Grammar
Conjunct Dubitative Neutral or CDN (# 14)
| ᑖᐹ ᓂᒋᔅᒑᔨᒫᐤ ᓈᐹᒀ᙮ |  |
taapaa nichischaayimaau naapaakwaa. | I do not know whether s/he is asleep/ if she sleeps. |
| ᒋᒋᔅᒑᔨᒫᐤ ᐋ ᓈᐹᒀ᙮ | chichischaayimaau aa naapaakwaa. | Do you know if she is sleeping? |
This is used when there is doubt about the event described by the verb. We do not know whether this event is happening or not.
In this story the narrator talks about the first time she saw Santa Claus at residential school, she remembers seeing him, but does not remember if he gave her a gift.
| ᓂᒧᐃ ᒥᒄ ᓂᒋᔅᒋᓯᓐ ᑳᐦ ᒥᔨᐧᑳ ᒑᐧᑳᔨᐤ ᐊᓐ ᒋᔖᔨᔨᐤ᙮ |
| nimui mikw nichischisin kaah miyikwaa chaakwaayiu an chishaayiyiu. |
| (Elsie’s_story_2..110) |
| But I do not now remember if the old man (Santa Claus) gave me anything. |
Preverbs can be used like the past preverb ᑳᐦ kaah in the example above.
Initial change is required for the present tense forms in this conjugation when there is no preverb. For example, the dictionary form of ᓈᐹᒀ naapaakwaa is ᓂᐹᐤ nipaau. The vowel of the first syllable i was changed to aa.
Link to Conjugation Tables