タパンペ プクサ ネ。
Tapanpe pukusa ne.
This is ramsons.
トオンペ カンガルー ネ。
Toonpe Kangaroo ne.
That is a kangaroo.
Ramsons is a type of plant that is used in Ainu cuisine.
The standard Ainu copula is ネ ne, and this is used a lot. In order to say "A is B", the basic Ainu construction would be "A B ne." For example, a statement like "My uncle is a judge" in Ainu would be "クコル アチャポ 裁判官 ネ ku=kor acapo saihankan ne." Ainu has no articles.
Another example, "This is a cell phone that I bought yesterday" would be: "タパンペ ヌマン クホク 携帯電話 ネ Tapanpe numan kuok keitaidenwa ne", literally "this-yesterday-I buy-cell phone-to be."
Note that any complex Japanese word may take place in Ainu if the word is not likely to be used in traditional Ainu life and yet essential in modern days, such as "Saihankan" or "Keitaidenwa." You may just treat them as Ainu words as long as you stick to Roman Ainu, but they may or may not be written in Kanji (characters) in Katakana Ainu, so beware of that. (From what I have seen, Katakana Ainu is more popular)
1) This is my school.
2) That is a bear.
1) タパンペ クコル カッコ ネ Tapanpe ku=kor kakko ne.
2) トオンペ キムンカムイ ネ Tapanpe kimunkamuy ne.
カッコ | Kakko | School (From Japanese 学校 Gakkou) |
ネ | Ne | Copula (To be) |
タパンペ | Tapanpe | This |
クコル | Ku=kor | My |
キムンカムイ | Kimunkamuy | Bear |
トオンペ | Toonpe | That |
カンガルー | Kangaruu | Kangaroo |
トオンペ | Toonpe | That |
プクサ | Pukusa | Ramsons |
タント アナク リリ ユプケ。
Tanto anak rir yupke.
Today the sea wave is rough.
タン コタン アナクネ ソンノ フシコ。
Tan kotan anakne sonno husko.
This village is very old.
Anak and anakne are the topic markers and the two words can be used interchangeably. In the first sentence "タント アナク リリ ユプケ tanto anak rir yupke", what is strong is the wave, not the day, but still the topic of interest is what the wave is like today. It could be roughly translated into English as "speaking of today, the sea wave is rough" or so. The emphasis is on today, not the sea.
1) Ice is cold.
2) This road is good.
1) コンル アナク ヤム Konru anak yam.
2) タン ル アナクネ ピリカ Tan ru anakue parke.
ヤム | Yam | Cold |
コンル | Konru | Ice |
アナク | Anak | Topic marker |
ル | Ru | Road, path |
プリカ | Pirka | Good |
アナクネ | Anakne | Topic marker |
タン | Tan | This |
コタン | Kotan | Village, town |
ソンノ | Sonno | Very, truly, really |
タント | Tanto | Today |
フシコ | Husko | Old |
ユプケ | Yupke | Rough, tough, strong |
リリ | Rir | Sea wave |
テエタ 等じゅ院 アナクネ オコタヌシ タ アン。
Teeta Touzyuin anakne okotanusi ta an.
A long time ago, Touzyuin was in Okotanusi.
ペッ オシケ タ チェプ オカイ。
Pet oske ta cep okay.
(There) are fish in the stream. (lit: in the middle of stream)
等じゅ院 "Touzyuin" is a proper name of a temple. "じゅ" as in "等じゅ院" is supposed to be in an obscure Kanji, 樹 minus 木 plus 水. Don't worry if you can't imagine how the Kanji is supposed to be like. It's just a proper name.
Ainu タ ta is a locative particle which roughly corresponds to Japanese に ni. It means the subject or topic of the sentence is in or at something, whether in space or in time.
A particle is a small grammatical word that is placed after the noun it modifies, and you can think of it either as an add-on to change the case of the word, or a postposition instead of a preposition. The topic markers that we looked at, anak, anakne are particles as well, although it does not carry any case. Ainu particles are largely postpositional, they are placed directly after the word: compare English in Sapporo and Ainu Satporo ta.
It can be used with other particles to deliver more specific information: oske ta "in the midst of", soy ta "outside of", ka ta "on top of" etc.
More examples:
クコル アチャ チセ ソイ タ アン。
Ku=kor aca cise soy ta an.
My-father-house-outside-(locative)-to be.
My father is outside of house.
ニ カ タ チカプ レウ。
Ni ka ta cikap rew.
Tree-above-(locative)-bird-to stop
The bird stops on top of the tree.
クコル ウナルペ サッポロ タ アン。
Ku=kor unarpe Satporo ta an.
My-aunt-Sapporo-(locative)-to be.
My aunt is in Sapporo.
1) (There) is kombu on the coast
2) (There) is a big fort on top of the mountain.
1) ピシ タ コンプ ヤン Pis ta kompu yan.
2) ヌプリ カ タ ポロ チャシ アン Nupuri ka ta poro casi an.
ヤン | Yan | To rise |
タ | Ta | Locative particle |
ピシ | Pis | Shore, coast |
コンプ | Kompu | Kombu (A type of edible sea kelp) |
チャシ | Casi | Fortification, castle |
ポロ | Poro | Big |
カ | Ka | Above |
アン | An | To be (singular) |
ヌプリ | Nupuri | Mountain |
アナクネ | Anakne | Topic marker |
オカイ | Okay | To be (plural) |
オコタヌシ | Okotanusi | Okotanusi (place name) |
オシケ | Oske | In, in the midst of |
チェプ | Cep | Fish |
テエタ | Teeta | Olden times, before |
ペッ | Pet | River, stream |
クコル アチャ インド エン オマン。
Ku=kor aca Indo en oman.
My father goes to India.
ペッ オシケ エン チカプ アフン。
Pet oske en cikap ahun.
Bird goes into the river.
インド Indo is Japanese name for India. As this is a foreign loanword as well, this is used in Ainu the same way it is used in Japanese.
エン en is an allative case particle. It signifies the destination of a movement: to where. It is permissible to leave this out in Japanese, but not in Ainu.
○ サッポロ エン クオマン Satporo en ku=oman.
× サッポロ クオマン Satporo ku=oman.
Depending on the region, this エン en may become ウン un, エネ ene, or エコタ ekota, particularly in Eastern Hidaka. Kirsten Refsing notes the form オルン orun in her book as well.
Small プ in チカプ cikap doesn't have the -u vowel that full Katakana プ pu has.
チプ | Cip | Ship |
セプ | Sep | Wide |
ポプテ | Popte | To spend |
アプカシ | Apkas | To walk |
シリカプ | Sirkap | Marline (A type of fish) |
イトゥンナプ | Itunnap | Ant |
タプカル | Tapkar | Dance |
タプコプ | Tapkop | Mountain bump |
1) Yesterday aunt went to Tokachi.
2) I climb to the mountaintop.
1) ヌマン ウナルペ トカプチ エン オマン Numan unarpe Tokapci en oman.
2) ヌプリ カ エン クリキン Nupuri ka en ku=rikin.
エン | En | Allative particle |
オマン | Oman | To go |
ヌマン | Numan | Yesterday |
ウナルペ | Unarpe | Aunt |
トカプチ | Tokapci | Tokachi (Place name) |
ク | Ku= | I |
カ | Ka | Above |
リキン | Rikin | To climb |
ヌプリ | Nupuri | Mountain |
アチャ | Aca | Father |
アフン | Ahun | To enter, to go into |
インド | Indo | India |
オシケ | Oske | Middle, midst |
コル | Kor | To have, to hold |
シカプ | Cikap | Bird |
ペッ | Pet | River, stream |
ヌプルペッ ワ クエク。
Nupurpet wa ku=ek.
I come from Noboribetsu.
ニ カ ワ りんご トゥイ。
Ni ka wa ringo tuy.
Apple falls from the treetop.
Wa is the ablative case particle,: from somewhere. We have seen three case particles related to the motion: stationary ta (locative), direction en (allative), and ablative wa.
ッ t as in ヌプルペッ nupurpet is a small "tsu" but it is not pronounced as such, but as a final consonant -t. This is a difficult sound for Japanese as Japanese phonotactics doesn't allow such sound to come at the end (though they can have it in the middle of a word).
1) I come from Shizunai.
2) Uncle came outside from the inside of the house.
1) シピチャル ワ クエク Sipicar wa ku=ek.
2) チセ オシケ ワ アチャポ ソイネ Cise oske wa acapo soyne.
ワ | Wa | Ablative particle |
エク | Ek | To come |
シピチャル | Sipicar | Shizunai (place name) |
ク | Ku= | I |
ソイネ | Soyne | To come outside |
オシケ | Oske | Middle, midst |
チセ | Cise | House |
アチャポ | Acapo | Uncle |
コッ | Kot | Hole, concave |
ハッ | Hat | Mountain grapes |
ニサッ | Nisat | Daybreak |
オオワッ | Oowat | To go back, to return |
ポロペッ | Poropet | Horobetsu (place name) |
フッネ | Hutne | Narrow |
マッネシリ | Matnesir | Mount Yotei (place name) |
シンリッ | Sinrit | Root, ancestor |
アペソコッ | Apesokot | Hearth, fireplace |
カ | Ka | Above, top |
トゥイ | Tuy | To fall, to drop, or to stop falling (rain, snow etc). |
ニ | Ni | Tree |
ヌプルペッ | Nupurpet | Noboribetsu. (place name) |
リンゴ | Ringo | Apple. (Japanese loanword) |
The place name Noboribetsu derives from Ainu Nupurpet, meaning deep-coloured (Nupur) stream (Pet).
This is the end of part three. You can continue with part IV of this course.
Thanks for your interest in this course! If you discovered any mistakes or you just want to say something then please let us know . We do need feedback!