Inuktut has endings that indicate who something belongs to or who someone is related to (the possessor). These endings contain a great deal of grammatical information:
1. The ending indicates who owns something or who is related to someone:
| anaana | mother |
| anaanaga | my mother |
| anaanait | your mother |
| anaananga | his/her/its mother |
2. The ending may indicate whether there is one person, two people or three or more people who own something or are related to someone:
| ataataga | my father |
| ataatavut | our (3+) father |
| ataatavuk | our (2) father |
3. The ending may also indicate whether the thing that is owned or the relation is singular, dual or plural:
| paniga | my daughter |
| panikka | my (3+) daughters |
| paniikkak | my two duaghters |
4. Finally, the endings indicate the role of the noun in the sentence:
| basic form | -ga / -ra | ijiga my eye |
| possessor | -ma | ijima of my eye |
| as object | -nnik | ijinnik my eye |
| in | -nni | ijinni in my eye |
| from | -nnit | ijinnit from my eye |
| to | -nnut | ijinnut to my eye |
The ending –ga (my) changes to –ra when it is added to a noun ending in q:
nuliaq
wife
nuliara
my wife
In some dialects, the –nga ending (his/her/its) can be shortened to –a:
irninga
his/her son
irnia
his/her son
This shortening of the ending cannot happen when the last vowel sound is long or a combination of vowels:
anaanattiaq
grandmother
anaanattianga
his/her grandmother
Naming the Possessor
If the possessor is a singular noun, it takes the ending –up.
Maakusi
Mark
Maakusiup unaanga
Mark’s harpoon
To show a possessive relation between two nouns (e.g. Mark’s harpoon), it is necessary to have both the -up ending on the possessor (Mark) and a third person possessive ending on the other noun (harpoon).
If the possessor is in the dual or the plural, though, the -up ending is not used:
angutiik umiangik
the two men’s boats
Inuit nunangat
the land of Inuit
His versus His Own
Inuktut has a set of what are called reflexive endings to talk about something that is his/her/its/their own.
These endings normally contain the affix -mi-
Piita angirramini sinilauqtuq.
Peter slept at his house (his own house).
Compare the meaning of the sentence above with the one below:
Piita Maakusiup angirrangani sinilauqtuq.
Peter slept at his house (a house belonging to Mark).
Double Possession
By using the affix -ngata, it is possible to express two or even three levels of relationships within the same sentence, i.e. when the possessor has its own possessor:
Simiuniup nunasiutinga
Simon’s car
Simiuniup nunasiutingata kiinga
The key to Simon’s car.
anaanaga
my mother
anaanama qulittaujanga
my mother’s parka
The plural form of the –ngata ending highlighted above is –ngita:
anaanama nukangit
my mother’s younger sisters
anaanama nukangita uingit
the husbands of my mother’s younger sisters