I. Inanimate Intransitive Verbs (VII)
Inanimate Intransitive Verbs are classified as such because they are 1) intransitive verbs (i.e. they do not take an object), and 2) the subject of the verb refers to an inanimate participant (or no participant at all). There are two main types of VII verb stems which will thus be subclassified as VII1 and VII2.
Both of these subclasses can be further divided based on whether the stem ends in a vowel (VII1v or VII2v) or an /n/ (VII1n or VII2n).
Impersonal VII Stems (VII1)
The first subclass of VII stems can have no participant specified at all. Such “impersonal” verbs, typically specifying natural states like weather and time, will lack plural forms. The example in (1) is a vowel-final stem (VII1v), while that in (2) is an /n/-final stem (VII1n). In each case, trying to put these verbs in the plural would sound as odd in Cree as using the plural subject “they” in English. As such, the plurals are marked with an asterisk (*) indicating an unacceptable verbal form.
(1) kīsikāw “it is day, it is daylight; it is daybreak” (but not *kīsikāwa “they are days”)
(2) kimiwan “it rains, it is raining, it is rainy” (but not *kimiwanwa “they are raining”)
Regular VII Stems (VII2)
Far more common are regular VII stems which can refer to both singular and plural inanimate participants. The example in (3) is a vowel-final stem (VII2v), while that in (4) is an /n/-final stem (VII1n).
(3) mihkwāw “it is red” (also e.g. mihkwāwa “they are red”)
(4) pahkihtin “it falls, it falls down, it drops” (also e.g. pahkihtinwa “they fall”)
VII Paradigms
VII stems of both types can occur in a number of forms beyond those exemplified above, and the total of all of the forms that a verb can occur in are referred to as its “paradigm” or its “conjugation”. All VII paradigms consist of two distinct sets or “Orders” based on the type of person marking. These two Orders are the Independent (sometimes also called the Indicative) and the Conjunct. The Conjunct can further be divided into its basic (indicative) and future conditional forms. Unlike the other Verb types that will be described subsequently, VII stems do not occur in the Imperative.
Basic VII1 paradigms consist minimally of both inanimate third person singular (0s) and obviative singular (0’s) forms in both the Independent and Conjunct Orders, with the Conjunct Order consisting of both basic (indicative) and future conditional forms, totalling 6 distinct forms. VII2 paradigms have all of those forms and add inanimate third person plural (0p) and obviative plural (0’p) in each of the Independent, basic Conjunct and future conditional forms for a total of twelve distinct forms. The basic paradigms can be further expanded by modifying the basic forms in a number of ways, including tense marking, aspect marking, grammatical preverb choice in the Conjunct, etc.
Each of these stem types and their paradigms will be presented in its own separate page:
VII1v vowel-final impersonal (singular only) inanimate intransitive stems
VII1n /n/-final impersonal (singular only) inanimate intransitive stems
VII2v vowel-final inanimate intransitive stems
VII2n /n/-final inanimate intransitive stems