Arapaho - Nouns - Inanimate

Arapaho nouns are divided into two groups - things which are living or thought of as living (animate nouns), and things which are not (inanimate nouns).

Here are some common inanimate nouns:

wo3ónohoe paper, book

bíí3ihíitóo table

3í’okúutóo chairr

ce’éiinox bag

bíí3wo food

béí’ci3é' money

wótoo pants

bíixúút shirt

wo’óh shoe

Plurals

Inanimate nouns are most often made plural by adding -no. Sometimes, -ono is added, and if the noun already ends in -n, then just -o is added. A few nouns are made plural by adding some other letter plus -o:

wo3ónohóéno papers, books

bíí3ihíitóóno tables

3í’okúutóóno chairs

ce’éiinó3o bags

wótooho pants

bíixúútono shirts

wo’óhno shoes

(bíí3wo is already plural)

Demonstratives (“pointing words”)

If you want to be more specific when talking, you can use the words núhu’ (this) and hínee (that):

núhu’ wo3ónohoe this paper (near me)

hínee wo3ónohoe that paper (over by you)

núhu’ wo3ónohóéno these papers (near me)

hínee wo3ónohóéno those papers (over by you)

Note in the last sentences that these words don’t change when the noun is made plural.

Exercize: Translate the following sentences into Arapaho:

1. This chair.

2. That table.

3. These bags.

4. Those pants.

5. This shoe and(“noh”) that shirt.

6. These tables and those papers.

ANSWERS