A basic review before moving on. The more I have tried to organize the different aspects that make a Cherokee verb, the more I realize a lot of other structures need to be included to get the full understanding. Outside of Set A and Set B pronominal prefixes, there is also the tenses that can alter the verb. Before I begin lessons on tenses, I want to make sure the verb structure is understood. So, a basic review:
Cherokee is classified as a polysynthetic language, meaning that each word is made of smaller parts called morphemes. This means that one single Cherokee word can tell you the subject, verb, and the time the action took place. All Cherokee verbs must have a pronoun prefix, a sound or group of sounds that attach to the front of a root word. This prefix establishes who is doing the action. A root word is a verb or noun that has no pronoun prefix attached to it.
Cherokee has two sets of pronoun prefixes, Set A and Set B. Depending on the word, some will take a Set A prefix and some take Set B. It is important to note that some verb tenses always take a Set B prefix, even if its other tenses use Set A.
Example: “tsi” or “ji-“ is the pronoun Set A prefix for first person, or I. –goliye’a is the root word for the present tense verb “reading it” or “looking at it.” When you combine them, you get tsigoliye’a or jigoliye’a – I am reading/looking at it.
All subjects will fall into 1 of 3 person categories: First person is when the speaker is referring to himself or herself; second person is who the speaker is talking to, almost always using the pronoun “you;” and third person is used when discussing someone or something that is not present or part of the conversation most usually the pronouns, he, she, and it. *Note Cherokee does not have a separate pronoun for he, she, or it. *
It is important that you give context when using third person. In Cherokee, the prefix “a-“ or “ga-“ can represent he, she, or it. To avoid confusion, adding a noun to clear whom is doing the action can really help when using third person.
Example: agoliye’a – “He, she, or it is looking at it.” Adding the words “na asgaya,” “a/the man,”will give the pronoun prefix a gender. This small addition will let the listener know more details on who was looking at it. na asgaya agoliye’a – “He is looking at it.” The literal translation of that would be “The man, he is looking/reading at it.”
Now let’s look at the different sets of pronoun prefixes. For this we will conjugate the root word for “reading/looking at it” (-goliye’a) to each pronoun prefix.
SET A PREFIXES (Before Consonant):
PERSON PREFIX CONJUGATION OF -goliye’a
I tsi- / ji- tsigoliye’a / jigoliye’a
You hi- higoliye’a
He / She, or It a- / ga- agoliye’a
They ani- anigoliye’a
You and I ini- inigoliye’a
He / She and I osdi- osdigoliye’a
You Two sdi- sdigoliye’a
All of Us idi- idigoliye’a
They and I otsi – / oji- otsijoliye’a / ojigoliye’a
You All itsi – / iji- itsijoliye’a / ijigoliye’a
Third person Set A pronominal prefix can also be shown as “ga-.” The use of a- or ga- all depends on the word.
Example: -nosgi’a is the root word of the verb “is stealing it.” This verb uses ga- as its prefix. Combine them to get ganosgi’a – he / she or it is stealing it.
Set A prefixes also change slightly if the root word begins with a vowel. We will conjugate the root word “is diving” (-adedvsga / -adetvsga) for each prefix.
SET A PREFIXES (Before Vowel):
I g- gadedvsga
You h- hadetvsga
He / She, or It a – / g – adetvsga
They an- anadetvsga
You and I in- inadetvsga
He / She and I osd- osdadetvsga
You Two sd- sdadetvsga
All of Us id- idadetvsga
They and I ots – / oj- otsadetvsga / ojadetvsga
You All ist- / ij- itsadetvsga / ijadetvsga
Like with the Set A prefixes that come before consonants, Set A prefixes before vowels can use “a-” and “g-” to represent third person.
This can be a problem sometimes. Both first and third person uses “g-” as a prefix before vowels. We will use the conjugation of “understand” (-o(h)liga) in first and third person.
I g- goliga
He / She or it g- gohl(i)ga
You can see the difference in the conjugation. The root verb -o(h)liga has aspiration between the syllables “o” and “li.”
A quality first person prefixes possesses is the ability to remove the first aspiration in a root. The first person conjugation hence is goliga.
However, third person does not remove aspiration. In the root verb -o(h)liga, aspiration triggers vowel deletion. The next vowel of the root verb after the aspiration gets deleted. The third person conjugation becomes gohlga, go(h)l(i)ga, golga; any of these spelling alterations.
One last prefix to touch on in Set A appears in the root word “-edoha” which means “is walking around/here.” It follows the same rules as before when a prefix is needed with a root that begins with a vowel, but in the case of third person, neither “a-” nor “g-” are used. Instead, no prefix is used. edoha will be the third person, he / she or it is walking around/here. This change is triggered because Set A root word begins with “-e.”
Now for Set B pronoun prefixes.
We will conjugate “hungry” (-yosiha) for the prefixes that come before a consonant.
SET B PREFIXES (Before Consonant):
I agi- agiyosiha
You tsa – / ja- tsayosiha / jayosiha
He / She, or It u- uyosiha
They uni- *duniyosiha
You and I gini- *Deginiyosiha
He / She and I ogini- *Doginiyosiha
You Two sdi- *Desdiyosiha
All of Us igi- *Degiyosiha
They and I ogi- *Dogiyosiha
You All itsi- / iji- *Dejiyosiha
We will conjugate “want” (-aduliha)
SET B PREFIXES (Before Vowel
I aqu- / agw- aquaduliha / agwaduliha
You ts- / j- tsaduliha / jaduliha
He / She, or It i- or uw- uduliha
They un- unaduliha
You and I gin- ginaduliha
He / She and I ogin- oginaduliha
You Two sd- sdaduliha
All of Us ig- igaduliha
They and I og- ogaduliha
You All ist- / ij- itsaduliha / ijaduliha
One final sound rule to note: the difference between the third person Set B prefixes. “u-” will replace the vowel at the beginning of the root if that vowel is an “a.” If the root verb begins with “e” or “o” the prefix “uw-” will be used. If the root begins with “v” then the prefix will be “uwa-” instead. If the root begins with “u,” no change will occur to the word (technically the prefix “u-” will replace the “u” in the root verb but nothing will change visually).
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