Grammar » Roots, Affixes & Endings

The chunks that make up most Inuktut words can be placed into one of three categories: roots, affixes and grammatical endings.

There is a virtually endless combination of roots, affixes and endings that can be put together. So, while Inuktut dictionaries can capture the most common words in the language, they cannot list every word that an Inuktut speaker can produce.

Roots

Every word in Inuktut must have a root. Roots involve basic vocabulary and always appear at the beginning of words. They can describe people or things (nouns), actions or events (verbs) or be descriptive words.

niri–	to eat	verb root
ataata	father	noun root
angi–	big	descriptive root

Affixes

Affixes are parts of words (or word chunks) that usually appear between a root and its ending. They provide more detail about an action or the attributes of a person, place or thing that is being described. In the following word, -jaqtuq- and -lauq- are affixes and -tara is the grammatical ending:

taku + jaqtuq + lauq + tara =
takujaqtulauqtara
I went to see him/her.

nukappiak + kuluk + mut =
nukappiakulungmut
to the little boy

Mittarvingmuariaqalaaqtunga.
I will have to go to the airport.

Stems

A stem is a root plus any combination of affixes before the grammatical ending is added. A root by itself is also a stem.

A stem can be either a noun or a verb. This is determined by the last affix in the stem or the type of root if there is no affix.

Types of Affixes

Affixes can be grouped in one of four categories:

Noun Affixes

These are added to noun stems to produce another noun stem:

nuna noun stem meaning ‘land’	–lik someone or something that possesses something	nunalik someone who owns land; a community
kiinaujaq noun stem meaning ‘money’	–kkuvik a place where something is stored	kiinaujakkuvik bank

Verb Affixes

These are added to verb stems to produce another verb stem:

nattiqsiuq– verb stem meaning ‘to hunt seals’	–riaq– to go to do something	nattiqsiuriaqsimatillugik They (2) were out hunting seals.
–junnaq– to be able to do something	–junnaq– to be able to do something	ikajuqtaujunnanngittuuk They (2) cannot be helped.

Noun Makers

There are affixes that are added to verb stems to make a noun stem:

ilinniaq– verb stem meaning ‘to learn/study’	–vik a place where something happens	ilinniaq + vik ilinniarvik at the school
sana– verb stem meaning ‘to work’	–ji a person who performs a certain action	sana + ji sanaji a worker

Verb Makers

There are affixes that are added to noun stems to make a verb stem:

qulittaujaq– noun stem meaning ‘parka’	–taaq– to acquire something	qulittaujaq + taaq + lauq + tunga qulittaujaqtaalauqtunga I got a new parka.
unaaq noun stem meaning ‘harpoon’	–qaq– to have something	unaaq + qaq + tunga unaaqaqtunga I have a harpoon.

Grammatical Endings

Grammatical endings are added to stems. They provide a range of information, including who is performing a particular action or whether something is singular, dual or plural.

There are grammatical endings that are only added to verb stems and there are others that are only added to nouns stems. Verb stems always require a grammatical ending whereas a noun stem can sometimes stand on its own without an added ending.

–junga	I do something	verb ending
–gakkit	when/because I…you	verb ending
–langa	let me…	verb ending
–lutik	while they…	verb ending
–mut	to someone or somewhere	noun ending
–mini	in his/her own…	noun ending
–ma	of my…	noun ending

There are a few suffixes (called enclitics) that latch onto the very end of a word, even after the grammatical ending:

Mittimatalingmittauq nattirasukpaktuq
iqalugasukpaklutiglu

They go seal hunting and fishing in Pond Inlet as well.

These “add-ons” usually have the function of linking phrases with other phrases.