d – plural object prepronominal prefix
de – before consonants, d – before vowels except for ‘i’

d – plural object prepronominal prefix
de – before consonants, d – before vowels except for ‘i’

ᏕᏥᎪᏩᏘᎭ / detsigowatiha / deejígoòw(a)(h)tíha – ᏕᏥᎪᏩᏘᎭ pronounced d – long a (held) – j – short i (high tone) – g – long o (held and lowfall tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i (high tone) – h – short a. detsigowatiha means I see them.

*if you wanted to say I see it (singular object) it would be tsigow(a)(h)tiha.*

When de – is followed by an ‘i,’ the ‘i’ deletes

ᏕᏂᎪᏩᏘᎭ / denigowatiha / déeniigoow(a)(h)tíha – denigowatiha is pronounced d – long a (held, high tone) – n – short i (held) – g – long o (held) – w – aspiration – t – short i (high tone) – h – short a. ᏕᏂᎪᏩᏘᎭ means you and I see them. **if you wanted to say you and I see it (singular object) it would be inigowatiha.

de – becomes di – after ‘y -,’ ‘w -,’ or ‘n -‘ except when followed by a vowel with a pitch of high tone.

Ꮭ ᏱᏗᏥᎪᏩᏘᎭ / tla yiditsigowatiha / hla yidijigóòw(a)(h)tíha – Ꮭ is pronounced aspirated l – short a. tla is used to indicate a negative; means no/not. ᏱᏗᏥᎪᏩᏘᎭ is pronounced y – short i – d – short i – j – short i – g – long o (held and falling tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i (high tone) – h – short a. yiditsigowatiha means I see them. Ꮭ ᏱᏗᏥᎪᏩᏘᎭ means I don’t see them.

*if you wanted to say I don’t see it (singular object) it would be tla yitsigowatiha.*

ᏫᏗᏍᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ / widisdigowatiha / widisdiígóòw(a)(h)tiha – widisdigowatiha is pronounced w – short i – d – short i – s – d – short i (held, falling tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i (high tone) – h – short a. ᏫᏗᏍᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ means you (dual) see them (facing away).

*if you wanted to say you (dual) see it (facing away, singular object) it would be wisdigowatiha.*

**For me, this was one of the harder prepronominal prefixes to learn and understands. The reason is simple, it takes a little bit to redo all the years of training to break apart the word. Look for the root word and then separate the affixes. In Cherokee those affixes can mean different things which change the meaning of and sentence itself. There are a lot of different rules that apply to this prepronominal prefix. I had to break each rule down and practice them separately in order to understand better. That is why I am giving you another word to compare for each of the above examples**

de – prepronominal prefix in infinitive and imperative forms
de – becomes di – in infinitive and imperative forms when followed by consonant

ᏗᏣᏚᎦ / ditsaduga / dijadúùga – ᏗᏣᏚᎦ is pronounced d – short i – j – short a – d – oo (held and falling tone) – g – short a. ditsaduga means throw them. If you wanted to say throw it you would say tsaduga, but the ‘u’ is du would not be held, and a low tone instead.

ᏗᏍᏗᎪᏛᏗ ᎤᏚᎵᎭ/ disdigodvdi uduliha / disdiigoow(a)(h)tvv(h)di uùduulíha – ᏗᏍᏗᎪᏛᏗ is pronounced d – short i – s – d – short i (held) – g – long o (held) – w – aspiration – t – nasalized uh (held and high tone) – aspiration – d – long e. disdigodvdi means you (dual) see them. ᎤᏚᎵᎭ is pronounced oo (held and lowfall tone) – d – oo (held) – l – short i (high tone) – h – short a. uduliha means he wants. disdigodvdi uduliha means he wants you (dual) to see them.

*If you wanted to say he wants you to see it you would say sdigowadvdi uduliha.*

de – becomes ts – is infinitive and imperative forms when followed by a vowel other than an ‘a’

ᏤᎾᏗᏅᏏ / tsenadinvsi / jeenádiiʔnvsi – tsenadinvsi is pronounced j – long a (held) – n – short a (high tone) – d – short i (held) – glottal stop – n – nasalized uh – s – long e. ᏤᎾᏗᏅᏏ means let’s you and I throw them for him. If you wanted to say let’s throw it from him you would drop the ‘ts’: enadinvsi.

ᏗᎩᎪᏩᏛᏗ ᎤᏚᎵᎭ / digigowadvdi uduliha / diigigoow(a)(h)tvv(h)di uùduulíha – digigowadvdi is pronounced d – short i (held) – g – short i – g – long o (held) – w – aspiration – t – nasalized uh (held, high tone) – aspiration – d – long e. ᏗᎩᎪᏩᏛᏗ means I see them. uduliha is pronounced oo (held, lowfall tone) – d – oo (held) – l – short i (high tone) – h – short a. ᎤᏚᎵᎭ means he wants. ᏗᎩᎪᏩᏛᏗ ᎤᏚᎵᎭ means he wants me to see them.

*If you wanted to say he wants me to see it you would say agigowadvdi uduliha. Notice the presence of the ‘a’ to show singular first person me / I not displayed when the de – prepronominal prefix is added to pluralize the object (it to them).*

de – prepronominal prefix = plural direct objects of transitive verbs
de – becomes do – before da – (future/motion toward speaker) and before di – (position facing speaker)

ᏓᏥᎪᎢ / datsigoi / dajigóʔi – ᏓᏥᎪᎢ pronounced d – short a – j – short i – g – long o (high tone) – glottal stop – long e. datsigoi means I will see it.

ᏙᏓᏥᎪᎢ / dodatsigoi / doodajígoʔi – dodatsigoi is pronounced d – long o (held) – d – short a – j – short i (high tone) – g – long o – glottal stop – long e. ᏙᏓᏥᎪᎢ means I will see them.

ᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ / digowatiha / diigów(a)(h)tiha – ᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ pronounced d – short i (held) – g – long o (high tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i – h – short a. digowatiha means he sees it (facing toward the speaker).

ᏙᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ / dodigowatiha / doodiígow(a)(h)tiha – dodigowatiha is pronounced d – long o (held) – d – short i (held, rising tone) – g – long o – w – aspiration – t – short i – h – short a. ᏙᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ means he sees them (facing toward the speaker).

de – must be used with certain intransitive verbs when the subject of the verb is plural. “To sit,” “to stand,” “to be hungry,” and “to be thirsty” require the de – prepronominal prefix.

ᎤᏲᏏᎭ / uyosiha / uyóosiha – ᎤᏲᏏᎭ is pronounced oo – y – long o (held and high tone) – s – short i – h – short a. uyosiha means he’s hungry.

ᏚᏂᏲᏏᎭ / duniyosiha / duniiyóosiha – duniyosiha is pronounced d – oo – n – short i (held) – y – long o (held, high tone) – s – short i – h – short a. ᏚᏂᏲᏏᎭ means they are hungry.

*Note about the above duniyosiha – the ni – prepronominal prefix is used to indicated the subject is plural. One would think then that the de – is not needed since it also means the subject is plural. However, to say the word without the de – prepronominal prefix would be grammatically incorrect. My cousin used to tell me to think of it as absolutely meaning more than two. They would laugh when I was quizzed on my understanding. The way it was explained to me is that uniyosiha refer to two or more people who share just one stomach and duyosiha refer to one person (he) whom has two or more stomachs.*

“to be tired” uses the de – prepronominal prefix in their singular and plural forms because the sensation of tiredness is perceived to occur at the same tire in various parts of the body.

ᏓᎩᏯᏪᎦ / dagiyawega / dagiiyawéega – ᏓᎩᏯᏪᎦ is pronounced d – short a – g – short i (held) – y – short a – w – long a (held and high tone) – g – short a. dagiyawega means I am tired.

ᏚᏂᏯᏪᎦ / duniyawega / duniiyawéega – duniyawega is pronounced d – oo – n – short i (held) – y – short a – w – long a (held, high tone) – g – short a. ᏚᏂᏯᏪᎦ means they are tired.

d – future/completive future prepronominal prefix

da – before consonants da + y – before vowels, with some exceptions

Used mostly with the future suffix – i. It means an event will happen in the near future and is typically translated as ‘going to’ or ‘will.’

ᏓᏰᏏ / dayesi / dayéesi – ᏓᏰᏏ is pronounced d – short a – y – long a (held, high tone) – s – long e. dayesi means he will go.

ᏓᎦᏬᏂᏏ / dagawonisi / dagawóòsi – dagawosi is pronounced d – short a – g – short a – w – long o (held and highfall tone) – s – long e. ᏓᎦᏬᏂᏏ means he will speak.

The hi – prepronominal prefix after a da triggers a vowel deletion and change. The da – becomes ti –

ᏂᎯ ᏘᏩᏛᎯ / nihi tiwadvhi / nihi ti(h)wa(h)dvvhi – ᏂᎯ is pronounced n – short i – h – long e. nihi means you. ᏘᏩᏛᎯ is pronounced t – short i – aspiration – w – short a – aspiration – d – nasalized uh (held) – h – long e. tiwadvhi means will find it. ᏂᎯ ᏘᏩᏛᎯ means you will find it.

da – followed by an – a – becomes dv –

ᏛᏴᏖᏏ / dvyvtesi / dvv(h)yv(h)téesi – dvyvtesi is pronounced d – nasalized uh (held) – aspiration – y – nasalized uh – aspiration – t – long a (held, high tone) – s – long e. ᏛᏴᏖᏏ means he will kick it.

ᏛᏗᏔᎯ / dvditahi / dvvdiitahi – ᏛᏗᏔᎯ is pronounced d – nasalized uh (held) – d – short i (held) – t – short a – h – long e. dvditahi means he will drink it.

da – followed by an – i -, the – i – is deleted and the a of da – becomes lengthened and lowered.

ᏓᏂᏬᏂᏏ / daniwonisi / daniíwóòniisi – daniwonisi is pronounced d – short a – n – short i (held and rising tone) – w – long o (held and highfall tone) – n – short i (held) – s – long e. ᏓᏂᏬᏂᏏ means you and I will speak.

ᏓᏗᏌᎳᏓᏂ / dadisaladani / daàdiisal(a)daani – ᏓᏗᏌᎳᏓᏂ is pronounced d – short a (held, lowfall tone) – d – short i (held) – s – short a – l – d – short a (held) – n – long e. dadisaladani means he will lift it.

da – when followed by the – i – (again) prefix becomes dv –

ᏛᎯᏬᏂᏏ / dvhiwonisi / dvvhíwóonisi – dvhiwonisi is pronounced d – nasalized uh (held and rising tone) – h – short i (high tone) – w – long o (held and high tone) – n – short i – s – long e. ᏛᎯᏬᏂᏏ means you will speak again.

da – combined with any other vowel (e, o, u, v) a – y – is inserted before the vowel.

ᏓᏳᏯᎵ / dayuyali / dayuù(h)yali – ᏓᏳᏯᎵ is pronounced d – short a – y – oo (held, lowfall tone) – aspiration – y – short a – l – long e. dayuyali means he will look for it.

d – future/completive prepronominal prefix

Rules for certain constructions:

As we already know d – prepronominal prefix is added to a verb form to indicated the action of the verb will take place in the future. It occurs with the future tense/completive future suffix – i -. *If the – i – suffix is added, the verb stem must appear in its nonprogressive form*

ᏓᎦᏬᏂᏏ / dagawonisi / dagawóoniisi – ᏓᎦᏬᏂᏏ is pronounced in d – short a – g – short a – w – long o (held, high tone) – n – short i (held) – s – long e. dagawonisi means she is going to talk.

To express a future time frame, both the future/completive prepronominal prefix and suffix must be used. Since the past suffixes (- vi/ – i ) start with a vowel, an s is inserted between the two suffixes.

ᏓᎪᏬᏂᏏᏒᎢ / dagowonisisvi / dagawóòniisíisvvʔi – dagowonisisvi is pronounced d – short a – g – short a – w – long o (held and highfall tone) – n – short i (high) – s – short i (held and high tone) – s – nasalized uh (held and rising tone – glottal stop – long e. ᏓᎪᏬᏂᏏᏒᎢ means he was going to speak.

ᏙᏓᏥᎶᏁᎢᏒ / dodatsiloneisv / doodajiloónéʔisv – ᏙᏓᏥᎶᏁᎢᏒ is pronounced d – long o (held) – d – short a – j – short i – l – long o (held, rising tone) – n – long a (high tone) – glottal stop – short i – s – nasalized uh. dodatsiloneisv means I was going to oil it.

To indicate the subject of the verb is accustomed to speaking whenever the opportunity is presented you would add the future suffix ( – i -) followed by the habitual suffix ( -oi). In addition you would use the future/completive prepronominal prefix.

ᏗᎦᏬᏂᏏᏐᎢ / digawonisisoi / digawóòniisíisóoʔi – digawonisisoi is pronounced d – short i – g – short a – w – long o (held and highfall tone) – n – short i (held) – s – short i (held and high tone) – s – long o (held and high tone) – glottal stop – long e. ᏗᎦᏬᏂᏏᏐᎢ means he’s always about to speak.

*When used with the habitual suffix ( – oi) da – becomes di – when a consonant follows. However if a vowel follows, the da – changes to a ts -*

ᏤᏏᏐᎢ / tsesisoi / jéesiìsóoʔi – ᏤᏏᏐᎢ is pronounced j – long a (held, high tone) – s – short i (held, lowfall tone) – s – long o (held, high tone) – glottal stop – long e. tsesisoi means he’s always about to go.

d – position facing / motion toward speaker prepronominal prefix, Toward Prepronominal Prefix
d – indicates an action that is approaching or facing the speaker.
Appears as di – before consonants and ts – before vowels other than a or i.

ᏗᎦᏬᏂᎭ / digawoniha / digawóòniha – digawoniha is pronounced d – short i – g – short a – w – long o (held and highfall tone) – n – short i – h – short a. ᏗᎦᏬᏂᎭ means he’s speaking (facing the speaker).

ᏧᎪᎮᎢ / tsugohei / juugóohéeʔi – ᏧᎪᎮᎢ pronounced j – oo (held) – g – long o (held, high tone) – h – long a (held, high tone) – glottal stop – long e. tsugohei means he reportedly saw it (facing the speaker).

If there is an a or an i that immediately follows the d – prepronominal prefix the vowel is deleted and the prepronominal prefix becomes di – .

ᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ / digowatiha / diigóow(a)(h)tiha – digowatiha is pronounced d – short i (held) – g – long o (held and high tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i – h – short a. ᏗᎪᏩᏘᎭ means he sees it (facing the speaker).

ᏗᏥᎪᏩᏘᎭ / ditsigowatiha / diìjiígoow(a)(h)tiha – ᏗᏥᎪᏩᏘᎭ is pronounced d – short i (held, lowfall tone) – j – short i (held, rising tone) – g – long o (held) – w – aspiration – t – short i – h – short a. ditsigowatiha means you (plural) see it (facing the speaker).

When the di – prepronominal prefix is used in a verb form ending in the past tense suffix ( – vi); the di – changes to a da – before consonants,

da – + – y – before vowels other than an a.

*Note the past tense suffix is – vi not – ei.*

ᏓᏥᎪᏩᏘᏒᎩ / datsigowatisvgi / dajigóòw(a)(h)tiísgvʔi – datsigowatisvgi is pronounced d – short a – j – short i – g – long o (held and highfall tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i (held and rising tone) – s – g – nasalized uh (high tone) – glottal stop – long e. ᏓᏥᎪᏩᏘᏒᎩ means I was seeing it (facing the speaker).

ᏓᏳᎪᎲᎢ / dayugohvi / dayuúgóhvvʔi – ᏓᏳᎪᎲᎢ is pronounced d – short a – y – oo (held, rising tone) – g – long o (high tone) – h – nasalized uh (held, high tone) – glottal stop – long e. dayugohvi means he saw it (facing the speaker).

When an a follows the da – prepronominal prefix the two a’s are deleted and become a v.
agowatisgvi means he was seeing it. If you wanted to say he was seeing it (facing the speaker), you would add the da – prepronominal prefix. However, a + a =v. So, the word becomes
ᏛᎪᏩᏘᏍᎬᎢ / dvgowatisgvi / dvgóow(a)(h)tiisgvvʔi – dvgowatisgvi is pronounced d – nasalized uh – g – long o (held and high tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i (held) – s – g – nasalized uh (held and rising tone) – glottal stop – long e. ᏛᎪᏩᏘᏍᎬᎢ means he was seeing it (facing the speaker).

If there is an i that follows the da – prepronominal prefix, the i is deleted.

ᏓᏂᎪᏩᏘᏍᎬᎢ / danigowatisgvi / daniígóow(a)(h)tiisgvvʔi – ᏓᏂᎪᏩᏘᏍᎬᎢ is pronounced d – short a – n – short i (held, rising tone) – g – long o (held, high tone) – w – aspiration – t – short i (held) – s – g – nasalized uh (held, rising tone) – glottal stop – long e. danigowatisgvi means you and I were seeing it (facing the speaker).

Any infinitive form with the da – prepronominal prefix must be proceeded by ni – prepronominal prefix.

ᏂᏓᏳᎪᏩᏛᏗ ᎤᏚᎵ/ nidayugowadvdi uduli / nidayúugoow(a)(h)tvv(h)di uduuli – nidayugowadvdi is pronounced n – short i – d – short a – y – oo (held and high tone) – g – long o (held) – w – aspiration – t – nasalized uh (held and high tone) – aspiration – d – long e. ᏂᏓᏳᎪᏩᏛᏗ means he sees it (facing the speaker). uduli is pronounced oo – d – oo (held) – l – long e. ᎤᏚᎵ means wants. nidayugowadvdi uduli means he wants him to see it (facing the speaker).

*Some spell nidayugowadvdi as nidayugowatvdi*