Lesson 27

Awenenan waabmaad animosh? - Who[m] does the dog see?
Awenenan waabamaad? - Who[m] does s/he see?
Maagizha animoshan owaabamaan - Maybe he sees a dog.
Awenenan noondawaad? - Who[m] does s/he hear?
Nimbaabaa onoondawaan ma'iinganan - My father hears a wolf.
Nimbaabaa onoondawaan - My father hears him.
Onoondawaan ma'iinganan - S/he hears a wolf.
Onoondawaan - S/he hears him.
Nimbaabaa onoondawaa' ma'iingana' - My father hears wolves.
Onoondawaa' - S/he hears them.
Awedi na inini ogikenimaan gibaabaayan? - Does that man know your father?
Awedi na inini ogikenimaan? - Does that man know him?
Ogikenimaan na gibaabaayan? - Does he know your father?
Miinange, ogikenimaan - Yes, he knows him.
Ogikenimaa' na gigozisa'? - Does he know your sons?
Miinange, ogikenimaa' - Yes, he knows them.
Ogikenimaan na iniwe ininiwan? - Does he know that man?
Ogikenimaan na awe inini? - Does that man know him?
Gaawiin, nimaamaa ogikenimaasiin gimaamaayan - My mother doesn't know your mother.
Gaawiin, ogikenimaasi' onowe ikwewa' - She doesn't know these women.
Gaawiin, ogikenimaasi' onowe anishinaabe' - She doesn't know these people.
Awenen gaa-mikawaad nizhooniyaman? - Who found my money?
Niin, ningii-mikawaa - I found him.
Awenenan gibaabaa gaa-mawadisaad bijiinaago? - Who[m] did your father visit yesterday.
Ogii-ando-mawadisaa' osayeya' - He went to visit his older brothers.
Awenenan ogowe animoshag genawaabamaawad? - Who[m] are those dogs looking at?
Awenenan noondawaawad? - Who[m] do they hear?
Awiyan owaabamaawaan - They see someone.
Abinojiiya' onoondawaawa' - They hear children.
Igiwe na ininiwag ogii-mikawaawa' abinojiiya'? - Did those men find the children?
Igiwe ininiwag ogii-mikawaawaan - Those men found him.
Ogii-mikawaawaan - They found him.
Ogii-mikawaawa' - They found them.
Gaawiin, ogii-mikawaasiiwan - They didn't find him.
 
 

New Words:

mawadis- - visit someone (vta)
zhooniya - money (animate!)
nizhooniyaman - my money
 
 

Note.

Once again we meet with 'another s/he' (obviative). As you know only one s/he (main) is allowed to be placed in Ojibwe statements. When there are others:

Nimbaabaa onoondawaan ma'iinganan - My father hears a wolf. - a wolf is 'another he'

Obviative usually helps to define a subject from an object. I could say - it is its main goal.
If a verb means, e.g.: 'he-sees-him', and there are two animate nouns or 'he', you can't say who of them is a subject, performing the action, and who an object (who is seen, heard, found, etc.). Because Ojibwe subjects and objects can easily change their places in a statement. Ojibwe solved the problem calling an object 'another he' and adding obviative suffix to it, so it never could be mixed with the main 'he', a subject.

Ogikenimaan na iniwe ininiwan? - Does he know that man (obviative)?
Obviative indicates that 'that man' is an object, he is known by someone. There is only a personal perfix, indicating that subject is also he or she.

Ogikenimaan na awe inini? - Does that man know him?
There is no obviative in 'that man', so he is a subject, it means that he knows someone else. And this someone else, who must be in obviative, is indicated by a suffix of a verb only.

Note that in both cases 'that man' stands after a verb! It is not a rule, but a choise of a speaker.

As with his/her relatives, with all nouns in obviative plural inanimate demonstrative pronouns are used.

These are vta affixes for objects in obviative:

A form:
	another him/her	another them
s/he	o-(verb)-an	o-(verb)-a'
they	o-(verb)-awaan	o-(verb)-awa'
A form negative:
	another him/her	another them
s/he	o-(verb)-asiin	o-(verb)-asi'
they	o-(verb)-asiiwaan	o-(verb)-asiiwa'

---

B form:
	another him/her	another them
s/he	(verb)-ad	(verb)- a'
they	(verb)-awaad	(verb)-awa'
B form negative:
	another him/her	another them
s/he	(verb)-asiig	(verb)-sinog
they	(verb)-asigwaa	(verb)-asigwa'

Obviative s/he is usually an object in Ojibwe.
The only exclusion - his/her relatives, which are always obviative, even if they are subjects.

 

lesson 26 | lessons | lesson 28