Cree Verb Classes

Observation

ᒪᓯᓇᐦᐧᐁᐤ᙮		masinahweu.	She writes him (his name) down.
ᒪᓯᓇᐦᐊᒻ᙮		masinaham.	She is writing it.
ᒪᓯᓈᓲ᙮		masinaasuu.	She (her name) is written down.
ᒪᓯᓈᑌᐤ᙮		masinaateu.	It is written.

Where English uses the same verb to write, Cree makes a difference depending on two factors: transitivity and gender.

Based on the number of roles that a verb has and the gender (animate, inanimate) of these roles, four main classes of verbs can be established.

	Animate			Inanimate
One Role (Intransitive)	Animate Intransitive (VAI)			Inanimate Intransitive (VII)
	ᒪᓯᓈᓲ᙮		masinaasuu.	ᒪᓯᓈᑌᐤ᙮		masinaateu.
Two Roles (Transitive)	Transitive Animate (VTA)			Transitive Inanimate (VTI)
	ᒪᓯᓇᐦᐧᐁᐤ᙮		masinahweu.	ᒪᓯᓇᐦᐊᒻ᙮		masinaham.

Most verbs will have specific forms for each of these classes: VII, VTI, VTA or VAI, identified by different endings and different stems (see the pages on Verb Stems and Verb Inflection).

The following Cree definitions are suggested for these four classes:

Verb	ᐃᐦᑐᐧᐃᓐ		ihtuwin
VII (Inanimate Intransitive)	ᐁ ᐃᔅᐸᔨᐦᒡ/ᐁ ᐃᔑᓈᑯᐦᒡ ᒉᐧᑳᓐ᙮		e ispayihch/e ishinaakuhch chekwaan.
VAI (Animate Intransitive)	ᐁ ᐃᐦᑎᑦ ᐊᐧᐁᓐ᙮		e ihtit awen.
VTI (Transitive Inanimate)	ᐁ ᐃᐦᑑᑕᐦᒃ ᒉᐧᑳᔫ᙮		e ihtuutahk chekwaayuu.
VTA (Transitive Animate)	ᐁ ᐃᐦᑑᑕᐧᐋᑦ ᐊᐧᐁᔫᐦ᙮		e ihtuutawaat aweyuuh

All verbs in the Cree dictionary are classified according to those classes, plus an additional one called VAI+O: Verb Animate Intransitive plus Object.