Grammar
The selection of Person Prefix in TA verbs
| ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ᙮ |  |
chiwaapamin. | you see me. |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ᙮ | |
chiwaapimitin. | I see you. |
In both these forms, the person prefix is ᒋ chi. This is because of the person hierarchy that says that chii ‘you’ ranks above nii ‘I’.
Cree person hierarchy:
| 2 | > | 1 | > | 3 | > | 3′ | > | 0 | > | 0′ |
| ᒌ | > | ᓃ | > | ᐧᐄ | > | ᐊᐧᐁᔫᐦ | > | ᒉᐧᑳᓐ | > | ᒉᐧᑳᔫ |
| chii | > | nii | > | wii | > | aweyuuh | > | chekwaan | > | chekwaayuu |
| ᒌᔮᓅ | > | ᓃᔮᓐ | > | ᐧᐄᐧᐋᐤ | ||||||
| chiiyaanuu | > | niiyaan | > | wiiwaau | ||||||
| ᒌᐧᐋᐤ | ||||||||||
| chiiwaau | ||||||||||
VTA verbs have two roles, an actor and a goal. In the independent order, the person prefix with the higher ranked role in the person hierarchy will be selected.
| Cree | English | Actor | Rank | Goal | Prefix | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᓐ | |
chiwaapamin | you see me. | 2 | > | 1 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᑎᓐ | |
chiwaapamitin | I see you. | 1 | < | 2 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ | |
chiwaapamaau | you see her. | 2 | > | 3 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐸᒥᒄ | |
chiwaapamikw | she sees you. | 3 | < | 2 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ | |
niwaapamaau | I see her. | 1 | > | 3 | ᓂ | ni |
| ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒥᒄ | |
niwaapamikw | she sees me. | 3 | < | 1 | ᓂ | ni |
| ᐧᐋᐸᒣᐤ | |
waapameu | she sees him (the other). | 3 | > | 3′ | – | |
| ᐧᐋᐸᒥᑰ | |
waapamikuu | he (the other) sees her. | 3′ | < | 3 | – | |
There are no person prefixes in the conjunct and imperative orders. The same selection of person prefixes applies in noun possession.