Cree verb stems

The stem of a verb is the main part of the verb, the one that has the basic meaning, even if you change the inflection in the prefixes and the suffixes. If you take a verb like ᑖᐦᑎᐱᐤ taahtipiu ‘s/he sits on something’ , ᑖᐦᑎᐱ taahtipi- is the stem, and -u is the inflection. You can change the person, as in ᓂᑖᐦᑎᐱᓐ nitaahtipin ‘I sit’ , but the stem is still ᑖᐦᑎᐱ taahtipi with the prefix ni- and the suffix -n.

ᑖᐦᑎᐱ
ni- taahtipi -n
Person Prefix STEM Person suffix

The Cree definition we suggest for ‘stem’ is ᐙᒋᐦᒡ ᐊᔨᒧᐎᓐ waachihch ayimuwin .

Cree verbs can be grouped by stem types, according to the verb class they belong to.