Dialogue: Where do you work?
Vocabulary
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nani suliaKaKattaven?
Where do you work?
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nane?
where?
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suliaKaKattajuk
working (he/she is...)
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ilinniavik
school; classroom
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ilinniavimmi suliaKavunga
work at the school (I...)
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mipvik
airport
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Mipvimi suliaKavunga.
work at the airport (I...)
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niuvipvik
store
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niuvipvimi suliaKavunga
work at the store (I...)
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SuliaKapvinga Inuligijet
work at the Dept. of Human Resources (I...)
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SuliaKapvinga kenaujaligijet
Department of Finance
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kanatami SilakKijapviligijet
Parks Canada
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ikijunniatet suliaKapvinga
fire department
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ikumaliugutik
power plant
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puleset suliaKapvinga
police department
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ânniasiupvik
hospital
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kigutaitsijiup suliaKapvinga
dentist's office
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allalitjusiattâvik
post office
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SuKattaven kenaujaliugiamut
What do you do for a living?
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IkKajuijik
lawyer
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ikKatuijiuvunga
lawyer (I am a...)
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paitsiji
nurse
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paitsijiuvunga
nurse (I am a...)
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pulesi
police (officer)
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pulesiuvunga
police officer (I am a...)
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ilinniatitsijik
teacher
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ikumaligiji
electrician
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ânniasiutik
doctor
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tusâji
interpreter
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Grammar
13 » Where You Work & What You Do
In order to talk about where one works and what one does at work, there are some affixes and endings that are good to learn. Let’s start with -ji which is added to the end of a verb root to indicate someone who does the action described by the root. It shows up frequently in job titles:
| tusâ- | to hear a continuous sound |
| tusâji | an interpreter (literally, someone who hears a continuous sound) |
| paitsi- | to care for someone |
| paitsiji | a nurse (literally someone who cares for someone else) |
You can add the affix -u- and the ending -vunga to the end of these words to describe what you do:
| tusâjiuvunga | I am an interpreter. |
| paitsijiuvunga | I am a nurse. |
The affix -ligi- is often added before -ji to talk about something one deals with or is involved with:
| kenaujak | money |
| kenaujaligiji | someone who works with money (a finance officer, accounting clerk or a bank teller) |
| kigutik | tooth |
| kigutiligiji | dentist |
THE AFFIXES -MI & -NI
-mi is an ending that comes at the end of a noun to express the idea of ‘in' or ‘at' in English.
| kenaujakkuvik | bank |
| kenaujakkuvimmi | at / in the bank |
| kenaujakkuvimmi suilaKavunga | I work at the bank. |
| ilinniavik | airport |
| ilinniavimmi | at / in the school |
| ilinniavimmi suilaKavunga | I work at the school. |
Remember to follow the law of double consonants. If there is a double consonant before the final -k, then the affix -mi simply deletes the final -k sound:
| ânniasiupvik | hospital |
| ânniasiupvimi suilaKavunga | I work at the hospital. |
| mipvik | airport |
| mipvimi suilaKavunga | I work at the airport. |
Note that according to the rules of Inuktitut pronunciation, when the ending -ni is added to a root ending in -t, the final -t softens and becomes an -n sound.