# Miskito/Lesson 1

| Pronunciation | 1 | Nini Mary sa |
| > Next | 1 | Nini Mary sa |
| Contents | 1 | My name is Mary |

## Is

| Study | What do they mean? John is big. Luis is small. He is Pedro. She is Susan. She is young. She/He is poor. My name is Mary. My child is small. |
| Jan tara sa. Luis sirpi sa. Witin Pedro sa. Witin Susan sa. Witin tiara (female) sa. Witin umpira sa Nini Mary sa. Tuktiki sirpi sa. | What do they mean? John is big. Luis is small. He is Pedro. She is Susan. She is young. She/He is poor. My name is Mary. My child is small. |
* Practice
* Make a list of the words in these sentences and try to learn their meanings.
* Hide the meanings of the model sentences and try to remember what they mean.
* What do the following mean?
* Witin sirpi sa.
* Tuktiki tiara sa.
* Nini Jan sa.
* Pedro umpira sa. |
* Answers
* She/He is small.
* My child is young.
* My name is John.
* Pedro is poor. |
The verb usually comes at the end of a Miskito sentence. The first verb form you will learn is sa is. The subject often comes first in the sentence.
* Notice that Miskito grammar makes no gender distinctions. Both she and he are expressed by the same Miskito pronoun, witin.
* Notice that nini and tuktiki both mean my... (something), and both end in -i.

## This and that

| Study | What do they mean? This is John. This is my child. That is Lucia. That is my mother. |
| Naha Jan sa. Naha tuktiki sa. Baha Lucia sa. Baha yaptiki sa. | What do they mean? This is John. This is my child. That is Lucia. That is my mother. |
| Practice | What do these sentences mean? |
| Naha sirpi sa. Baha nini sa. Naha yaptiki sa. ||
| Answers This is small. That is my name. This is my mother. ||
The demonstrative pronouns are naha this and baha that.

## The

| Study | What do they mean? The woman is young. The man is young too. The book is big. This book is small. |
| Mairin ba tiara sa. Waitna ba sin tiara sa. Buk ba tara sa. Buk na sirpi sa. | What do they mean? The woman is young. The man is young too. The book is big. This book is small. |
| Practice | What do these sentences mean? |
| Waitna ba umpira sa. Mairin ba sin umpira sa. Mairin na yaptiki sa. ||
| Answers The man is poor. The woman is poor too. This woman is my mother. ||
The general definite article ("the") is ba. The article follows the noun. There is another article na which denotes something near the speaker, and so is translated by "this".
* Notice the parallellism between the demonstrative pronouns naha, baha and the articles na, ba!

## A

| Study | What do they mean? Susan is a woman. My mother is a woman too. My father is a man. This is a book. This dog is an animal. |
| Susan mairin kum sa. Yaptiki sin mairin kum sa. Aisiki waitna kum sa. Naha buk kum sa. Yul na daiwan kum sa. | What do they mean? Susan is a woman. My mother is a woman too. My father is a man. This is a book. This dog is an animal. |
| Practice | What do these sentences mean? |
| Pedro waitna kum sa. Naha yul kum sa. Baha daiwan kum sa. ||
| Answers Pedro is a man. This is a dog. That is an animal. ||
The indefinite definite article ("a" or "an") is kum. This article follows the noun too.
* Kum is also the number "one".

## Vocabulary and review

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Vocabulary
Miskito vocabulary ·
English vocabulary ·
Abbreviations ·
Subject index :
| aisiki my father ba det the baha pron that buk n book daiwan n animal kum det a, an mairin n woman | na det this naha pron this nini my name sa is sin too, also sirpi adj small tara adj big | tiara adj young tuktiki my child umpira adj poor waitna n man witin pron she, he yaptiki my mother yul n dog |
* Say in Miskito
* Review
* My name is John.
* Nini Jan sa.
* My father is big.
* Aisiki tara sa.
* He is young.
* Witin tiara sa.
* My mother is young too.
* Yaptiki sin tiara sa.
* That is my child.
* Baha tuktiki sa.
* This is a book.
* Naha buk kum sa.
* The woman is my mother.
* Mairin ba yaptiki sa.
* The man is my father.
* Waitna ba aisiki sa.
* My father is a man.
* Aisiki waitna kum sa.
* This animal is a dog.
* Daiwan na yul kum sa.
* Pronunciation
* > Next
* Contents