Arapaho - Inanimate Verbs - Negatives and Questions
To make verbs negative,
add hoow- to the beginning.
To make verbs into questions,
add koo- to the beginning.
Example #1: (hyphens have
been added to make things clearer. They are not used in ordinary writing)
tóóyo3óó’ it is cold (weather)
hoow-tóyo3oo it is not cold
koo-tóyo3oo is
it cold?
bee’éé’ it
is red
Arapaho verbs always change
when hoow- and koo- are added.
Notice that the verb changed
a little bit when hoow- and koo- were added. First the stop (‘) at the
end is dropped. Also, the first vowel of the verb is shortened. When the
first vowel is already short, that vowel and the -n- which will always
follow it are dropped. This happens with all Arapaho verbs. Example #2:
honoosóó’ (or
honoosóóti') it is raining
hoow-oosóót (or
hoow-oosóót) it is not raining
koo-hoosóót (or
koo-hoosóót) is it raining?
Some Arapaho verbs make
additional changes when hoow- and koo- are added.
Notice in example #2 that
some other things changed with the verb as well. There are several changes
that only occur with certain types of verbs. For example, when a verb begins
with h-, then the h- disappears after hoow-. Another example is:
heesítee’ it
is hot
hoow-(é)esítee it
is not hot
koo-hesítee is
it hot?
One additional change of
this type is the following:
hoow-bééc it
is not snowing
koo-bééc is
it snowing?
When the ending of the verb
is a short vowel plus the stop (‘), then both of these are dropped. Compare
to example #1, where the long vowel isn’t dropped.
Exercize #1: make a negative
sentence and a question sentence with each of the following verbs (remember,
in Arapaho, a “sentence” is often just one single verb):
beniicé’ it
is summer
beníí’owúúni’ is
is spring
heeséíse’ it
is windy
kooní’oosóó’ it
is sprinkling rain
nííhooyóó’ it
is yellow
ceenééteeyóó’ it
is blue or green
woo’óteeyóó’ it
is black
nonoocóó’ it
is white
cee’éé’ it
is round or spherical
see’éé’ it
is flat
Exercize #2: correct the
following sentences. Here’s an example:
sentence: cee’éé’ núhu’ wo3ónohoe
corrected sentence: hoowce’éé núhu’
wo3ónohoe. see’éé’ núhu’.
1. Woo’óteeyóó’ wo3ónohoe (paper)
2. Ceenééteeyóó’ bóoó (road)
3. See’éé’ núhu’ ce’éiinox (bag).
4. Nííhooyóó’ hóno’ (sky).
5. Nonoocóó’ bee’íce’éé’
(apple).
[Extra credit questions. The word
“apple” in Arapaho has two parts. What does each
part mean? What would
a “nííhooníce’éé’” be?]
6. Beniicéí’i (‘when its summer’), beneecí’.
7. Beniicéí’i, tóóyo3óó’.