Ainu for Beginners - Part 2

Lesson 6: "My.." (2)

Sentences

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

クコル　ウナルペ　イルシカ。
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:

クコル　エカシ	ku=kor ekasi	My grandfather
クコル　フチ	ku=kor huci	My grandmother
クコル　アチャ	ku=kor aca	My father
クコル　ハポ	ku=kor hapo	My mother
クコル　アチャポ	ku=kor acapo	My uncle
クコル　ウナルペ	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.

エエン een

Vocabulary

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

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

Sentences

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

ボロンノ　クアプカシ。
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
クモコル	Ku=mokor	I sleep
クエク	Ku=ek	I come

Vocabulary

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

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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.

Vocabulary

ク	Ku=	I
コル	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

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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　ヌカル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. ヌカル 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 ~コル 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.

Vocabulary

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

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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
エク	Ek	アルキ	Arki	To come
アフン	Ahun	アフプ	Ahup	To enter
ソイネ	Soyne	ソイエンパ	Soyenpa	To go outside
サン	San	サプ	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.

Vocabulary

アン	An	To be, to exist (sg.)
ユク	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

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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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