imperative


THE IMPERATIVE

The imperative is used to tell someone to do something, or indicate something that you would like to happen.

-git is used when you are speaking to one other person:

niri- nirigit
to eat Eat!
qai- qaigit
to come Come here!
If -git is added to a root ending in a q, the q is dropped and the affix -rit is used:

uqalimaaq- uqalimaarit
to read Read!
When telling someone to do something, there is often an object involved. In which, case we use different endings:

tuni- tuniguk
to bring bring it here!
tigu - tiguguk!
to take
 take it!
The endings above are fairly straightforward when talking to one person and when dealing with a single object.
What if we want to ask more than one person to do something?

qaigit Come here (speaking to 1 person)
qaigitsik Come here (speaking to 2 people)
qaigitsi Come here (speaking to 3 or more people)

But then, you have already seen these endings, way back in lesson 1:

tunngasugit Welcome! (to 1 person)
tunngasugitsik Welcome! (to 2 people)
tunngasugitsi Welcome! (to 3 people)

Remember the alternate ending when dealing with roots that end in q, like isiq-

isirit Come in (to 1 person)
isiritsik Come in (to 2 people)
isiritsi Come in (to 3 or more people)
and if we want to include one or more objects….
(speaking to one person)

qaiguk Bring it here.
qaikkik Bring the two of them here.
qaikkit Bring them here.