When a verb starts with h-, the pronunciation is a little different from what you might expect. Using the rules above, with hinono’eini- ‘to be Arapaho,’ you might expect a question to look like:

 

*** Koo-he-hinono’ein?

‘Are you Arapaho?’

 

But in fact, the h- at the beginning of the verb just disappears, so the actual question is:

 

Koo-he-inono’ein?

‘Are you Arapaho?’

 

This happens with first and second persons, but not with third person:

 

koo-ne-inono’ein	‘Am I Arapaho?’
koo-he-esnee	‘Are you hungry?
koo-ne-esnee	‘Am I hungry?’
But: koo-hesnee	‘Is s/he hungry’

 

Notice that you have to pay very close attention to the difference between the following questions:

 

koo-he-esnee	‘Are you hungry?
But: koo-hesnee	‘Is s/he hungry’

 

With third person, however, there’s sometimes another change: vowel harmony gets involved when the verb begins with hi-. So instead of:

 

*** Koo-hinono’ein?

‘Is she Arapaho?’

 

You get the following, with -i- turning into -u-:

 

Koo-unono’ein? → kuunono’ein

‘Is she Arapaho?’

 

 

Go on to Part Three of this Lesson