Lesson 8 of 18 · Unit 4: Asking where, asking when
Asking Where
A real documented conversation: asking where, three ways to answer, and two ways to say goodbye.
By the end of this lesson you'll be introduced to
- How this course asks where — about people, places and things
- A real documented conversation: the question, and three things people say back
- A small family of where-words, including a contraction you already know the pattern for
- Two documented ways to end a conversation
No new verb grammar today. This class day was about words people actually trade — so this lesson is mostly you, answering.
A documented conversation
Start talking
A question you will actually be asked
NewThe class notes write out a real exchange: one question, and the things a person says back. Here is the question —
Aaniindi wenjibaayan?
Where are you from?
And here are the documented replies. None of them is “the” answer — they are three different true things a person might say.
Your turn — no wrong answer
Aaniindi wenjibaayan?
Where are you from?
Pick the reply you would give. Then try the others.
Try it
Now the other direction: someone answers your question with a single word. Which documented reply means “over there”?
The family of where-words
The family
One question word, a few shapes
NewThe notes list the where-word in several documented shapes. You don't need to produce them all — you need to recognise them when someone uses one.
Aaniindi
where is it
The base word
Aandi
where
A documented shortened form
Aaniindi dash
and where
With “dash” as its own word
Aaniindiish
and where
The contraction — one word
Try it
Which documented shape is the contraction — the two words fused into one?
The materials gloss this word in more than one way, so this course shows it inside full documented questions rather than grading you on the bare word.
The same contraction pattern you met with Aaniish
Aaniindiish — and where
The result isn't simply the two words written one after the other — something changes. The materials record that these combine, not how, so that's as far as this goes.
Needs review — the sources give more than one meaning for part of this equation.
Review The notes call this a contraction with “dash”, parallel to Aaniish from the review lesson.
Try it
What do the notes say “Aandi” is?
Asking where things are
Same opener, new target
Asking where things are
NewThe same question word asks about things. The class day wrote this one — using the word for “lake” you learned in the last lesson:
Aaniindi zaaga'igan?
Where is the lake?
And when what you mean is obvious, the course documents the question standing alone: Aaniindi? — Where?
Applies to: documented questionsThese are the shapes the course materials actually write. This lesson doesn't build new where-questions for you to memorise — later lessons return to this family once the verb forms inside the longer questions have been taught.
Try it
Compare “Aaniindi wenjibaayan?” and “Aaniindi zaaga'igan?”. What changed?
Ending the conversation
Two documented partings
Ending the conversation
NewThe class day closes its dialogue with two ways to part — one word apart:
Giga-waabamin miinawaa
I will see you again
Giga-waabamin baanimaa
I will see you later
Spot the difference: the last word decides whether you'll meet again or just later.
Words from this class day
NewThe densest vocabulary day since the course began — 10 new entries, most of them small words a conversation runs on.
- View entry →AandiGrammar Word
where
- View entry →AaniindiGrammar Word
where is it
Needs review — the sources give more than one meaning for this word.
- View entry →Aaniindi dash
and where
- View entry →Aaniindiish
and where
- View entry →Giga-waabamin baanimaa
I will see you later
- View entry →Giga-waabamin miinawaa
I will see you again
- View entry →Indoonjibaa (indoonjii)Verb
I am from
- View entry →IwidiGrammar Word
over there
- View entry →Mii omaa
right here
- View entry →NiinGrammar Word
me, myself, I
Seen before
ReviewCheck your understanding
You don't need a perfect score — finishing is what completes the lesson.
Preparing your questions…
Finish this lesson
Work through the lesson's activities, then mark it complete. Your quiz score doesn't have to be perfect.
- Answer the question yourself — not yet done
- Recognise a documented reply — not yet done
- Sort out the family of where-words — not yet done
- Compare two documented questions — not yet done
- Finish Check your understanding — not yet done
Source
Every Ojibwe question, reply and word on this page is quoted from this class day's notes as the course wrote them; the English explanations were written for this app. One family member's bare gloss is not settled across the materials, and this lesson says so where it shows the word.