Lesson One

Model Sentences

Nang íihlangaas gatáagang.

The man is eating.

Díi náan k'ajúugang.

My grandmother is singing.

Vocabulary

Personal Nouns
díi aw
my mother
díi git
my child
díi náan
my grandmother
díi chan
my grandfather

Verbal Nouns
nang íihlangaas
the man (lit. the one who is male)
nang jáadaas
the woman (lit. the one who is female)

Intransitive-A Verbs
k'ajúugang
singing
gatáagang
eating
náanggang
playing
tak'áalanggang
writing

Notes
1) The simplest kind of Hada sentence is one made up of just two parts, which we call the
subject and the predicate. The predicate is the part of the sentence that describes some action,
event or state of affairs. The subject is the part of the sentence that tells us who carried out that
action. Notice the subjects and predicates in the following English sentences.

Subject
Predicate
Your uncle
is sleeping.
This big heavy book
was expensive.
All the children
laughed.
Elizabeth
will dance.

In English, the subject comes before the predicate. The same is true in Haida. We will call this
Sentence Pattern 1.

Sentence Pattern 1
Subject
Predicate

2) In the vocabulary section of this lesson, we learned six different nouns. Some of these, such
as «díi aw» my mother, are personal nouns, while others, such as «nang jáadaas» the woman,
are verbal nouns. For now, we don't need to worry about the difference between these two
types of nouns. All we need to know is that any of these nouns can be put into the subject slot
in a Haida sentence.

3) In the vocabulary section we also learned four verbs. All four of them are what we will call
Intransitive-A verbs. The reason why we call them this will become clear in later lessons. For
now, all we need to know is that any of these verbs can be put into the predicate slot in a Haida
sentence.

4) By putting a noun into the subject slot, and a verb into the predicate slot, we can create many
different sentences. For example:

Subject
Predicate

Díi git
náanggang.
My child is playing
Díi aw
tak'áalanggang.
My mother is writing.
Nang íihlangaas
gatáagang.
The man is eating.
Albert
k'ajúugang.
Albert is singing.

This particular version of Sentence Pattern 1 -- with a noun as the subject and an Intransitive-A
verb as the predicate -- is called Sentence Pattern 1A.

Sentence Pattern 1A
Subject
Predicate
Noun
Intransitive-A Verb
Lesson Two

Model Sentences

Hl kúugaagang.
I'm cooking.

T'aláng hlgánggulaang.
We're working.

Vocabulary

Weak-A Pronouns
hl
I
dáng
you
hal
he/she
t'aláng
we
daláng
y'all
tl'
people (in general)

Intransitive-A Verbs
hlgánggulaang
working
kúugaagang
cooking
táwk'aang
planting a garden
gáadanggang
bathing, taking a bath

Notes

1) A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun, when the person or thing that the noun
refers to is already well-known in the conversation. Just like with nouns, it is possible to put a
pronoun in front of a verb to create a simple sentence in Haida.

2) There are several important differences between pronouns in English and pronouns in Haida.
For one, Haida does not have separate pronouns meaning "he" and "she". Instead, the Haida
pronoun «hal» covers both meanings. Thus, a sentence like «Hal hlgángulaang.» could mean
either "He is working." or "She is working." The exact meaning is usually made clear from
context.

Note also that Haida does make a clear distinction between «dáng» "you", when talking to just
one person, and «daláng» "you", when talking to more than one person. To help us keep that
distinction clear in English, we will always translate «daláng» as "y'all" (and vice-versa).

The pronouns «t'aláng» and «daláng» are often pronounced in a contracted form, as «tl'áng»
and «dláng», respectively. For the sake of simplicity, in these lessons we will always use the
longer, uncontracted forms.

The pronoun «tl'» is special. It typically has an indefinite, non-specific meaning. It refers to
some unspecified group of people, or just people in general. So, for example: «Tl'
kúugaagang.» could be translated as "People are cooking" or even "There's some cooking
going on". In these lessons, we will translate the Haida pronoun tl' with the English noun
"people" (and vice-versa).

3) There are actually four different sets of pronouns in Haida. The set we are learning in this
lesson is called the Weak-A set of pronouns. For now, we don't have to worry about why we
call them that. The reason will become clear when we learn about the other three sets of
pronouns in upcoming lessons.

4) In this lesson we are focusing on a new sentence pattern, 1B. The difference between 1B
and 1A is that where 1A had a noun in the subject slot, 1B has a pronoun (specifically a Weak-A
pronoun) -- otherwise they are the same. Note that the subject still comes before the predicate.

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

Here are some examples of Sentence Pattern 1B, using the Intransitive-A verb «k'ajúugang»
"singing".

Subject
Predicate

Hl
k'ajúugang.
I am singing.
Dáng
k'ajúugang.
You are singing.
Hal
k'ajúugang.
He/she is singing.
T'aláng
k'ajúugang.
We are singing.
Daláng
k'ajúugang.
Y'all are singing.
Tl'
k'ajúugang.
People are singing.