Cree verb classes

Observation

ᒥᓯᓂᐦᐧᐋᐤ		misinihwaau	She writes him (his name) down
ᒥᓯᓂᐦᐊᒻ		misiniham	She is writing it
ᒥᓯᓈᓲ		misinaasuu	She (her name) is written down
ᒥᓯᓈᑖᐤ		misinaataau	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 stems can be established.

	Animate			Inanimate
One Role (Intransitive)	Animate Intransitive (VAI)			Inanimate Intransitive (VII)
	ᒥᓯᓈᓲ᙮		misinaasuu	ᒥᓯᓈᑖᐤ᙮		misinaataau
Two Roles (Transitive)	Transitive Animate (VTA)			Transitive Inanimate (VTI)
	ᒥᓯᓂᐦᐧᐋᐤ᙮		misinihwaau	ᒥᓯᓂᐦᐊᒻ᙮		misiniham

Most verbs will have specific forms for each of these classes: VII, VTI, VTA or VAI, identified by different endings and different stems [see verb stems, verb inflection].

The following Cree definitions are suggested for these four classes:

Verb	ᐃᐦᑐᐧᐃᓐ		ihtuwin
VII (Inanimate Intransitive)	ᐋ ᐃᔅᐱᔨᒡ/ᐋ ᐃᔑᓈᑯᐦᒡ ᒑᐧᑳᓐ		aa ispiyich/aa ishinaakuhch chaakwaan
VAI (Animate Intransitive)	ᐋ ᐃᐦᑎᒃ ᐊᐧᐋᓐ		aa ihtik awaan
VTI (Transitive Inanimate)	ᐋ ᐃᐦᑑᑎᐦᒃ ᒑᐧᑳᔨᐤ		aa ihtuutihk chaakwaayiu
VTA (Transitive Animate)	ᐋ ᐃᐦᑑᑎᐧᐋᑦ ᐊᐧᐋᔨᐤᐦ		aa ihtuutiwaat awaayiuh