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How to use the Ojibwe People's Dictionary

m= pf I, me [the one or ones speaking, the first person]; my [the one or ones speaking, the first person]

madaabii vai s/he goes down to shore (or an open place)

madaabiiba'idiwag vai they run down to the water together

madaabiibatoo vai s/he runs down to the shore

madaabiibide vii it drives to shore

Paired with: madaabiibizo vai

madaabiibizo vai s/he drives to shore

Paired with: madaabiibide vii

madaabiidaabaadan vti drag it to the water

Paired with: madaabiidaabaazh vta

madaabiidaabaazh vta drag h/ or it (animate) to the water

Paired with: madaabiidaabaadan vti

madaabiidaabii'iwe vai s/he drives down to the shore

madaabiigozi vai s/he moves to the shore

madaabiijiwan vii it flows down to the shore

madaabiikawe vai s/he leaves tracks going down to the water

madaabiimon vii it (road or trail) leads to the shore

madaabiin vai + o

madaabiinigaadan vti carry it on the shoulder down to the shore, out of the bush

Paired with: madaabiinigaazh vta

madaabiinigaazh vta carry h/ or it (animate) on the shoulder down to the shore, out of the bush

Paired with: madaabiinigaadan vti

madaabiinige vai s/he carries something on h/ shoulder down to the shore, out of the bush

(applicative) madaabiinigaadan vti carry it on the shoulder down to the shore, out of the bush (applicative) madaabiinigaazh vta carry h/ or it (animate) on the shoulder down to the shore, out of the bush
madaabiinizhikaw vta chase h/ down to the lake or water

madaabiishkosiwe vai s/he goes out into a meadow

madaabiiwidamaw vta take, carry (it) down to the shore for h/

madaabiiwidoon vti2 take, carry it down to the shore

Paired with: madaabiiwizh vta

(benefactive) madaabiiwidamaw vta take, carry (it) down to the shore for h/ (detransitive) madaabiiwijige vai s/he takes, carries things down to the shore (verb of undergoing) madaabiiwijigaade vii it is taken, carried down to the shore (by someone), "they" take, carry it down to the shore (verb of undergoing) madaabiiwijigaazo vai s/he is taken, carried down to the shore (by someone), "they" take, carry h/ down to the shore
madaabiiwijigaade vii it is taken, carried down to the shore (by someone), "they" take, carry it down to the shore

madaabiiwijigaazo vai s/he is taken, carried down to the shore (by someone), "they" take, carry h/ down to the shore

madaabiiwijige vai s/he takes, carries things down to the shore

madaabiiwizh vta take, carry h/ or it (animate) down to the shore

Paired with: madaabiiwidoon vti2

The Ojibwe People's Dictionary is developed and maintained by:
Nora Livesay, Editor
John D. Nichols, Founder and Linguistic Editor

with support and collaboration from the University of Minnesota's Department of American Indian Studies and University Libraries.

Additional Resources

Many of the words in the Ojibwe People's Dictionary have related resources. Click through to the full dictionary entry to hear audio recordings, see images, read documents and watch videos. Here's a key to resource icons.

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Speakers & Regions Key

Individual speakers and speakers from different regions use different words when speaking. Each audio recording is marked with the initials of the Ojibwe speaker. Click on a speaker's initials to go to the speaker's bio page. If an Ojibwe word is particular to a certain region, it will be marked with a region code. Click on the region code to go to the Regions page.