Lesson 17 - Where

Aandi eyaayan? - Where do you live?
Gidayaa na iwedi? - Do you live over there?
Omaa nindayaa - I live here.
Aandi eyaad gisaye? - Where is your older brother?
Aandi gisaye? - Where is your older brother?
Iwedi ayaa - He is over there.
Abin omaa - Sit here.
Omaa zhingishinin - Lie here.
Imaa zhingishinig - Lie there you people.
Gawishimon - Lie down.
Aandi eyaad gibaabaa? - Where is your father?
Aandi gibaabaa? - Where is your father?
Jiimaaning abi - he is sitting in the boat.
Aandi eyaawaad abinoojiiyag? - Where are the children?
Aandi abinoojiiyag? - Where are the children?
Odaabaaning ayaawag. - They are in the car.
Aandi eyaad Mary? - Where is Mary?
Aandi Mary? - Where is Mary?
Aandi eyaad? - Where is s/he?
Imaa ayaa - S/he is there.
Omaa ayaa - S/he is here.
Aandi eyaawaad gimaamaa zhigo gibaabaa? - Where are your mom and dad?
Aandi gimaamaa zhigo gibaabaa? - Where are your mom and dad?
Aandi eyaawaad? - Where are they?
Biindig ayaawag. - They are inside.
Agojiing ayaawag - They are outside.
Abin omaa desabiwining - Sit here on the chair. 
 
 

New Words:

aandi - where; where to.
ayaa - he is (in a certain place); he dwells
omaa - here
imaa - there
iwedi - over there
zhingishin - he lies.
gawishimo - he lies down.
zhigo, or zhigwa - now; at this time; then; and. 
 
 

Note.

Ayaa - means both 'to be in a certain place' and 'to live in a certain place'. A context and other words usually indicate in what meaning it is used. Ayaa starts with a-, which changes into e- in wh-questions - eyaad (he is; he lives).

In Ojibwe 'is' is not used in such statements as 'where is he?', 'he is there', etc. Ojibwe statements look like: 'where he?', 'he there', etc. As you could see in previous lessons 'is' and 'are' are not used in Ojibwe at all. Ayaa, which is often translated into English as 'is' -
Aandi eyaad Mary? - Where is Mary?
In fact is an independent verb, which means 'is situated', 'is in a place', and not just 'is'. Ayaa could be dropped when the speaker thinks he doesn't need its particular meaning:
Aandi Mary?
Aandi gibaabaa zhigo gimaamaa?

To say 'in something', 'on something', 'to something', 'at something' in Ojibwe, one else suffix is attached to a word: -ing. This suffix is called a locative suffix, because it indicates location. A noun with a locative suffix answers questions: where?, where to?, where from? Wherever you use a word, which is an answer to these questions, you need to add a locative suffix to it:

jiimaan (boat) - jiimaan-ing (in a boat)
odaabaan (car) - odaabaan-ing (in a car)
desabiwin (chair) - desabiwin-ing (on a chair)
adoopowin (table) - adoopowin-ing (on/in a table)

Locative suffix is not necessarily -ing, it could be also -ong, -ang or -aang (but the last two letters are always -ng):

makak (box) - makak-ong (in/on a box)
mashkimod (bag) - mashkimod-aang (in a bag) 

A word zhingishin (he lies) ends in a consonant -n. To make commands, -in or -ig are added to it.
 

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Grammar Note.

Locative. In this noun form a noun answers the questions: where? where to? where from?, etc.:
jiimaan (boat) - jiimaan-ing (in a boat)
odaabaan (car) - odaabaan-ing (in a car)
desabiwin (chair) - desabiwin-ing (on a chair)
adoopowin (table) - adoopowin-ing (on/in a table)
Locative suffix is not necessary -ing, it could be also -ong, -ang or -aang:
makak (box) - makak-ong (in/on a box)
mashkimod (bag) - mashkimod-aang (in a bag)

 

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