Inuktut speakers are precise when talking about where things are located. There is a long list of locations to master. The first thing to remember is that there are different workds to indicate a person or objects is in a specific spot versus a general area:
| uvani | (right) here |
| mâni | in this area |
| ikani | over there (specific spot) |
| avani | over there (general area) |
| pikani | up there (specific spot) |
| pâni | up there (general area) |
| kanani | down there (specific spot) |
| unani | down there (general area) |
There are no set rules that will help you to decide when to use one term over the other. A lot depends on context. For example, both uvani / mâni could refer to very large areas:
| uvani | right here (in Iqaluit) |
| mâni | here (in Nunavut) |
or they could each refer to much smaller spaces:
| uvani | right here in this spot |
| mâni | in this building |
The best advice is to learn these terms as pairs and then listen carefully to fluent speakers to hear how they are used in coversation.
2. These locational words will often be heard with the prefix ta- which indicates that a location has already been mentioned or implied in the conversation:
| basic form | with ta-prefix | English equivalent |
| uvani | tapvani | right here |
| mâni | tamâni | around here |
| ikani | taikani | over there (specific spot) |
| avani | tâvani | over there (general area) |
| pikani | tapikani | up there (specific spot) |
| pâni | tapâni | up there (general area) |
| kanani | takanani | down there (specific spot) |
| unani | taunani | down there (general area) |
3. Note that all of the terms in the table above end with the affix -ni , meaning that the person/object described is in or at a place.
To talk about motion towards a specific spot we replace the -ni ending with -unga:
| towards a location | English equivalent |
| tapvunga | to here (specific spot) |
| tamaunga | to here (more general area) |
| tâvunga | to there (specific spot) |
| taikunga | to there (more general area) |
| tappikunga | up to there (specific spot) |
| tappaunga | up there (general area) |
| takanunga | down to there (specific spot) |
| taununga | down to there (more general area) |
4. If we replace the ending with -anngat, we can talk about motion away from a place:.
| away from a location | English equivalent |
| tapvanngat | from here (specific spot) |
| tamânngat | from here (more general area) |
| tâvanngat | from there (specific spot) |
| taikanngat | from there (more general area) |
| tappikanngat | from to there (specific spot) |
| tappânngat | from there (general area) |
| takananngat | from down there (specific spot) |
| taunanngat | from down there (more general area) |
5. And, if we replace the ending with -(u)una, we can talk about motion through a space:
| through a location | English equivalent |
| tapvona | from here (specific spot) |
| tamauna | from here (more general area) |
| tâvona | from there (specific spot) |
| taikona | from there (more general area) |
| tappikona | from to there (specific spot) |
| tappauna | from there (general area) |
| takanona | from down there (specific spot) |
| taunona | from down there (more general area) |