If you take the Infinitive form and add a high falling tone on its rightmost long vowel you imply a “need to do” something. Knowing exactly where to add this tone requires experience listening to long timer speakers of the language. ☞ You can indicate that it is a “must do” instead of a “need do” by adding the word ᎠᏎ “a²se”.
Grammar Notes
ᏞᏍᏗ… Ꮵ-
To indicate a negative command:
Use the word “ᏞᏍᏗ (hle²sti)” and add the prefix “Ꮵ- (ji²-)” to the Immediate Tense stem.
See also “Able to… ” and “Able to if”.
For negative conditional ability, take the Immediate Tense stem and add “Ꮭ” and use prefix “ᏴᎦ-”
Use “Ꮭ” and add the prefix “Ᏹ-”.
- Ᏹ- + Ꮥ- becomes ᏱᏗ-
Examples:
- -Ꭿ
[-⁴hị] “On. In. Into.”
This ending allows you to indicate “on or in” for the word you modify.
When added to a word that ends in “-a”, the “-a” changes into an “-o”.
☞ Make sure to always say the part before the final “-hi” with a high rising tone, even if you drop the final “-hi” as part of informal speech.
☞ Depending on context, if you drop the final “-hi” some speakers might understand you as indicating “Location.” instead of “On.” or “In.”.