Nouns Inflected for Gender

Observation

ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐅᒡ ᐊᓂᒌ ᐊᐙᔕᒡ᙮		niwaapamaauch anichii awaashach.	I see those children.
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᐦᑌᓐ ᐊᓂᔫᐦ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ᙮		niwaapahten aniyuuh maschisinh.	I see those shoes.

In the examples above, ᐊᐙᔕᒡ awaashach ‘children’ and ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ maschisinh ‘shoes’ do not have the same plural endings: -ach and -h. Notice also that different verb forms are used.

Nouns in East Cree fall into two classes: ANIMATE (eg. children) and INANIMATE (eg. shoe).

Noun Animate (na)
ᐯᔭᒄ ᐊᐧᐋᔥ		peyakw awaash	one child
ᓃᔓ ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ		niishu awaashach	two children

Noun Inanimate (ni)
ᐯᔭᒄ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ		peyakw maschisin	one shoe
ᓃᔓ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ		niishu maschisinh	two shoes

The plural ending -ach is used with the animate stem ᐊᐙᔥ awaash and the plural ending -h is used with the inanimate stem ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ maschisin.

Animate nouns are used for humans, animals, and in general all living creatures, including trees and some plants. Also included are some personal belongings such as pants and sleds.

ᐸᔨᒌᔅ		payichiis	pair of pants
ᐸᔨᒌᓴᒡ		payichiisach	pair(s) of pants
ᒥᔥᑎᒄ		mishtikw	tree
ᒥᔥᑎᑯᒡ		mishtikuch	tree(s)
ᐅᑖᐹᓈᔅᒄ		utaapaanaaskw	sled
ᐅᑖᐹᓈᔅᑯᒡ		utaapaanaaskuch	sled(s)

However, unless you are a fluent speaker, you can never know for sure if something is going to be animate or inanimate in the language. This is why we say that GENDER is a grammatical distinction. It is a distinction made in the language, not necessarily always in the outside world.

Animate and inanimate nouns are used with different verbs:

ᓂᐧᐋᐸᒫᐤ ᐊᐧᐋᔥ		niwaapamaau awaash	(animate)	I see a child
ᓂᐧᐋᐸᐦᑌᓐ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐ		niwaapahten maschisin	(inanimate)	I see a shoe

Animate and inanimate nouns also have their own sets of demonstrative pronouns:

ᐊᓂᒌ ᐊᐧᐋᔕᒡ		anichii awaashach	(animate plural)	those children
ᐊᓂᔫᐦ ᒪᔅᒋᓯᓐᐦ		aniyuuh maschisinh	(inanimate plural)	those shoes