Verbs (Southern dialect)

Verbs in East Cree appear in various forms. Let us look at how these forms are organized in East Cree. Back to the

main southern verb page

The selection of Theme Suffix in VTA verbs

Observation:

ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ᙮ speak chiwaapamin. ‘you see me.’
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ᙮ speak chiwaapamitin. ‘I see you.’

The it in the second example above is called a theme suffix. The difference between these two examples is that the theme suffix -it appears in ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ chiwaapamitin

‘I see you’ and not in ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ chiwaapamin ‘you see me.’

There are three transitive animate theme suffixes, which follow the TA verb stem: -it, -aa ,-e, and -ikw/-iku. it is used only when first persons ( ᓃnii ‘I’, ᓃᔮᓐniiyaan ‘we’) are actors and the second persons ( ᒌ chii ‘you’, ᒌᔮᓅchiiyaanuu ‘we including you’, ᒌᐧᐋᐤ chiiwaau ‘you all’) are goals. aa and ikw/iku are used in all combinations with third persons.

Cree Cree English Actor Rank Goal Prefix Theme Suffix
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ speak chiwaapamin ‘you see me.’ 2 > 1 ᒋ chi -
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ speak chiwaapamitin ‘I see you.’ 1 < 2 ᒋ chi it
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓈᐧᐋᐤ speak chiwaapaminaawaau ‘you all see me.’ 2 > 1 ᒋ chi -
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓈᐧᐋᐤ speak chiwaapamitinaawaau ‘I see you all.’ 1 < 2 ᒋ chi it
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓈᓐ speak chiwaapaminaan ‘you see us.’ 2 > 1 ᒋ chi -
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓈᓐ speak chiwaapamitinaan ‘we see you.’ 1 < 2 ᒋ chi it
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ speak chiwaapamaau ‘you see her.’ 2 > 3 ᒋ chi aa
ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᒄ speak chiwaapamikw ‘she sees you.’ 3 < 2 ᒋ chi ikw
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ speak niwaapamaau ‘I see her.’ 1 > 3 ᓂ ni aa
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒥᒄ speak niwaapamikw ‘she sees me.’ 3 < 1 ᓂ ni ikw
ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ speak waapameu ‘she sees him (the other).’ 3 > 3′ - aa
ᐧᐋᐸᒥᑰ speak waapamikuu ‘he (the other) sees her.’ 3′ < 3 - iku

[for the plural third persons combinations see the complete paradigms]

The theme suffix it appears in independent and conjunct verb forms for 1>2 person combinations. The direct theme suffix aa/e and the inverse theme suffix iku/ikw appear in the independent, and some conjunct verb forms for third persons combinations.

Direct and Inverse in TA verbs

When the actor of a TA verb outranks the goal on the person hierarchy, we can speak of a “direct” relationship. When the goal outranks the actor on the person hierarchy, then we speak of an “inverse” relationship. The theme suffix aa is thus also called the Direct suffix , while the theme suffixes it and iku/ikw are called the Inverse suffixes.

Back to top