Lesson One

Model Sentences

Nang íihlangaas gatáagang.
The man is eating.

Díi náan k'ajúugang.
My grandmother is singing.

Vocabulary

Personal Nouns
`díi aw`	my mother
`díi git`	my child
`díi náan`	my grandmother
`díi chan`	my grandfather

Verbal Nouns
`nang íihlangaas`	the man (lit. the one who is male)
`nang jáadaas`	the woman (lit. the one who is female)

Intransitive-A Verbs
`k'ajúugang`	singing
`gatáagang`	eating
`náanggang`	playing
`tak'áalanggang`	writing

Notes

1) The simplest kind of Hada sentence is one made up of just two parts, which we call the subject and the predicate. The predicate is the part of the sentence that describes some action, event or state of affairs. The subject is the part of the sentence that tells us who carried out that action. Notice the subjects and predicates in the following English sentences.

Subject	Predicate
Your uncle	is sleeping.
This big heavy book	was expensive.
All the children	laughed.
Elizabeth	will dance.

In English, the subject comes before the predicate. The same is true in Haida. We will call this Sentence Pattern 1.

Sentence Pattern 1
Subject	Predicate

2) In the vocabulary section of this lesson, we learned six different nouns. Some of these, such as «díi aw» my mother, are personal nouns, while others, such as «nang jáadaas» the woman, are verbal nouns. For now, we don't need to worry about the difference between these two types of nouns. All we need to know is that any of these nouns can be put into the subject slot in a Haida sentence.

3) In the vocabulary section we also learned four verbs. All four of them are what we will call Intransitive-A verbs. The reason why we call them this will become clear in later lessons. For now, all we need to know is that any of these verbs can be put into the predicate slot in a Haida sentence.

4) By putting a noun into the subject slot, and a verb into the predicate slot, we can create many different sentences. For example:

Subject	Predicate
`Díi git`	`náanggang.`	My child is playing
`Díi aw`	`tak'áalanggang.`	My mother is writing.
`Nang íihlangaas`	`gatáagang.`	The man is eating.
`Albert`	`k'ajúugang.`	Albert is singing.

This particular version of Sentence Pattern 1 -- with a noun as the subject and an Intransitive-A verb as the predicate -- is called Sentence Pattern 1A.

Sentence Pattern 1A
Subject	Predicate
Noun	Intransitive-A Verb

We will see different variations on Sentence Pattern 1 coming up in the next few lessons.

Using What You Know

Complete each of the following exercises before moving on to Lesson Two.

	Drill Type	Instructions
Exercise 1-A	Vocabulary Match	Choose the English translation that best matches the Haida word.
Exercise 1-B	Vocabulary Match	Choose the Haida translation that best matches the English word.
Exercise 1-C	Sentence Match	Choose the English translation that best matches the Haida sentence.
Exercise 1-D	Sentence Match	Choose the Haida translation that best matches the English sentence.
Exercise 1-E	Fill in the Blank	Provide the missing word to compete the Haida sentence.
Exercise 1-F	Translation	Provide the English translation of the Haida sentence.
Exercise 1-G	Translation	Provide the Haida translation of the English sentence.

Lesson 2 <> Lesson Index <> Haida Language Mainpage
Last Updated: 15 April 2004

﻿Lesson One

Lesson One