There exists a number of characteristics in Greenlandic that typically cost students problems. Therefore, today's X-exercises will repeat such structures over and over again.
The participle is by many considered annoying and difficult. This is not really fair for though the participle comes with a few unfamiliar features it is predictable in most respects. The real problem for acquiring the participle rather is that you as a learner have too many parameters in the air simultaneously so that you to start with do not catch the individual wordforms when you hear them in real life - and therefore get no useable input for your acquisition proces in spite of the fact that you actully will hear the participle hundreds of times in normal, daily conversation. Therefore we will use extra energy on the participle in exercise 2-1.5X and 2-1.6X where you will hear really many sentences with participle. Once you've worked your way through them you will find that the participle NOT is an insurmountable challenge after all!
For variation's sake we will include a few new endings and two new verbal stems (know that .. and think that ..) that typically accou in connection with the parciple.
New endings
Here you get a few examples with the familiar ending {Tuŋa}:
Eqqaamavara illit Nuummut aallartutit (I remember that you left for Nuuk)
Isumaqarpunga Arnannguaq Nuummut aallassasoq (I think that Arnannguaq will leave for Nuuk)
Nalunngiliuk uanga Nuummut aallassanngitsunga (Did you know that I shall leave for Nuuk)
The modal marker {Tu} swap between -su- after vowels and -tu- after consonants but a few details komplicate this simple rule.
There are some old t-stems as (aallar -NNGIT) where /i/ causes an s-sound in Central West Greenlandic (between Attu and Paamiut) so that for instance (aallar -NNGIT) {+Tu} {q} (.. that he did not leave) not turns out as expected *aallanngittoq
There used to be a rule in Greenlandic according to which /t/ became /s/ when preceded by /i/. Because of this /i/-rule (nalu -NNGIT -TAQ (one not unknown = an acquainted)) is nalunngisaq - not as could be exptected *nalunngitaq. In present day Greenlandic this s-rule is about to disappear. As one consequence is it hard to remember when it is still active and when not active, and you will come across lots of situations where the rule is active in written and grown-up language but no longer used in young spoken language. For instance is pikkorip {+Tu}{tit} (.. that you are smart) pikkorissutit, but in young language one often hears the regularized pikkorittutit insted. For you as a learner the rule of thumb is to go for the basic rule that T becomes /t/ after consonants and /s/ after vowels if you ever come in doubt about /s/ vs. /t/. By doing so you will never be misunderstood. Worst scenario will just make you sound a bit childish if you happen to use /t/ in a context where the majority of Greenlanders say /s/.
Definiteness (the difference between the woman and a woman) is not a grammatical category in Greenlandic as in English and most other languages you are familiar with as (Danish) kvinden vs. en kvinde or (French) la femme vs. une femme etc. But of cause Greenlandic has means to express differences of definiteness. It is only done without specific determiners or specific morphology.
The concept of transitivity is one of the means Greenlandic exploits to tell the difference between definite and indefinite forms. The object of a transitive verb is innate definite. In a sentence like Ilinniartitsisoq asavara ilinniartitsisoq therefore is definite (I love the teacher). An often heard way to build indefinite semantics in objects is to build the sentence with the passive verbal noun plus -QAR and remember to put the inderived object in the instrumental case as in ilinniartitsisoq_Ins asa_-TAQ_-QAR{vunga} = Ilinniartitsisumik asasaqarpunga (I love a teacher).
The combination verb_-TAQ_-QAR is a very frequent way to put indefinite objects and objects and objects that in English would be some, a number of .. etc. as in naapip_-TAQ_-QAR{vunga} = naapitaqarpunga (I met somebody), kalaaleq_Ins taku_-TAQ_-QAR{vuq} = Kalaallinik takusaqarpoq (She saw some Greenlanders).
So in spite of the fact that this structure is unfamiliar to start with it is a absolutely worth the effort to put some resources into the acquisition of it. That we will do in the exercises 2-1.7X and 2-1.8X. Some of the examples are admittedly a bit marginal in uncomplex context but the structure is frequent enough for you to learn to master it already before you have made it to some of the other elements that often go with it. Especially in possessor-possessum constructions (like possessives in English) they are very frequent. I include a few examples randomly chosen from contemporary texts: akilertariaqartagai = akiler(pay OBJ)+TARIAQAR+TAR+TAQ found in Sermitsiaq in the sentence ".. costs they .. [monthly] need to pay" or an example from a study book in nursing: akisariaqartakkagut = aki(answer OBJ)+TARIAQAR+TAR+TAQ ([questions] we need to answer).
Verbs
Pronoun