Grammar
VTA Person Prefix
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᓐ᙮ ᓰ᙮ |  |
chiwaapimin. | you see me. |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᑎᓐ᙮ | |
chiwaapimitin. | I see you. |
In both these forms, the person prefix is ᒋ chi. This is because of the person hierarchy that says that chi ‘you’ ranks above ni ‘I’.
Cree person hierarchy:
| 2 | > | 1 | > | 3 | > | 3′ | > | 0 | > | 0′ |
| ᒌᔨ | > | ᓃᔨ | > | ᐧᐄᔨ | > | ᐊᐧᐋᔨᐤᐦ | > | ᒑᐧᑳᓐ | > | ᒑᐧᑳᔨᐤ |
| chiiyi | > | niiyi | > | wiiyi | > | awaayiuh | > | chaakwaan | > | chaakwaayiu |
| ᒌᔮᓂᐤ | > | ᓃᔮᓐ | > | ᐧᐄᔨᐧᐋᐤ | ||||||
| chiiyaaniu | > | niiyaan | > | wiiyiwaau | ||||||
| ᒌᔨᐧᐋᐤ | ||||||||||
| chiiyiwaau | ||||||||||
VTA verbs have two roles, an actor and a goal. In the independent order, the person prefix with the higher ranked role in the person hierarchy will be selected.
| Northern Dialect | English | Actor | Rank | Goal | Prefix | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᓐ | |
chiwaapimin | you see me | 2 | > | 1 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᑎᓐ | |
chiwaapimitin | I see you | 1 | < | 2 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒫᐤ | |
chiwaapimaau | you see her | 2 | > | 3 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᒋᐧᐋᐱᒥᒄ | |
chiwaapimikw | she sees you | 3 | < | 2 | ᒋ | chi |
| ᓂᐧᐋᐱᒫᐤ | |
niwaapimaau | I see her. | 1 | > | 3 | ᓂ | ni |
| ᓂᐧᐋᐱᒥᒄ | |
niwaapimikw | she sees me. | 3 | < | 1 | ᓂ | ni |
| ᐧᐋᐱᒫᐤ | |
waapimaau | she sees him (the other). | 3 | > | 3′ | – | |
| ᐧᐋᐱᒥᑰ | |
waapimikuu | he (the other) sees her. | 3′ | < | 3 | – | |
There are no person prefixes in the conjunct and imperative orders. The same selection of person prefixes applies in noun possession.