Grammar
» Atiqausit

Atiqausit (nouns) are words that are used to name people, places and things. A noun stem in Inuktut can appear with or without grammatical endings. Here are some examples:

noun roots nouns with affixes and endings
iqaluk
fish
iqalungmik
a fish
nuna
land
nunavut
our land
kiinaujat
money
kiinaujaqaqtugut
We have money.
pualuuk
(two) mitts
pualuukkak
my two mitts
Piita
Peter
Piitakkunni
at Peter’s house
Qurluqtuq
Kugluktuk
Qurluqturmittauq
in Kugluktuk as well

Singular, Dual and Plural

Most nouns have a singular (1), dual (2) and plural (3+) form.

SAMPLE Singular Dual (2) Plural (3+)
woman arnaq arnaak arnait
person inuk inuuk inuit
man angut angutiik angutit

Nouns in the dual always end in –k and nouns in the plural always end in –t. The dual usually involves lengthening the last vowel of the stem where possible. The plural ending may be -it or just -t depending on the noun.

ulu 11

ulu 22

ulu 3+3+

ulu uluuk ulut
nuvuja nuvujaak nuvujat
qajaq qajaak qajat
aasivak aasivaak aasivat
iji ijiik ijit
aiviq aiviik aivit
ivik iviik ivit
tuktu tuktuuk tuktut
kanguq kanguuk kangut
iqaluk iqaluuk iqaluitt
kigut kigutiik kigutit
umiaq umiak umiat
igluralaaq igluralaak igluralaat
puuq puuk puut