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Ainu for Beginners - Part 2

Lesson 6: "My.." (2)

Sentences

クコ マキリ エエン。
Ku=kor makiri een.
My knife is sharp.

クコ ウナペ イルカ。
Ku=kor unarpe iruska.
My aunt is angry.

Grammar

Ku= is a first person pronominal prefix attached before the verb –kor, which means "to have, to bear something." The phrase "ku=kor ..." literally translates as "... that which I have", which translates again as "my..." This is another way of saying possession in Ainu for alienable possessions. As it is explained in the last lesson, the direct attachment ku= is used to express inalienable possessions such as the body parts, as in "ku=pake", "my head." "Ku=kor pake" would not be an idiomatic Ainu usage.

Most family members and relatives are considered to be alienable:

   クコ エカシ  ku=kor ekasi  My grandfather
   クコ フチ  ku=kor huci   My grandmother
   クコ アチャ   ku=kor aca   My father
   クコ ハポ   ku=kor hapo   My mother
   クコ アチャポ  ku=kor acapo  My uncle
   クコ ウナ  ku=kor unarpe  My aunt

But "my father" and "my mother" can also be said as "ku=aca" and "ku=hapo" as well.

Pronunciation

The word エエン een, "sharp" is not pronounced as a "long" E. Two e are pronounced separately, with the accent on the second syllable.

エン een

Exercises

Exercises: Translate to Ainu

1) My horse is big.
2) My father came.

Solutions

1) クコ ウンマ ポロ Ku=kor umma poro.
2) クコ アチャ エ Ku=kor aca ek.

Vocabulary

 ウンマ  Umma  Horse
 クコ  Ku=kor  My
 ポロ  Poro  Big
 エ  Ek  To come
 アチャ  Aca  Father
 イル  Iruska  Angry
 ウナ  Unarpe  Aunt
 エエン  Een  Sharp
 マキリ  Makiri  Knife

Lesson 7: "I do.." (1)

Sentences

クシノ
Ku=sinot.
I play. (as in having fun, not sports or music.)

ボロンノ クア
Poronno ku=apkas.
I walk a lot.

Grammar

Pronominal affixes must be marked in Ainu in all times, unlike Japanese and other languages where the personal pronoun may be omitted in contexts. The same pronominal prefix discussed in previous two lessons, "ku" is attached before the main verb when the subject is first person singular.

The adverbs like "poronno" and the words that mark the time phrase (today, yesterday, etc) are placed before the verb.

Pronunciation

Pay attention to the small ッ tsu. Although this exists in the standard Katakana set, it is still hard for most Japanese to pronounce as Japanese phonotactics does not allow small tsu to appear at the end of the word. However, it does in Ainu. This would not be difficult for the English speakers.

 サッ  Sat  To dry
 クッ  Kut  Belt
 アペソコッ  Apesokot  Hearth, fireplace

Many place names in Hokkaido that end with ~別 ~betsu come from Ainu ペッ pet, meaning "river."

The personal prefix ku is never pronounced as an independent word. Pronounce it as if it were one word and the accent is always placed in the second syllable.

 クシニ  Ku=sini  I rest
 クミナ  Ku=mina  I laugh
 クモコ  Ku=mokor  I sleep
 ク  Ku=ek  I come

Exercises

Exercises: Translate to Ainu

1) I come today
2) I played yesterday.

Solutions

1) タント クエ Tanto ku=ek.
2) ヌマン クシノッ Numan ku=sinot.

Vocabulary

 ク   Ku=  I
 タント  Tanto  Today
 エ  Ek  To come
 シノッ  Sinot  To play
 ヌマン  Numan  Yesterday
 アプカ  Apkas  To walk
 ポロンノ  Poronno  A lot, many, much

Lesson 8: "I do.." (2)

Sentences

ワッカ クク。
Wakka ku=ku.
I drink water.

ヌマン ハンバーガー クエ。
Numan hambaga ku=e.
Yesterday I ate hamburger.

"Foreign words" (gairaigo) that entered Japanese are usually written in Katakana. They are used the same way in Ainu as well.

Grammar

As explained in the previous lesson, the pronominal prefix ku= is attached before the verb, and it is not separated and placed in front of the sentence.

I go tomorrow.
○ ニサッタ クオマン。 Nisatta ku=oman.
× ク ニサッタ オマン。 Ku nisatta oman.

I ride a horse.
○ ウンマ クオ Umma ku=o.
× ク ウンマ オ Ku umma o.

Also there are many words that are essential in modern life that just don't exist in Ainu. Japanese makes a heavy use of the foreign loanwords (gairaigo) to solve this problem such as バス(basu: bus), インターネット(intanetto, internet), ラジオ(rajio, radio) and such words can be used the same way in Ainu as well.

Exercises

Exercises: Translate to Ainu

1) I have a lot of money.
2) I drink a little bit of hot water.

Solutions

1) イチェン ポロンノ クコ Icen poronno ku=kor.
2) ウセウ ポンノ クク Usew ponno ku=ku.

Vocabulary

 ク  Ku=  I
 コ  Kor  To have, hold
 イチェン  Icen  Money
 ポロンノ  Poronno  A lot of, many, much
 ウセウ  Usew  Hot water
 ク  Ku  To drink
 ポンノ  Ponno  A little bit of
 エ  E  To eat
 ヌマン  Numan  Yesterday
 ハンバーガー   Hambaga  Hamburger
 ワッカ  Wakka  Water

Lesson 9: Continuous

Sentences

ハポ モンライケ カネ アン。
Hapo monrayke kane an.
Mother is working.

アチャ 映画1 ヌカ2 カネ アン。
Aca eiga nukar kane an.
Father is watching a movie.

1. "映画" eiga is a Japanese word, and thus written in Kanji. There are many words from Japanese, and they may still be written in Kanji. 2. ヌカ nukar may be written and pronounced as ヌカラ nukara as well.

Grammar

In this lesson ~カネ アン ~kane an is used to make a continuous sense of the verb an, to be. It can also be ~コ アン ~kor an or its shorter form ~コラン ~koran depending on the dialect. The latter forms may be used in Samani (様似) area as well, ~kane an is more common. This lesson focuses on the Samani dialect. There is no third person singular pronominal affix in Ainu.

The word for "father" differs in different regions. In Samani, アチャ aca is used, and also in Urakawa, Mitsuishi, Shizunai, Hiroo, Shiranuka, Kushiro, Akan, Bihoro, Wakkanai and many other areas. Same word is used in some areas of Sakhalin, with a slightly different pronunciation: アーチャ a:ca.

Another word ミチ mici means father as well, but a dead father. But there are regions where two words are used interchangeably. And aca may mean an "uncle" in many regions as well.

"Mother" is less complex, it is ハポ hapo in most areas of Hokkaido, including Samani.

Pronunciation

It is commonly said that Ainu has no voiced consonants, but in fact it has. In Samani, the word for mother hapo is often pronounced as habo.

Voiced/Voiceless do matter in Japanese, as it can change the meaning: kaki (persimmon) and kagi (key) are different words. These are free variants in Ainu, meaning that it doesn't change the meaning. Ruyanpe (rain) can be ruyanbe, hunpe (whale) can be hunbe, etc. k/g, t/d, p/b are the common allophones in Ainu.

How one should pronounce a word depends on the individual habit and the region, but the most accepted pronunciation is to pronounce them voiceless, and it is advised for the learners to pronounce them voiceless.

Exercises

Exercises: Translate to Ainu

1) Dog is swimming.
2) Aunt is making dango.

Solutions

1) シタ マ カネ アン Sita ma kane an.
2) ウナペ シト カネ アン Unarpe sito kane an.

Vocabulary

 マ  Ma  To swim
 カネ  Kane  ~ing, continuous
 シタ  Sita  Dog
 アン  An  To be
 ウナ  Unarpe  Aunt
 シト  Sito  Dango (kind of a Japanese delicacy)
 カ  Kar  To make
 アチャ  Aca  Father
 映画  Eiga  Movie
 ヌカ  Nukar  To look
 ハポ  Hapo  Mother
 モンライケ   Monrayke  To work

Lesson 10: Plural Verbs

Sentences

スマ アン。
Suma an.
(There) is a stone.

スマ オカイ。
Suma okay.
(There) are stones.

Grammar

Ainu is grammatically similar with Japanese in many aspects, but there are notable differences. Using different verbs to mark the plural is one of it.

A Japanese sentence "魚がいる" (sakana ga iru, "there is/are fish") may mean there is one fish or more. Ainu makes this differentiation from using plurals not on the noun, but on the verb. If there were only one fish, the Ainu verb would be an, if two or more, the verb would be okay.

There are a number of such verbs, and here is a short list of them.

 オマン  Oman  パイエ  Paye  To go
 エ  Ek  ア  Arki  To come
 アフン  Ahun  アフ  Ahup  To enter
 ソイネ  Soyne  ソイエンパ  Soyenpa  To go outside
 サン  San  サ  Sap  To appear, to go down (the river, etc)
 ホプニ  Hopuni  ホプンパ  Hopunpa  To wake up, to rise, to fly
 ホシピ  Hosipi  ホシッパ  Hosippa  To return, to come back

But not all Ainu verbs have distinct plural forms, such as シノッ sinot "to play, have fun" applies to both singular and plural subjects. And while Japanese has two different verbs "to exist, to be there", such as いる iru for animate subjects and ある aru for the inanimate subjects, Ainu makes no distinction between them.

カネ kane from the last lesson can be used as kane an and kane okay to make the continuous sense of these verbs.

English uses subjects like "it" or "there" when there is an ambiguous subject as English grammar does not allow a sentence to be without an apparent subject, but this is not necessary in Ainu.

Pronunciation

As it has been emphasized in the previous lessons, Ainu accent falls on the second syllable. It is suma, not suma.

Exercises

Exercises: Translate to Ainu

1) There is a deer.
2) There are a lot of people.

Solutions

1)  アン Yuk an.
2) アイヌ ポロンノ オカイ Aynu poronno okay.

Vocabulary

 アン  An  To be, to exist (sg.)
 ユ  Yuk  Deer
 アイヌ  Aynu  Person
 オカイ  Okay  To be, to exist (pl.)
 ポロンノ   Poronno  A lot, many, much
 スマ  Suma  Stone

End Of Part Two

This is the end of part two. You can continue with part III of this course.

Continue to part III

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