Inuktut has a series of verb endings that are used just for asking questions. To ask a question, we add one of these endings to a verb root or affix. The verb ending indicates who we are asking about:
nigiven? | Are you eating? |
nigivâ / nigijong? | Is he / she eating? |
Question endings have different forms depending on the sound that comes before them. After a root or affix that ends in a vowel, the question endings look like this:
tukisi- | to understand |
tukisivingâ? | Do I understand? |
tukisiven? | Do you understand? |
tukisivâ? / tukisijong? | Does he/she understand? |
tukisivinok? | Do we (2) understand? |
tukisivitâ? | Do we (3+) understand? |
tukisivitek? | Do you (2) understand? |
tukisivise? | Do you (3+) understand? |
tukisivâk? tukisijok? | Do they (2) understand? |
tukisivât? / tukisijon? | Do they (3+) understand? |
Pay close attention to the fact that Inuktut has different endings for the dual (dealing with two objects or people) and the plural (three or more objects or people) :
2 people | 3+ people |
uinngavitek? | uinngavise? |
Are you two sleepy? | Are you (3+) sleepy? |
uinngajok? | uinngajon? |
Are the two of them sleepy? | Are they (3+) sleepy? |