Interrogative Pronouns

Use an interrogative pronoun to ask a question about:

• People or things
• Places
• Selections

Interrogative pronouns on people or things

Observation

ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᓀᑕᐧᐁᔨᐦᑕᒪᓐ᙮		chekwaan netaweyihtaman.	What do you want?
ᐊᐧᐁᓐ ᓀᑕᐧᐁᔨᒪᑦ᙮		awen netaweyimat.	Whom do you want?

When the words ᐊᐧᐁᓐ awen and ᒉᒡᐧᑳᓐ chekwaan are used for asking questions, they are called “interrogative pronouns”. [see other uses here, for instance as indefinite pronouns or quantifiers] ᐊᐧᐁᓐ awen is used for animate beings or things, and ᒉᐧᑳᓐ chekwaan for inanimate ones. They can be used alone:

ᐊᐧᐁᓐ᙮		awen	Who?
ᒉᐧᑳᓐ᙮		chekwaan	What?

Or they can be found in a full sentence:

ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᐧᐃᔮᐸᐦᑕᒪᓐ᙮		chekwaan wiyaapahtaman?	What do you see?
ᐊᐧᐁᓐ ᐱᔮᐸᔨᑦ᙮		awen piyaapayit?	Who is arriving?

They always take inflectional endings, for example plural inflection:

ᒉᐧᑳᔫᐦ᙮		chekwaayuuh?	What things?
ᒉᐧᑳᔫᐦ ᐧᐃᔮᐸᐦᑕᒪᓐ᙮		chekwaayuuh wiyaapahtaman?	What (things) do you see?

Interrogative pronouns

	Proximate				Obviative
	singular		plural		singular		plural
Animate		ᐊᐧᐁᓐ		ᐊᐧᐁᓀᒌ		ᐊᐧᐁᔫᐦ		ᐊᐧᐁᔫᐦ
‘Who?’		awen		awenichii		aweyuuh		aweyuuh
Inanimate		ᒉᐧᑳᓐ		ᒉᐧᑳᔫᐦ		ᒉᐧᑳᔫ		ᒉᐧᑳᔫᐦ
‘What?’		chekwaan		chekwaayuuh		chekwaayuu		chekwaayuuh

Examples:

ᐊᐧᐁᓐ ᐧᐃᔮᐸᒪᑦ᙮		awen wiyaapamat.	Who do you see?
ᐊᐧᐁᓂᒌ ᐧᐃᔮᐸᒪᐧᑖᐤ᙮		awenichii wiyaapamatwaau.	Who (plural) do you see?
ᒉᐧᑳᔫ ᐧᐃᔮᐸᐦᑕᐦᒃ᙮		chekwaayuu wiyaapahtahk.	What does he see?
ᒉᐧᑳᔫᐦ ᐧᐃᔮᐸᐦᑕᐦᒃ᙮		chekwaayuuh wiyaapahtahk.	What (things) does he see?
ᐊᐧᐁᔫᐦ ᐧᐃᔮᐸᒫᑦ᙮		aweyuuh wiyaapamaat.	Who does he see?

Observation

ᐊᐧᐁᓐ ᐆ᙮		awen uu.	Who is this? (When you see the person)
ᐊᐧᐁᓐ ᐊᓐ᙮		awen an.	Who is that? (When you do not see the person)
ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᐆ᙮		chekwaan uu.	What is this? (When you see the thing)
ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᐊᓐ᙮		chekwaan an.	What is that? (When you do not see the thing)

The interrogative pronouns ᐊᐧᐁᓐ awen and ᒉᐧᑳᓐ chekwaan can also be used with the demonstrative pronouns ᐆ uu and ᐊᓐ an. They both take inflection:

ᒉᐧᑳᔫ ᐊᓂᔫ᙮		chekwaayuu aniyuu.	What (obviative) is it (that he is holding)?
ᐊᐧᐁᔫᐦ ᐊᓂᔫᐦ᙮		aweyuuh aniyuuh.	Who (obviative) is it (that he wants to meet)?

ᐊᐧᐁᓐ awen and ᒉᐧᑳᓐ chekwaan can take the dubitative inflection (see Dubitative pronouns). ᒉᒄ chekw is a shorter, uninflected form of ᒉᐧᑳᓐ chekwan, ‘what kind?’. It cannot be used alone. (see Interrogative particles)

Observation

ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᒫᒃ᙮

chekwaan maak.

Why not?’, ‘How come?’, ‘What for?

ᒉᐧᑳᓐ chekwaan is also found in questions about reasons or causes. It usually appears with the particle ᐧᐁᐦᒋ wehchi. ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᐧᐁᐦᒋ chekwaan wehchi means ‘Why?’ [see the particle wehchi]:

ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᒫᒃ ᐧᐁᐦᒋ᙮		chekwaan maak wehchi.	But why?
ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᐧᐁᐦᒋ ᒌ ᐃᐦᑑᑕᒪᓐ ᐊᓐ᙮		chekwaan wehchi chii ihtuutaman an.	Why did you do that?

Like other pronouns, it takes inflection:

ᐁ ᐄᔑ ᒉᐧᑳᓐ ᐧᐁᐦᒋ ᐃᐦᑑᑕᒪᓐ ᐊᓐ᙮		e ishi chekwaan wehchi ihtuutaman an?	I wonder why you did that.
ᓂᒋᔅᒉᔨᒫᐤ ᒉᐧᑳᔫ ᐧᐁᐦᒋ ᐃᐦᑑᑕᐦᒃ ᐊᓂᔫ᙮		nichischeyimaau chekwaayuu wehchi ihtuutahk aniyuu.	I know why he did that.

Pronouns

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