Grammar
Particles
| ᓄᐧᐃᒡ ᐧᐁᔥᑲᒡ ᑳ ᐋᐦᑯᓯᑦ᙮ | nuwich weshkach kaa aahkusit. | S/he has been sick for a long time. | |
| ᑮᐹ ᑳ ᐧᐋᐸᒪᒃ᙮ | kiipaa kaa waapamak. | Of course I saw him. |
The words ᐧᐁᔥᑲᒡ weshkach and ᑮᐹ kiipaa in the sentences above are called particles.
Particles are small words (ayimuwinisha) that always stay the same (unlike nouns and verbs that take inflection, particles do not take inflection). They can have many different meanings, used to modify the meaning of the verb or the sentence. They work like what is called adverbs, conjunctions or interjections in English or French.
In the Cree dictionary, particles (p) were classified in the following sub-categories, based on their meaning types.
| Particle Type | Meaning | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| affirmative | words for saying ‘yes’ or expressing agreement | ᐁᐦᐁ | ehe | yes |
| conjunction | used to join phrases and sentences, ‘and, or, but’ | ᑲᔦᐦ | kayeh | also |
| dem, (focus,) location | words used for pointing to a place (sometimes with focus) | ᓀᑌᐦ | neteh | way over there |
| emphasis | no specific meaning but adds emphasis to other words | ᐧᐁᔅ | wes | |
| evaluative | words that give a judgement on a situation, ‘for sure, unnecessary’ | ᒉᔓᐙᑦ | cheshuwaat | since at least, lucky that |
| interjection | words that are often said as an exclamation, ‘listen!, look!, try!’ and politeness words, ‘hello, thank you’ | ᐊᐧᐊᔅ | awas | away!, be gone!, get away! |
| location | includes prepositions ‘below, on top’, adverbs ‘on one side, upwind’ and directions ‘east’ | ᓃᑳᓐ | niikaan | in front, ahead |
| manner | adverbial words like ‘very, incorrectly, secretly’ | ᒣᒣᐦᒡ | memehch | in many different ways |
| negative | words for saying ‘no, not’ | ᐁᑳ | eka | not, unless |
| number | numbers | ᑯᐧᑖᔓᔖᑉ | kutwaashushaap | sixteen |
| quantity | amounts like ‘four pounds, three times’ and adverbs like ‘a lot, all, some’ | ᐋᐱᐦᑑ | aapihtuu | half |
| question | words like ‘when’ and the yes-no question marker aa | ᒉᒄ | chekw | which, which one? |
| time | includes prepositions ‘before’, adverbs ‘sometimes’ and time expressions ‘last summer’ | ᒉᔅᑲᑦ | cheskat | often |
Warning: Some particles can be identical (homonymous) to corresponding preverb or initial.