verb conjugations

There are seven basic verb conjugations. Conjugations indicate the doer of each action. For example, "Ti" is he/she lives. “Ti” is the root verb and first conjugation (he/she lives-third person singular). "Wa" in the beginning of this word is Wati (or I live-first person singular.) The verb conjugation pattern is below. Verb conjugations by pronoun are I, you, we, they. Singular third person is she or he, with no change in the root verb.  

I (first person)= wa --- (wati ~ I live at)
you (second person)= ya --- (yati ~ you live at)
you all (plural second person)= ya + pi --- (yatipi ~ you all live at)
you and I (dual, the two of us)= un' --- (unti ~ you and I live at)
we (all of us)= un' + pi ---(untipi ~ we live at)
they (plural third person)= pi --- (tipi ~ they live at)

 

Dialects

Dialects separate some tribes from the others. Some use "D" while others use "L." Still, others use "N." For example, "Pidamaye," which is "thank you," can be "Pilamaye" in Lakota. The word "Un’kas’ina" is “grandfather” in Nakota The Lakota say Unkas’ila while others say Un’kas’ida. The dialects came about because of (and is a reflection of) their wide-ranging territory that included Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, Canada, and Wyoming. For this website, we will use the “D” dialect.