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ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ Inuktitut
Family	Sub-family	Language of	Script
Eskimo-Aleut	Inuit	Canada Official language in: Nunavut Northwest Territories	Inuktitut syllabary

Inuktitut verbs, like most other things, are formed starting with a root word and one or more suffixes are attached to it.

Contents 1 Personal Endings 1.1 Statements 1.2 Questions 1.3 Reasons 1.4 Sample Table of Endings 2 Expressing Negation 3 Imperatives 3.1 Intransitive Imperative 3.2 Transitive Imperative 4 Past Tense 4.1 Immediate past 4.2 Earlier the same day 4.3 Near past 4.4 Indefinite past 5 Expressing Desire 6 Expressing Possession

Personal Endings

The personal endings are attached onto the end of a word. There are different endings depending on whether the action is a statement or a question or whatever the particular case is.

Statements

If the part before the ending is a vowel, then you would use a j ending, otherwise if the part before it ends in a consonant, the j sound is changed to a t sound.

Questions

If the part before the ending is a vowel, then you would use a v ending, if it is a q, then you would use a q ending, otherwise the final consonant is replaced by a p and a p ending is added.

Reasons

There is also a special set of endings for words that express a particular reason. There are different endings depending on whether they end in a vowel, a t, a q, a k, or any other consonant.

Sample Table of Endings

I will give some examples of the forms using both words ending in a vowel and those ending in a consonant.

Statement Endings
	1s	2s	3s	1d	2d	3d	1p	2p	3p
ᓂᕆ niri to eat	ᓂᕆᔪᖓ nirijunga	ᓂᕆᔪᑎᑦ nirijutit	ᓂᕆᔪᖅ nirijuq	ᓂᕆᔪᒍᒃ nirijuguk	ᓂᕆᔪᓯᒃ nirijusik	ᓂᕆᔪ˙ᒃ nirijuuk	ᓂᕆᔪᒍᑦ nirijugut	ᓂᕆᔪᓯ nirijusi	ᓂᕆᔪᑦ nirijut
ᐃᓯᖅ isiq to enter	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᖓ isiqtunga	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᑎᑦ isiqtutit	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᖅ isiqtuq	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᒍᒃ isiqtuguk	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᓯᒃ isiqtusik	ᐃᓯᖅᑐ˙ᒃ isiqtuuk	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᒍᑦ isiqtugut	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᓯ isiqtusi	ᐃᓯᖅᑐᒃ isiqtut
Question Endings
ᓂᕆ niri to eat	ᓂᕆᕗᖓ nirivunga	ᓂᕆᕕᑦ nirivit	ᓂᕆᕙ niriva	ᓂᕆᕕᓄᒃ nirivinuk	ᓂᕆᕕᓯᒃ nirivisik	ᓂᕆᕙ˙ᒃ nirivaak	ᓂᕆᕕᑕ nirivita	ᓂᕆᕕᓯ nirivisi	ᓂᕆᕙᑦ nirivat
ᐃᓯᖅ isiq to enter	ᐃᓯᖅᖁᖓ isiqqunga	ᐃᓯᖅᕿᑦ isiqqit	ᐃᓯᖅᖃ isiqqa	ᐃᓯᖅᕿᓄᒃ isiqqinuk	ᐃᓯᖅᕿᓯᒃ isiqqisik	ᐃᓯᖅᖃ˙ᒃ isiqqaak	ᐃᓯᖅᕿᑕ isiqqita	ᐃᓯᖅᕿᓯ isiqqisi	ᐃᓯᖅᖃᒃ isiqqat
ᓯᓂᒃ sinik to sleep	ᓯᓂᑉᐳᖓ sinippunga	ᓯᓂᑉᐱᑦ sinippit	ᓯᓂᑉᐸ sinippa	ᓯᓂᑉᐱᓄᒃ sinippinuk	ᓯᓂᑉᐱᓯᒃ sinippisik	ᓯᓂᑉᐸ˙ᒃ sinippaak	ᓯᓂᑉᐱᑕ sinippita	ᓯᓂᑉᐱᓯ sinippisi	ᓯᓂᑉᐸᒃ sinippat
Reason Endings
ᓂᕆ niri to eat	ᓂᕆᒐᒪ nirigama	ᓂᕆᒐᕕᑦ nirigavit	ᓂᕆᒻᒪᑦ nirimmat	ᓂᕆᒐᓄᒃ niriganuk	ᓂᕆᒐᑦᑎᒃ nirigattik	ᓂᕆᒻᒪᑎᒃ nirimmatik	ᓂᕆᒐᑦᑕ nirigatta	ᓂᕆᒐᑦᓯ nirigatsi	ᓂᕆᒻᒪᑕ nirimmata
ᐃᓯᖅ isiq to enter	ᐃᓯᕋᒪ isirama	ᐃᓯᕋᕕᑦ isiravit	ᐃᓯᕐᒪᑦ isirmat	ᐃᓯᕋᓄᒃ isiranuk	ᐃᓯᕋᑦᑎᒃ isirattik	ᐃᓯᕐᒪᑎᒃ isirmatik	ᐃᓯᕋᑦᑕ isiratta	ᐃᓯᕋᑦᓯ isiratsi	ᐃᓯᕐᒪᑕ isirmata
ᓯᓂᒃ sinik to sleep	ᓯᓂᒃᑲᒪ sinikkama	ᓯᓂᒃᑲᕕᑦ sinikkavit	ᓯᓂᒻᒪᑦ sinimmat	ᓯᓂᒃᑲᓄᒃ sinikkanuk	ᓯᓂᒃᑲᑦᑎᒃ sinikkattik	ᓯᓂᒻᒪᑎᒃ sinimmatik	ᓯᓂᒃᑲᑦᑕ sinikkatta	ᓯᓂᒃᑲᑦᓯ sinikkatsi	ᓯᓂᒻᒪᑕ sinimmata
ᑎᑭᑦ tikit to arrive	ᑎᑭᓐᓇᒪ tikinnama	ᑎᑭᓐᓇᕕᑦ tikinnavit	ᑎᑭᒻᒪᑦ tikimmat	ᑎᑭᓐᓇᓄᒃ tikinnanuk	ᑎᑭᓐᓇᑦᑎᒃ tikinnattik	ᑎᑭᒻᒪᑎᒃ tikimmatik	ᑎᑭᓐᓇᑦᑕ tikinnatta	ᑎᑭᓐᓇᑦᓯ tikinnatsi	ᑎᑭᒻᒪᑕ tikimmata

Expressing Negation

To say that something is not the case, you simply add nngit before the personal ending. If the word it is attached to ends in a consonant, drop the consonant.

Examples:

ᑕᖃᔪᖓ Taqajunga. I am tired.
ᑕᖃᙱᑦᑐᖓ Taqanngittunga. I am not tired.
ᓇ˙ᒻᒪᑦᑐᖅ Naammattuq. It is okay.
ᓇ˙ᒻᒪᙱᑦᑐᖅ Naammanngittuq. It is not okay.

Imperatives

Imperatives only use the 2nd person form, but there are forms for each of the three persons. There is a different ending when there is an object involved than when you are saying an intransitive verb.

Intransitive Imperative

When you're discussing a verb that doesn't have an object, you use the intransitive endings. The endings -git, -gitsik, and -gitsi are used for singular, dual, and plural respectively. If the verb ends in q you remove the q and replace it with r.

Examples:

ᓂᕆ - niri - to eat
ᓂᕆᒋᑦ! nirigit! Eat!
ᐃᓯᖅ - isiq - to enter
ᐃᓯᕆᑦᓯ! Isiritsi! All of you, come in!

Transitive Imperative

When there are objects involved, there are different endings used depending on the number of objects involved. When speaking to one person, the endings are guk, kkik, and kkit for one, two, and many objects respectively.
Examples:

ᑐᓂ - tuni - to bring
ᑐᓂᒍᒃ! tuniguk! Bring it!

Past Tense

The past tense has different forms depending on how far in the past is intended.

Immediate past

To say that something happened within the last hour or so the ending rataaq is used before the personal ending.
Examples:

ᐃᓯᕋᑕ˙ᖅᑐᖅ Isirataaqtuq. He just came in.

Earlier the same day

To say that something happened earlier in that same day you would use the ending qqau.
Examples:

ᑎᑭᖅᖃᐅᔪᖓ Tikiqqaujunga. I arrived earlier today.

Near past

To say that something happened yesterday or in the not too distant past you would use the lauq ending.
Examples:

ᐅᖃ˙ᓚᓚᐅᖅᑐᖅ Uqaalalauqtuq. She called yesterday.

Indefinite past

To say that something happened earlier than yesterday or some uncertain amount of time in the past, you would use the lauqsima ending.
Examples:

ᐅᖃ˙ᓚᓚᐅᖅᓯᒪᕗ˙ᑦ? Uqaalalauqsimaviit? Have you ever called?

Expressing Desire

To say that you want something, there is an affix juma that is added directly to the root of the verb. If it's followed by q the q drops and it becomes ruma, if it's followed by k the k drops and it becomes guma.

Examples:

ᐃᓚᐅᕗ? Ilauva? Is he coming along?
ᐃᓚᐅᔪᒪᕗ? Ilaujumava? Does he want to come along?
ᐃᓯᖅᕿᑦ? Isiqqit? Are you coming in?
ᐃᓯᕈᒪᕕᑦ? Isirumavit? Do you want to come in?
ᓯᓂᑉᐱᑦ? Sinippit? Are you sleeping?
ᓯᓂᒍᒪᕕᑦ? Sinigumavit? Do you want to sleep?

Expressing Possession

To say that you have something, the general form is qaq. In the positive, instead of using qaqtuq for the 3rd person form, lik is used instead.

Examples:

ᐅᒥᒃ umik beard
ᐅᒥᖃᖅᖃ? Umiqaqqa? Does he have a beard?
ᐅᒥᖃᙱᑦᑐᖅ Umiqanngittuq. He does not have a beard.
ᐅᒥᓕᒃ Umilik He does have a beard.

Inuktitut pages
Introduction · Plurality · Inuktitut Syllabary · Suffixes · Verbs