Lesson Five

Model Sentences

Díi st'igáng.
I'm sick.

Íitl' skáan hlkwiidáang.
Our aunt is in a hurry.

Hal jáa gudangáay 'láagang.
His wife is happy.

Vocabulary

Weak-B Pronouns
`díi`	I
`dáng`	you
`hal`	he/she
`íitl'`	we
`daláng`	y'all
`tl'`	people (in general)

Personal Nouns
`díi káa`	my uncle (usu. mother's brother)
`díi skáan`	my aunt (usu. father's sister)
`díi tláal`	my husband
`díi jáa`	my wife
`díi gudangáay`	my thoughts, my feelings

Intransitive-B Verbs
`'láagang`	is good, well
`st'igáng`	is sick, ill
`hlkwiidáang`	is in a hurry, hurrying along

Notes

1) In Lessons 1-4, we have seen the Weak-A and the Strong-A pronouns. The difference between them is where they get used in the sentence -- the weak pronouns are used right before the verb, while the strong pronouns are used in the focus position, followed by the focus marker «uu».

In this lesson, we see the Weak-B pronouns for the first time. Just like the Weak-A pronouns, the Weak-B pronouns are used right before the verb. The difference is that some verbs in Haida require us to use pronouns from set A, while other verbs require us to use pronouns from set B.

All of the verbs that we learned in Lessons 1-4 are verbs that require A pronouns. That is why we called them Intransitive-A verbs (we'll explain the "intransitive" part of that a couple of lessons from now). Intransitive A-Verbs can never be used with B pronouns.

However, the three new verbs in this lesson all require B pronouns. That is why we call them Intransitive-B verbs. Intransitive-B verbs can never be used with A pronouns.

Here is a comparison of the three sets of pronouns we have learned so far.

	Weak-A	Strong-A	Weak-B
I	`hl`	`hláa`	`díi`
you	`dáng`	`dáa`	`dáng`
he/she	`hal`	`'láa`	`hal`
we	`t'aláng`	`t'aláng`	`íitl'`
y'all	`daláng`	`daláng`	`daláng`
people	`tl'`	`tl'áa`	`tl'`

If we compare just the Weak-A and Weak-B pronouns, we see that only two of them are different: «hl» vs. «díi» for "I", and «t'aláng» vs. «íitl'» for "we". The other four pronouns are the same in both the Weak-A set and the Weak-B set.

2) In this lesson, for the first time, we are actually learning two new sentence patterns. The first is Pattern 1C, which has a noun in the subject slot (just like Pattern 1A), and an Intransitive-B verb in the predicate slot. Note that the subject still comes before the predicate.

Sentence Pattern 1C
Subject	Predicate
Noun	Intransitive-B Verb

Here are some examples of Pattern 1C using the Intransitive-B verb «st'igáng» "is sick".

Subject	Predicate
`Nang jáadaas`	`st'igáng.`	The woman is sick.
`Gaagáay`	`st'igáng.`	The children are sick.
`Frankie`	`st'igáng.`	Frankie is sick.
`Díi káa isgyáan díi skáan`	`st'igáng.`	My uncle and my aunt are sick.

The second new pattern is Pattern 1D. Here, instead of a noun as subject, we have a pronoun. Since the predicate in this pattern is an Intransitive-B verb, the pronoun must be from the Weak-B set.

Sentence Pattern 1D
Subject	Predicate
Weak-B Pronoun	Intransitive-B Verb

Here are some examples of Pattern 1D with the Intransitive-B verb «'láagang» "is well".

Subject	Predicate
`Díi`	`'láagang.`	I am well.
`Dáng`	`'láagang.`	You are well.
`Hal`	`'láagang.`	He/she is well.
`Íitl'`	`'láagang.`	We are well.
`Daláng`	`'láagang.`	Y'all are well.
`Tl'`	`'láagang.`	People are well.

3) One of the most important concepts in any language is possession -- namely, how do we express that something or someone belongs to someone else. There are several different ways of doing this in Haida. The first way involves putting the possessor immediately before the one being possessed. We can call this Possessed Noun Pattern 1, as shown in the following table.

Possessed Noun Pattern 1A
Possessor	Possessed

You have probably noticed by now that the word «díi» means "my" in phrases like «díi aw» "my mother" and «díi náan» "my grandmother". As we see in this lesson, «díi» is actually a Weak-B pronoun. It turns out that we can express this type of possession or close relationship by combining any of the Weak-B pronouns with a Personal noun such as «aw» "mother" or «náan» "grandmother" . This is Possessed Noun Pattern 1A, where the possessor is expressed with a pronoun, and the possessed is a personal noun.

Possessed Noun Pattern 1A
Possessor	Possessed
Weak-B Pronoun	Personal Noun

Personal nouns in Haida typically refer to one's relatives or parts of one's body; in other words, things to which one has a close and "personal" relationship. Other types of nouns -- like common nouns or verbal nouns -- don't use this same possessed noun pattern. Most of the nouns we have learned so far have been personal nouns. In upcoming lessons we will start learning about other types of nouns, and then later on we will see how the idea of possession is expressed with those nouns.

Here are some examples of Pattern 1A, using the personal noun «git» "child".

Possessor	Possessed
`díi`	`git`	my child
`dáng`	`git`	your child
`hal`	`git`	his/her/their child
`íitl'`	`git`	our child
`daláng`	`git`	y'all's child

Note that the pronoun «tl'» is typically not used in this context. Note also that the pronoun «hal» can mean either "his", "her" or "their" when used in this pattern, depending as usual on the context in which it is used.

Personal nouns can also be possessed by other nouns (including, even, other personal nouns). This is Pattern 1B. Note that the possessor still comes immediately before the one being possessed.

Possessed Noun Pattern 1B
Possessor	Possessed
Noun	Personal Noun

Here are some examples of Pattern 1B, with the personal noun «jáa» "wife".

Possessor	Possessed
`Paul`	`jáa`	Paul's wife
`díi káa`	`jáa`	my uncle's wife
`nang íihlangaas`	`jáa`	the man's wife

4) Another very important persoanl noun in Haida is gudangáay, which means "one's thoughts, feelings, emotions, mental state". Take note of these phrases:

Díi gudangáay 'láagang.

I am happy. (Literally, "My thoughts are good.")

Díi gudangáay st'igáng.

I am sad. (Literally, "My thoughts are sick.")

Using What You Know

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

	Drill Type	Instructions
Exercise 5-A	Vocabulary Match	Choose the English translation that best matches the Haida word.
Exercise 5-B	Vocabulary Match	Choose the Haida translation that best matches the English word.
Exercise 5-C	Sentence Match	Choose the English translation that best matches the Haida sentence.
Exercise 5-D	Sentence Match	Choose the Haida translation that best matches the English sentence.
Exercise 5-E	Fill in the Blank	Provide the missing word to compete the Haida sentence.
Exercise 5-F	Translation	Provide the English translation of the Haida sentence.
Exercise 5-G	Translation	Provide the Haida translation of the English sentence.

Lesson 6 <> Lesson Index <> Haida Language Mainpage
Last Updated: 15 April 2004