦᏙ ᎠᏛᏁᎭ
  [gạ²do² a¹dv³nẹ²ha] “What is he doing?”

  • ᎦᏙ ᎠᎾᏛᏁᎭ
    [gạ²do² a¹na²dv³nẹ²ha] “What are they doing?”

ᏘᎪᎵᏯ (Read them)

• ᎠᏂᎠᏫ
  [a¹ni²ɂạ²hwi] “The deer people.”

• ᎠᏂᎩᏟ
  [a¹ni²gi²hli] “The dog people.”

• ᎠᏂᏥᏍᏚ
  [a¹ni²ji²sdu] “The rabbit people.”

• ᎠᏂᏩᎭᏯ
  [a¹ni²wạ²hạ²ya] “The wolf people.”

• ᎠᏂᏪᏌ
  [a¹ni²we²³sa] “The cat people.”

ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎬᎢ ᎠᎦᏔᎲᎢ (Grammar)

☞ ᎦᏬᏂᏍᎬᎢ ᎠᎦᏔᎲᎢ - “His ongoing speaking - his ongoing knowing how.”

Clitics

☞ Don’t get hung up on grammar information. Grammar is not something that needs to be memorized or fully understood. It is through the exercises in the lesson material that you will learn how to understand and speak Cherokee, not by memorizing rules and word parts.

Clitics are special word endings that are used to add or change the meanings of existing words. They are a very powerful feature of the Cherokee language and allow you to express a great many complicated things in short order. It is important to note that these endings cannot be used alone. They must always be combined with an existing word to form a new word.

ᏘᎪᎵᏯ (Read them)

Review the following vocabulary then do the exercises.

• ᎠᏴ, ᎠᏯ
  [ạ²yv, ạ²ya] “I. We.”

• ᎥᏍᎩᎾ
  [v¹sgị²na] “He. She. They. That. Those.”

  • ᎥᏍᎩ
    [v¹sgị] - Alternate pronunciation.

  • ᏍᎩᎾ
    [sgị²na] - Alternate pronunciation.

  • ᎾᏍᎩ
    [na¹sgi] - Alternate pronunciation.

☞ Remember that if you are having problems recognizing any of the Syllabary you should do the final Syllabary exercise as a refresher.

ᏘᎪᎵᏯ (Read them)

Review the following vocabulary then do the exercises.

☞ Remember that if you are having problems recognizing any of the Syllabary you should do the final Syllabary exercise as a refresher.

ᏘᎪᎵᏯ (Read them)

☞ Reminder: Whenever you see “he” you can usually substitute “she”.

Review the following vocabulary then do the exercises.

☞ Remember that if you are having problems recognizing any of the Syllabary you should do the final Syllabary exercise as a refresher.

ᏘᎪᎵᏯ (Read them)

Review the following vocabulary then do the exercises.

☞ Reminder: Animacy refers to whether a thing is alive or not. Most alive things are considered animate. Most non-living things are considered inanimate.