Northern Sami

Northern Sami
davvisámegiella
Native to	Norway, Sweden, Finland
Native speakers	ca. 25,000 (1992–2013)[1]
Language family	Uralic Sami Western Northern Sami
Writing system	Latin (Northern Sami alphabet) Northern Sami Braille
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Finland; Norway; Sweden[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-1	se
ISO 639-2	sme
ISO 639-3	sme
Glottolog	nort2671[3]

Northern or North Sami (davvisámegiella; disapproved exonym Lappish or Lapp), sometimes also simply referred to as Sami, is the most widely spoken of all Sami languages. The area where Northern Sami is spoken covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland. The number of Northern Sami speakers is estimated to be somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000. About 2,000 of these live in Finland^[4] and between 5,000 and 6,000 in Sweden.^[5]

History

A page from the 1638 edition of Svenske och Lappeske ABC Book with the Lord's Prayer in what is believed to be Northern Sami

Among the first printed Sami texts is Svenske och Lappeske ABC Book ("Swedish and Lappish ABC book"), written in Swedish and what is likely a form of Northern Sami. It was published in two editions in 1638 and 1640 and includes 30 pages of prayers and confessions of Protestant faith. It has been described as the first book "with a regular Sami language form".^[6]

Northern Sami was first described by Knud Leem (En lappisk Grammatica efter den Dialect, som bruges af Field-Lapperne udi Porsanger-Fiorden) in 1748 and in dictionaries in 1752 and 1768. One of Leem's fellow grammaticians was Anders Porsanger, who studied at the Trondheim Cathedral School and other schools, but who was unable to publish his work on Sami due to racist attitudes at the time. Unfortunately, the majority of his work has disappeared.

Roots

The roots of the current orthography for Northern Sami were laid by Rasmus Rask who, after discussions with Nils Vibe Stockfleth, published Ræsonneret lappisk sproglære efter den sprogart, som bruges af fjældlapperne i Porsangerfjorden i Finmarken. En omarbejdelse af Prof. Knud Leems Lappiske grammatica in 1832. Rask opted for a phonemic orthographic system. All of the orthographies that have been used for Northern Sami trace their roots back to Rask's system, unlike the orthographies used for Lule and Southern Sami, which are mainly based on the orthographical conventions of Swedish and Norwegian. Following in the tradition of Rask meant that diacritics were used with some consonants (č, đ, ŋ, š, ŧ and ž), which caused data-processing problems before Unicode was introduced. Both Stockfleth and J. A. Friis went on to publish grammar books and dictionaries for Sami. It can be said that Northern Sami was better described than Norwegian was before Ivar Aasen published his grammar on Norwegian.

Orthography

Northern Sami was and is used in three countries, each of which used its own orthography for years. Friis' orthography was used when work on translating the Bible into Northern Sami commenced, in the first Sami newspaper called Saǥai Muittalægje, and in the Finnemisjonen's own newspaper Nuorttanaste. The groundwork for Northern Sami lexicography was laid by Konrad Nielsen who used an orthography of his own creation in his dictionary Lappisk ordbok. Starting in 1948, the orthographies used in Norway and Sweden were combined into a single Bergsland-Ruong orthography. It was not greatly used in Norway. In addition, the authorities there instituted a policy that prohibited Sami from being used in practice.

In Sweden, classes were taught in Sami in the Sami schools, as the policy of Lapp ska vara lapp (Sami should be a Sami) was applied to those reindeer herders with the intention of keeping them separated from larger society. In 1979, an official orthography for Northern Sami was adopted for use in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Assimilation

Area number 5 illustrates the approximate distribution of Northern Sami in northern Scandinavia.

Trilingual border sign (Finnish, Swedish and Northern Sami) on the E8 road at the border between Norway and Finland, at Kilpisjärvi, Finland

The mass mobilization during the Alta controversy as well as a more tolerant political environment caused a change to the Norwegian policy of assimilation during the last decades of the twentieth century. In Norway, Northern Sami is currently an official language of two counties (Finnmark and Troms) and six municipalities (Kautokeino, Karasjok, Nesseby, Tana, Porsanger and Gáivuotna (Kåfjord)). Sami born before 1977 have never learned to write Sami according to the currently used orthography in school, so it is only in recent years that there have been Sami capable of writing their own language for various administrative positions.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonant inventory of Northern Sami is large, consisting of three different series of plosives/affricates (voiceless, voiced and preaspirated) and two series of nasals (plain and glottalized). In addition, length (gemination) is contrastive for almost all consonants.

Northern Sami consonants^[7]

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	plain	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
	glottalized	ʔm	ʔn		ʔɲ
Plosive / Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡s	t͡ʃ	k
	voiced	b	d	d͡z	d͡ʒ	ɡ
	preaspirated	ʰp	ʰt	ʰt͡s	ʰt͡ʃ	ʰk
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	ʃ	h
	voiced	v	ð
Approximant	central				j
	lateral			l	ʎ
Trill				ɲ

• /v/ is realised as a labiodental fricative [v] in the syllable onset (before a vowel), and as bilabial [β] or [w] in the syllable coda (before a consonant).^[7] Although [v] is a fricative, it behaves phonologically like an approximant, in particular like /j/.

All consonants can be geminated (held longer), except for /h/. This distinction is phonemically contrastive and widely productive as a grammatical feature. Geminated glottalized nasals are realised with the glottalization in between the two consonants (/mʔm/, /nʔn/, /ɲʔɲ/). In geminated preaspirated consonants, it is the preaspiration that lengthens rather than the occlusion (/hːp/, /hːt/, /hːts/, /hːtʃ/, /hːk/).^[7]

Except for glottalized or preaspirated consonants, /h/, /j/ or /ʎ/, all consonants also possess a third "overlong" length. Overlong consonants are somewhat longer still than regular long consonants. However, vowels are shortened by a following overlong consonant, so it is unclear whether the consonant or the vowel length is contrastive. Overlong consonants are not indicated in the standard orthography, but are commonly denoted with an apostrophe between the two consonant letters (⟨p'p⟩, ⟨m'm⟩ etc.) in reference works when the distinction is relevant.^[7]

Vowels

Northern Sami possesses the following monophthongs:

	Front	Back
Close	i /i/	u /u/
Mid	e /e/	o /o/
Open	á /a/	a /ɑ/

Several diphthongs also exist, all of the opening type. They are only present in stressed syllables.

	Front	Back
Close to mid	ie /ie̯/	uo /uo̯/
Mid to open	ea /eæ̯/	oa /oɑ̯/

Closing diphthongs such as ái also exist, but these are phonologically composed of a vowel plus one of the semivowels /v/ or /j/. The semivowels still behave as consonants in clusters.

Prosody

Stress is generally not phonemic in Northern Sami, the first syllable of a word is normally stressed. Like most Sami languages, Northern Sami follows a pattern of alternating (trochaic) stress, in which each odd-numbered syllable is relatively stressed and even-numbered syllables are unstressed. The last syllable of a word is never stressed, unless the word has only one syllable.

Consequently, words can follow three possible patterns:

• A single stressed syllable.
• An even number of syllables: Ending in a stressed odd-numbered syllable followed by an unstressed even-numbered syllable.
• An odd number of syllables: Ending in a stressed odd-numbered syllable followed by an unstressed even-numbered syllable, and an unstressed odd-numbered (final) syllable.

This gives the following pattern, which can be extended indefinitely in theory. S indicates stress, _ indicates no stress:

• S
• S _
• S _ _
• S _ S _
• S _ S _ _
• S _ S _ S _
• etc.

The number of syllables, and the resulting stress pattern, is important for grammatical reasons. Words with stems having an even number of syllables inflect differently from words with stems having an odd number of syllables. This is detailed further in the grammar section.

Some recent loanwords such as kultuvra ("culture") or advearba ("adverb") have a stressed second syllable instead. The stress pattern is the same as for words with initial stress, except shifted by one syllable.

In compound words, which consist of several distinct word roots, each word retains its own stress pattern. If the first element of a compound has an odd number of syllables, then there will be a sequence of two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed one, which does not occur in non-compound words. Hence, stress is lexically significant in that it can theoretically distinguish compounds from non-compounds.

Conjunctions, postpositions, particles, and monosyllabic pronouns tend to be unstressed altogether, and therefore fall outside the above rules.

Syntax

Northern Sami is an SVO language.

Orthography

Northern Sami has a long orthographic history, which has had no fewer than 9 Latin alphabets.

Until the official orthography currently in use was adopted in 1979, each country had its own, slightly different standard, so it is quite possible to come across older books that are difficult to understand for people unacquainted with the orthography:

1. Maanat leät poahtan skuvllai.
2. Mánát leat boahtán skuvlii.

(The children have come to school.)

The first sentence is from Antti Outakoski's Samekiela kiellaoahpa from 1950; the second one is how it would be written according to the current orthography.

Alphabet

The most recent alphabet was approved in 1979 and last modified in 1985:

Sami	Name	IPA	English approximation
A a	a	/ɑ/	spa
Á á	á	/a/	chai
B b	be	/b/	bat
C c	ce	/ts/	lets
Č č	če	/tʃ/	chew
D d	de	/d/	do
Đ đ	đe	/ð/	this
E e	e	/e/	sleigh
F f	áf	/f/	fun
G g	ge	/ɡ/	go
H h	ho	/h/	help
I i	i	/i/, /j/ (after a vowel)	me
J j	je	/j/	yes
K k	ko	/k/	cat
L l	ál	/l/	lip
M m	ám	/m/	myth
N n	án	/n/	no
Ŋ ŋ	áŋ	/ŋ/	sing
O o	o	/o/	go
P p	pe	/p/	park
R r	ár	/r/	(trilled) rat
S s	ás	/s/	sip
Š š	áš	/ʃ/	shed
T t	te	/t/	told
Ŧ ŧ	ŧe	/θ/	thick
U u	u	/u/	do
V v	ve	/v/	vex
Z z	ez	/dz/	rods
Ž ž	ež	/dʒ/	joke

The phoneme /j/ is written as j when a vowel follows, as i otherwise.

When typing, if there is no way of entering the letters particular to Northern Sami (Áá Čč Đđ Ŋŋ Šš Ŧŧ Žž) correctly, an acute accent is sometimes placed over the corresponding Latin letter as a substitute.^[8] These substitutions are still found in books printed after the common orthography was adopted due to system limitations when typing.

Dialects

Northern Sami can be divided into four major dialect groups: Torne, East Finnmark, West Finnmark (written standard) and Sea Sami.

Grammar

Northern Sami is an agglutinative, highly inflected language that shares many grammatical features with the other Uralic languages. Sami has also developed considerably into the direction of fusional and inflected morphology, much like Estonian to which it is distantly related. Therefore, morphemes are marked not only by suffixes but also by morphophonological modifications to the root. Of the various morphophonological alterations, the most important and complex is the system of consonant gradation.

Consonant gradation

Consonant gradation is a pattern of alternations between pairs of consonants that appears in the inflection of words. The system of consonant gradation in Northern Sami is complex, especially compared to that found in the Finnic languages. A word stem can appear in two grades: the strong grade and the weak grade. Historically, the weak grade appeared when the syllable in which the consonant appeared was closed (ended in another consonant), but the loss of certain vowels or consonants have obscured this in Northern Sami and it is now a more-or-less opaque process.

Consonants show a three-level gradation pattern, with higher level being "stronger" in some sense. A given word can alternate either between level 3 in the strong grade and level 2 in the weak grade, or between level 2 in the strong grade and level 1 in the weak grade. The level of a consonant depends on how it interacts with the preceding vowel: a vowel is always shortened when a level 3 consonant follows. Thus, all consonant clusters (combinations of different consonants) have level 3/2 gradation, only non-clusters can be level 1.

Non-clusters

The full three-level patterns apply to short, long and overlong consonants of any type, except for long voiced/voiceless occlusives.

Level 2 → level 1 alternations:

• Short preaspirated occlusives in the strong grade become short voiced in the weak grade. Note however that ⟨ht⟩ gradates to the fricative ⟨đ⟩ rather than the plosive ⟨d⟩.
• Short glottalized nasals in the strong grade become short plain nasals in the weak grade.
• Long non-occlusive non-glottalized consonants in the strong grade become short in the weak grade.

Level 3 → level 2 alternations:

• Long preaspirated occlusives in the strong grade become short preaspirated in the weak grade.
• Long glottalized nasals in the strong grade become short glottalized nasals in the weak grade.
• Overlong non-occlusive non-glottalized consonants in the strong grade become long in the weak grade.

Note that short ⟨lj⟩ does not occur, and the consonant only has level 3/2 gradation.

Level 3	Level 2	Level 1
Long preasp.	Short preasp.	Short voiced
hpp	hp	b
htt	ht	đ
hcc	hc	z
hčč	hč	ž
hkk	hk	g
Long glott.	Short glott.	Short plain
bm	pm	m
dn	tn	n
dnj	tnj	nj
gŋ	kŋ	ŋ
Overl.	Long	Short
m'm	mm	m
n'n	nn	n
n'nj	nnj	nj
ŋ'ŋ	ŋŋ	ŋ
f'f	ff	f
đ'đ	đđ	đ
s's	ss	s
š'š	šš	š
ŧ'ŧ	ŧŧ	ŧ
l'l	ll	l
r'r	rr	r
v'v	vv	v
llj	lj

Long voiced/voiceless occlusives

Long voiced occlusives alternate with long voiceless occlusives. These behave as clusters, and are therefore level 3/2 in terms of weight.

Level 3	Level 2
Long voiced	Long voiceless
bb	pp
dd	tt
zz	cc
žž	čč
gg	kk

An exception here is ⟨dj⟩, which has three levels.

Level 3	Level 2	Level 1
ddj	dj	j

Clusters ending with glottalized nasal

Clusters ending with glottalized nasals can behave in two ways. If the first member of the cluster is ⟨r⟩, then the nasal changes from long glottalized to short glottalized. In other cases, the nasal changes to long plain.

Level 3	Level 2
Long glott.	Short glott.
rbm	rpm
rdn	rtn
rdnj	rtnj
rgŋ	rkŋ
Long glott.	Long plain
*bm	*mm
*dn	*nn
*dnj	*nnj
*gŋ	*ŋŋ

Other clusters

All other clusters have doubling of the final consonant of the cluster in the weak grade. In clusters beginning with ⟨k⟩, the ⟨k⟩ itself also changes to ⟨v⟩.

Level 3	Level 2
Consonants + short	Consonants + long
*b	*bb
*c	*cc
*č	*čč
*d	*dd
*f	*ff
*g	*gg
*hl	*hll
*hm	*hmm
*hn	*hnn
*j	*jj
*k	*kk
*l	*ll
*p	*pp
*r	*rr
*s	*ss
*š	*šš
*t	*tt
*v	*vv
*z	*zz
*ž	*žž
⟨k⟩ + short	⟨v⟩ + long
kt	vtt
kc	vcc
kč	včč
ks	vss
kst	vstt
kš	všš

Diphthong simplification

Diphthong simplification is a process whereby a diphthong loses its second component and becomes a monophthong:

• ie → i: viehkat "to run" → vihken "I ran"
• ea → e: eadni "mother" → etniid "of the mothers"
• oa → o: goarrut "to sew" → gorro! "sew!"
• uo → u: guoika "waterfall" → guikii "into the waterfall"

Diphthong simplification mostly occurs when the next syllable contains one of the vowels e or o, or the sequences ii or ui. However, there are exceptions, both systematic and unpredictable, so the process is not purely phonological. For example, in nouns with stems ending in -u, simplification occurs in the illative singular (viessu "house" → vissui "into the house") but not in any of the plural forms (viessuide "into the houses").

Changes to word-final consonants

Only a limited number of consonants is allowed at the end of a word. Therefore, consonants will be modified when they come to stand word-finally. The following table shows these changes:

Original	Final
b, hp	t
d, ht	t
g, hk	t
c, z	s
č, ž	š
h	t
j	i
m	n

When a consonant cluster appears word-finally, all consonants except the first are removed.

Inflection types

All inflected words, whether nouns, adjectives or verbs, can be divided into three main inflectional classes. The division is based on whether there is an even or odd number of syllables from the last stressed syllable to the end of the word.

• Words with even inflection (bárrastávvalsánit, also called "vowel stems") have an even number of syllables from the last stressed syllable of the stem; usually two, but sometimes also four.
• Words with odd inflection (bárahisstávvalsánit, also called "consonant stems") have an odd number of syllables from the last stressed syllable of the stem; usually three, but very rarely one or five.
• Words with contracted inflection (?) have an even number of syllables from the last stressed syllable of the stem, but have the consonant gradation pattern of odd-inflection words. If the gradation has three levels, the strong grade is always level 3.

For nouns and adjectives, the stem is taken from the accusative/genitive singular rather than the nominative, as the latter often drops the final vowel and sometimes also the preceding consonant. For verbs, the infinitive is used to determine the stem, by removing the infinitive ending -t.

Words with even and contracted inflection can be divided further, based on the final vowel of the stem. For even-inflected words, this vowel is most commonly a, i or u, while for contracted words it is mostly á, e or o. Words with odd inflection are not differentiated by stem-final vowel.

Nouns

Nouns inflect in singular (ovttaidlohku) and plural (máŋggaidlohku), and also for one of 7 cases. The following table shows the general endings; the actual forms can differ based on consonant gradation and the inflection type of the word.

Case	Singular ending	Plural ending	Meaning/use
Nominative (nominatiiva)	-∅	-t	Subject
Accusative (akkusatiiva)	-∅	-id	Object
Genitive (genitiiva)	-∅	-id	Possession, relation
Illative (illatiiva)	-i	-ide, -idda	Motion towards/onto/into
Locative (lokatiiva)	-s	-in	Being at/on/in, motion from/off/out of
Comitative (komitatiiva)	-in	-iguin	With, in company of, by means of
Essive (essiiva)	-n, -in		As, in the role of, under condition of (when)

The accusative and genitive are always identical. There is no singular/plural distinction in the essive, so that for example mánnán is interpreted as either "as a child" or "as children".

Nouns with even inflection

Nouns with even inflection have consonant gradation of the last consonant in the stem. The strong grade appears in the nominative, illative and essive singular, while the weak grade appears in the remaining forms.

The most common of this type are the nouns with a stem ending in -a, -i or slightly rarer -u.

	giehta "hand" Stem in -a		oaivi "head" Stem in -i		ruoktu "home" Stem in -u
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	giehta	gieđat	oaivi	oaivvit	ruoktu	ruovttut
Accusative	gieđa	gieđaid	oaivvi	oivviid	ruovttu	ruovttuid
Genitive	gieđa	gieđaid	oaivvi, oaivve	oivviid	ruovttu, ruovtto	ruovttuid
Illative	gihtii	gieđaide	oaivái	oivviide	ruktui	ruovttuide
Locative	gieđas	gieđain	oaivvis	oivviin	ruovttus	ruovttuin
Comitative	gieđain	gieđaiguin	oivviin	oivviiguin	ruovttuin	ruovttuiguin
Essive	giehtan		oaivin		ruoktun

Even-syllable nouns with a stem ending in -á, -e or -o also exist, but are much rarer.

	guoddá "pillow" Stem in -á		baste "spoon" Stem in -e		gáivo "well" Stem in -o
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	guoddá	guottát	baste	basttet	gáivo	gáivvot
Accusative	guottá	guottáid	bastte	basttiid	gáivvo	gáivvuid
Genitive	guottá	guottáid	bastte	basttiid	gáivvo	gáivvuid
Illative	guoddái	guottáide	bastii	basttiide	gáivui	gáivvuide
Locative	guottás	guottáin	basttes	basttiin	gáivvos	gáivvuin
Comitative	guottáin	guottáiguin	basttiin	basttiiguin	gáivvuin	gáivvuiguin
Essive	guoddán		basten		gaivon

Even-syllable nouns with four or more syllables sometimes drop the final vowel in the nominative singular. Consequently, simplification of the final consonant occurs. The stem of these nouns always ends in -a.

	sápmelaš "Sami person"
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sápmelaš	sápmelaččat
Accusative	sápmelačča	sápmelaččaid
Genitive	sápmelačča	sápmelaččaid
Illative	sápmelažžii	sápmelaččaide
Locative	sápmelaččas	sápmelaččain
Comitative	sápmelaččain	sápmelaččaiguin
Essive	sápmelažžan

Nouns with odd inflection

Nouns with odd inflection have consonant gradation. The weak grade appears in the nominative and essive singular, while the strong grade appears in the remaining forms. Some nouns also have other alternations in the stem of the strong grade, such as changes of i to á, u to o, or addition of a consonant.

	ganjal "tear (eye)"		lávlla "song" Extra consonant		mielddus "copy" Vowel change + monophtongization
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ganjal	gatnjalat	lávlla	lávlagat	mielddus	mildosat
Accusative	gatnjala	gatnjaliid	lávlaga	lávlagiid	mildosa	mildosiid
Genitive	gatnjala	gatnjaliid	lávlaga	lávlagiid	mildosa	mildosiid
Illative	gatnjalii	gatnjaliidda	lávlagii	lávlagiidda	mildosii	mildosiidda
Locative	gatnjalis	gatnjaliin	lávlagis	lávlagiin	mildosis	mildosiin
Comitative	gatnjaliin	gatnjaliiguin	lávlagiin	lávlagiiguin	mildosiin	mildosiiguin
Essive	ganjalin		lávllan		mielddusin

Nouns with contracted inflection

Nouns with contracted inflection have consonant gradation. The pattern follows that of odd-inflection nouns, with the weak grade in the nominative and essive singular, and the strong grade in the remainder. If the weak grade is level 1, the strong grade will be level 3. The final syllable is generally altered along with the gradation as well.

	čeavrris "otter" Stem in -á-		boazu "reindeer" Stem in -o-
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	čeavrris	čeavrát	boazu	bohccot
Accusative	čeavrá	čeavráid	bohcco	bohccuid
Genitive	čeavrá	čeavráid	bohcco	bohccuid
Illative	čeavrái	čeavráide	bohccui	bohccuide
Locative	čeavrás	čeavráin	bohccos	bohccuin
Comitative	čeavráin	čeavráiguin	bohccuin	bohccuiguin
Essive	čeavrrisin		boazun

Possessive suffixes

The possessive suffixes are similar in meaning to the English personal possessive determiners my, your, their and so on. There are 9 possessive suffixes: one for each person in singular, dual and plural. Possessive suffixes attach to the end of a noun, after the case ending. Thus, for example, ruovttus "in a house" may become ruovttustan "in my house".

Like noun case endings, the suffixes have different forms depending on whether they are attached to a stem with an even or odd number of syllables, and (in the case of even-syllable stems) depending on the last vowel of the stem. The following table shows the suffixes:

	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st du.	2nd du.	3rd du.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Even in -a	-an	-at	-as	-ame	-ade	-aska	-amet	-adet	-aset
Even in -á	-án	-át	-ás	-áme	-áde	-áska	-ámet	-ádet	-áset
Even in -e	-en	-et	-es	-eme	-ede	-eska	-emet	-edet	-eset
Even in -i	-án	-át	-is	-áme	-áde	-iska	-ámet	-ádet	-iset
Even in -o	-on	-ot	-os	-ome	-ode	-oska	-omet	-odet	-oset
Even in -u	-on	-ot	-us	-ome	-ode	-uska	-omet	-odet	-uset
Odd	-an	-at	-is	-eame	-eatte	-easkka	-eamet	-eattet	-easet

The suffixes attach to a combination of noun plus case ending, so the stem that the suffix is attached to may not be the stem of the noun. Rather, a new "possessive stem" is formed from the noun with its case ending included. This stem is not always identical to the ending of the noun on its own; some case endings undergo modifications or the addition of a final vowel. Thus, certain cases may have possessive stems that inherently end in -a, other cases may have -i, but this is only significant if the combination has an even number of syllables.

The following table shows the possessive stems for each case, for four of the nouns whose inflection was given above. If the stem ends in a vowel, it is even and the suffixes with the matching vowel are used. If the stem ends in a consonant, it is odd and the odd endings are used.

	giehta "hand" Even in -a		oaivi "head" Even in -i		ruoktu "home" Even in -u		lávlla "song" Odd
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	giehta-	?	oaivi-	?	ruoktu-	?	lávlag-	?
Accusative	giehta-, gieđa-	gieđaid-	oaivi-	oivviid-	ruoktu-	ruovttuid-	lávlag-	lávlagiiddi-
Genitive	giehta-, gieđa-	gieđaid-	oaivi-	oivviid-	ruoktu-	ruovttuid-	lávlag-	lávlagiiddi-
Illative	giehtas-	gieđaidasa-	oaivás-	oivviidasa-	ruktos-	ruovttuidasa-	lávlagasa-	lávlagiiddás-
Locative	gieđast-	gieđain-	oaivvist-	oivviin-	ruovttust-	ruovttuin-	lávlagistti-	lávlagiinni-
Comitative	gieđain-	gieđaid- -guin	oivviin-	oivviid- -guin	ruovttuin-	ruovttuid- -guin	lávlagiinni-	lávlagiiddi- -guin
Essive	giehtan-		oaivin-		ruoktun-		?

In the comitative plural, the possessive suffix attaches between the possessive stem and the final -guin.

As can be seen in the table, for the nominative, accusative and genitive singular cases, the possessive stem is identical to the noun stem. The stem also undergoes consonant gradation in the accusative and genitive singular forms, and endings beginning with e or o also trigger diphthong simplification. The noun is in the strong grade with the first-person possessive suffixes, and in the weak grade with the second- and third-person possessives.

The possessive forms of ruoktu are:

Case/number	1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st du.	2nd du.	3rd du.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.
Nominative singular	rukton	ruktot	ruoktus	ruktome	ruktode	ruoktuska	ruktomet	ruktodet	ruoktuset
Accusative/genitive singular	rukton	ruvttot	ruovttus	ruktome	ruvttode	ruovttuska	ruktomet	ruvttodet	ruovttuset
Illative singular	ruktosan	ruktosat	ruktosis	ruktoseame	ruktoseatte	ruktoseaskka	ruktoseamet	ruktoseattet	ruktoseaset
Locative singular	ruovttustan	ruovttustat	ruovttustis	ruovttusteame	ruovttusteatte	ruovttusteaskka	ruovttusteamet	ruovttusteattet	ruovttusteaset
Comitative singular	ruovttuinan	ruovttuinat	ruovttuinis	ruovttuineame	ruovttuineatte	ruovttuineaskka	ruovttuineamet	ruovttuineattet	ruovttuineaset
Accusative/genitive plural	ruovttuidan	ruovttuidat	ruovttuidis	ruovttuideame	ruovttuideatte	ruovttuideaskka	ruovttuideamet	ruovttuideattet	ruovttuideaset
Illative plural	ruovttuidasan	ruovttuidasat	ruovttuidasas	ruovttuidasame	ruovttuidasade	ruovttuidasaska	ruovttuidasamet	ruovttuidasadet	ruovttuidasaset
Locative plural	ruovttuinan	ruovttuinat	ruovttuinis	ruovttuineame	ruovttuineatte	ruovttuineaskka	ruovttuineamet	ruovttuineattet	ruovttuineaset
Comitative plural	ruovttuidanguin	ruovttuidatguin	ruovttuidisguin	ruovttuideameguin	ruovttuideatteguin	ruovttuideaskkaguin	ruovttuideametguin	ruovttuideattetguin	ruovttuideasetguin
Essive	ruoktunan	ruoktunat	ruoktunis	ruoktuneame	ruoktuneatte	ruoktuneaskka	ruoktuneamet	ruoktuneattet	ruoktuneaset

Adjectives

Adjectives inflect the same as nouns do, and have the same cases and inflection types.

Attributive form

Adjectives also have an additional form, the attributive form (attribuhttahápmi). This form is used when the adjective is used attributively, where it precedes the noun. The attributive does not receive any endings, so it does not have cases or number. Its formation is also unpredictable: for some adjectives, it's formed from the nominative singular by adding an extra ending of some kind to the stem, while for others the attributive is formed by removing part of the stem. It may also be identical to the nominative singular. Some examples:

Nom. singular	Stem	Attributive	Meaning
boaris	boarás- (odd)	boares	old
čáppat	čábbá- (contracted)	čáppa	beautiful
čielggas	čielggas- (odd)	čielga	clear, transparent
čieŋal	čieŋal- (odd)	čiekŋalis	deep
duohta	duohta- (even)	duohta	true
duolvvas	duolvas- (odd)	duolva	dirty
gievra	gievra- (even)	gievrras	strong
guhkki	guhkki- (even)	guhkes	long
mohkkái	mohkká- (contracted)	mohkkás	complicated
ruoksat	ruoksad- (odd)	rukses	red
šealgat	šealgad- (odd)	šealges	shiny
uhcci	uhcci- (even)	uhca	small

Not all adjectives have an attributive form. For example, the frequently-used adjective buorre "good" has only case forms. When there is no attributive form, this doesn't mean it can't be used attributively. Instead, the case and number of the adjective matches that of the noun it is an attribute of (as in for example Finnish).

Comparison

	buoret "better" Odd inflection in -u		buoremus "best" Even inflection in -a
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	buoret	buorebut	buoremus	buoremusat
Accusative	buorebu	buorebuid	buoremusa	buoremusaid
Genitive	buorebu	buorebuid	buoremusa	buoremusaid
Illative	buorebui	buorebuidda	buoremussii	buoremusaide
Locative	buorebus	buorebuin	buoremusas	buoremusain
Comitative	buorebuin	buorebuiguin	buoremusain	buoremusaiguin
Essive	buorebun		buoremussan

	boaráset "older" Even inflection in -o		boaráseamos "oldest" Odd inflection
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	boaráset	boaráseappot	boaráseamos	boarásepmosat
Accusative	boaráseappo	boaráseappuid	boarásepmosa	boarásepmosiid
Genitive	boaráseappo	boaráseappuid	boarásepmosa	boarásepmosiid
Illative	boarásebbui	boaráseappuide	boarásepmosii	boarásepmosiidda
Locative	boaráseappos	boaráseappuin	boarásepmosis	boarásepmosiin
Comitative	boaráseappuin	boaráseappuiguin	boarásepmosiin	boarásepmosiiguin
Essive	boaráseabbon		boaráseamosin

Pronouns and determiners

Personal pronouns

The personal pronouns inflect irregularly, and also have a third number, the dual (guvttiidlohku). The dual is used to refer to exactly two people. The following table shows the forms.

Case	mun, mon "I"	don "you (sg.)"	son "he, she"
Nominative	mun, mon	don	son
Accusative	mu	du	su
Genitive	mu	du	su
Illative	munnje	dutnje	sutnje
Locative	mus	dus	sus
Comitative	muinna	duinna	suinna
Essive	munin	dunin	sunin
Case	moai "we two"	doai "you two"	soai "they two"
Nominative	moai	doai	soai
Accusative	mun'no	dudno	sudno
Genitive	mun'no	dudno	sudno
Illative	mun'nuide	dudnuide	sudnuide
Locative	mun'nos	dudnos	sudnos
Comitative	mun'nuin	dudnuin	sudnuin
Essive	mun'non	dudnon	sudnon
Case	mii "we (all)"	dii "you (all)"	sii "they (all)"
Nominative	mii	dii	sii
Accusative	min	din	sin
Genitive	min	din	sin
Illative	midjiide	didjiide	sidjiide
Locative	mis	dis	sis
Comitative	minguin	dinguin	singuin
Essive	minin	dinin	sinin

Demonstratives

The five demonstrative determiners/pronouns inflect somewhat irregularly as well. The nominative singular and nominative plural are identical, and some other cases have endings not found in nouns.

	dat "it, the (aforementioned)"		dát "this (near speaker)"		diet "that (near listener)"		duot "that (not near either)"		dot "that, yonder (very far)"
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dat	dat	dát	dát	diet	diet	duot	duot	dot	dot
Accusative	dan	daid	dán	dáid	dien	dieid	duon	duoid	don	doid
Genitive	dan	daid	dán	dáid	dien	dieid	duon	duoid	don	doid
Illative	dasa	daidda	dása	dáidda	diesa	dieidda	duosa	duoidda	dosa	doidda
Locative	das	dain	dás	dáin	dies	diein	duos	duoin	dos	doin
Comitative	dainna	daiguin	dáinna	dáiguin	dieinna	dieiguin	duoinna	duoiguin	doinna	doiguin
Essive	danin		dánin		dienin		duonin		donin

When these words modify a noun rather than standing alone, the demonstrative is in the same case as the noun, with the following exceptions:

• A noun in the illative or locative singular is preceded by a demonstrative in the accusative/genitive singular form.
• A noun in the comitative plural is preceded by a demonstrative in either the comitative or the accusative/genitive plural form.

Interrogatives

The interrogative/relative pronouns/determiners gii "who" and mii "what" are likewise irregular.

	gii "who"		mii "what, which"
Case	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gii	geat	mii	mat
Accusative	gean	geaid	man, máid	maid
Genitive	gean	geaid	man	maid
Illative	geasa	geaidda	masa	maidda
Locative	geas	geain	mas	main
Comitative	geainna	geaiguin	mainna	maiguin
Essive	geanin		manin

In the accusative singular of mii, there are two possible forms. The "regular" form man is used when there is an implication of a choice from a limited number of options. The form máid has no such implication.

These two pronouns, as well as other interrogatives (which inflect regularly) can act as determiners and modify nouns. The rules for which case to use are the same as for the demonstrative. The form máid is followed by a noun in the accusative plural form.

Reflexive pronoun

The reflexive pronoun is ieš (dual and plural ieža), meaning myself, yourself, himself, herself and so on. In its base form, the pronoun occurs only in the nominative case and is never used on its own; it always occurs next to the subject of the sentence, where it acts as an adverb to strengthen it. Compare for example sentences such as I myself have never seen it..

The other cases can occur by themselves, but only in the singular, and are always used in combination with a possessive suffix that matches the subject of the sentence (i.e. always I see myself, never I see himself). These forms are irregular as well as suppletive: the illative and locative forms derive from completely different roots. There are also several alternative stems.

Case	Possessive stem	Notes
Accusative	ieža- (iehča-)	The stem iehča- is only used with first-person possessives.
Genitive	ieža- (iehča-)
Illative	alcces-, alcce-, allas- (alcca-)	The stem alcca- is only used with first- and second-person possessives.
Locative	alddi-, alddest- (alddiin-, alddán-)	The stems alddiin- and alddán- are only used with dual and plural possessives.
Comitative	iežain-
Essive	iehčan-

Verbs

Verbal categories

The conjugation of Northern Sami verbs resembles that of Finnish. There are three grammatical persons (persovnnat), and three grammatical numbers (logut), singular, dual and plural. There are four or five grammatical moods (vuogit):

• indicative (indikatiiva or duohtavuohki), indicating real events or statements of fact.
• imperative (imperatiiva or gohččunvuohki), indicating commands.
• optative (optatiiva or ávžžuhusvuohki), indicating wishes, things that the speaker would like to see done or realised. The optative is not usually considered a distinct mood, but is generally combined with the imperative.
• conditional (konditionála or eaktovuohki), indicating conditional or hypothetical statements, like the English subjunctive and the verb "would".
• potential (potientiála or veadjinvuohki), indicating ability or possibility.

Tense is also distinguished, but only in the indicative. There are two tenses (tempusat):

• present (preseansa or dálá áigi), which is also used for future events (nonpast tense).
• past (preterihtta or vássán áigi).

Finally, there are several non-finite forms.

• infinitive, the dictionary form of a verb.
• Present participle, an adjective indicating a current or ongoing action.
• Past participle, an adjective indicating a past or completed action.
• Action noun, a noun that indicates the action itself. The locative and essive cases of the noun have additional uses in phrasal constructions.
  • Action essive, which indicates "in the process of" or "in the act of" and is used as a complement of the verb leat "to be".
• Gerund, an uninflected adverbial form that indicates "while" performing the verb's action.
• Verbal abessive, an adverbial form indicating "without" doing the verb.
• Verbal genitive, an adverbial form often used to indicate the way/method, accompanied by a verb of motion. It only exists for some verbs and is not very productive.
• Supine, which expresses "in order to". It is only used in western Northern Sami dialects.

Verbs with even inflection

	Present indicative	Past indicative	Imperative/ optative	Conditional	Potential
1st singular	viegan	vihken	vihkon	viegašin, viegašedjen	viegažan
2nd singular	viegat	vihket	viega	viegašit, viegašedjet	viegažat
3rd singular	viehká	viegai	vihkos	viegašii	viegaža, viegaš
1st dual	vihke	viegaime	viehkku	viegašeimme	viegažetne
2nd dual	viehkabeahtti	viegaide	viehkki	viegašeidde	viegažeahppi
3rd dual	viehkaba	viegaiga	vihkoska	viegašeigga	viegažeaba
1st plural	viehkat	viegaimet	vihkot, viehkkut	viegašeimmet	viegažit, viegažat
2nd plural	viehkabehtet	viegaidet	vihket, viehkkit	viegašeiddet	viegažehpet
3rd plural	vihket	vihke	vihkoset	viegaše, viegašedje	viegažit
Connegative	viega	viehkan	viega	viegaše	viegaš

	Present indicative	Past indicative	Imperative/ optative	Conditional	Potential
1st singular	ealán	ellen	ellon	ealášin, ealášedjen	eležan
2nd singular	ealát	ellet	ele	ealášit, ealášedjet	eležat
3rd singular	eallá	elii	ellos	ealášii	eleža, eleš
1st dual	elle	eliime	eal'lu	ealášeimme	eležetne
2nd dual	eallibeahtti	eliide	eal'li	ealášeidde	eležeahppi
3rd dual	ealliba	eliiga	elloska	ealášeigga	eležeaba
1st plural	eallit	eliimet	ellot, eal'lut	ealášeimmet	eležit, eležat
2nd plural	eallibehtet	eliidet	ellet, eal'lit	ealášeiddet	eležehpet
3rd plural	ellet	elle	elloset	ealáše, ealášedje	eležit
Connegative	ele	eallán	eale	ealáše	eleš

	Present indicative	Past indicative	Imperative/ optative	Conditional	Potential
1st singular	goarun	gorron	gorron	gorošin, gorošedjen	gorožan
2nd singular	goarut	gorrot	goro	gorošit, gorošedjet	gorožat
3rd singular	goarru	gorui	gorros	gorošii	goroža, goroš
1st dual	gorro	goruime	goar'ru	gorošeimme	gorožetne
2nd dual	goarrubeahtti	goruide	goar'ru	gorošeidde	gorožeahppi
3rd dual	goarruba	goruiga	gorroska	gorošeigga	gorožeaba
1st plural	goarrut	goruimet	gorrot, goar'rut	gorošeimmet	gorožit, gorožat
2nd plural	goarrubehtet	goruidet	gorrot, goar'rut	gorošeiddet	gorožehpet
3rd plural	gorrot	gorro	gorroset	goroše, gorošedje	gorožit
Connegative	goro	gorron	goaro	goroše	goroš

Verbs with odd inflection

	Present indicative	Past indicative	Imperative/ optative	Conditional	Potential
1st singular	muitalan	muitalin	muitalehkon	muitalivččen	muitaleaččan
2nd singular	muitalat	muitalit	muital	muitalivččet	muitaleaččat
3rd singular	muitala	muitalii	muitalehkos	muitalivččii	muitaleažžá
1st dual	muitaletne	muitaleimme	muitaleahkku	muitalivččiime	muitaležže
2nd dual	muitaleahppi	muitaleidde	muitalahkki	muitalivččiide	muitaleažžabeahtti
3rd dual	muitaleaba	muitaleigga	muitalehkoska	muitalivččiiga	muitaleažžaba
1st plural	muitalit	muitaleimmet	muitalehkot	muitalivččiimet	muitaleažžat
2nd plural	muitalehpet	muitaleiddet	muitalehket	muitalivččiidet	muitaleažžabehtet
3rd plural	muitalit	muitaledje	muitalekoset	muitalivčče	muitaležžet
Connegative	muital	muitalan	muital	muitalivčče	muitaleačča

Negative verb

Northern Sami, like other Uralic languages, has a negative verb that conjugates according to mood (indicative, imperative and optative), person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) and number (singular, dual and plural).

	Ind. pres.					Imperative					Optative					Supinum?
	sg.	du.	pl.			sg.	du.	pl.			sg.	du.	pl.			sg.	du.	pl.
1	in	ean	eat		1	–	-	-		1	allom	allu	allot		1	aman	amame	amamet
2	it	eahppi	ehpet		2	ale	alli	allet		2	ale	alli	allet		2	amat	amade	amadet
3	ii	eaba	eai		3	–	–	–		3	allos	alloska	alloset		3	amas	amaska	amaset

The negative verb in Northern Sami does not conjugate according to tense.

References

1. Northern Sami at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. "To which languages does the Charter apply?". European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Council of Europe. p. 4. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
3. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Northern Sami". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
4. "Samediggi – Saamelaiskäräjät – Sámi language". Retrieved 2008-09-21.
5. "The Sami dialects". Retrieved 2008-09-21.
6. Original quote: ""med en regelmessig samisk sprogform""; Forsgren, Tuuli (1988) "Samisk kyrko- och undervisningslitteratur i Sverige 1619–1850." Scriptum: Rapportserie utgiven av Forskningsarkivet vid Umeå universitet, ISSN 0284-3161; p. 12
7. Bals, Berit Anne; Odden, David; Rice, Curt (2005). "Topics in North Saami Phonology" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-11-08.
8. Svonni, E Mikael (1984). Sámegiel-ruoŧagiel skuvlasátnelistu. Sámiskuvlastivra. III. ISBN 91-7716-008-8.

External links

• Kimberli Mäkäräinen A Northern Sámi-English vocabulary (5500+ words in Sámi as of 12 September 2013)
• Northern Sámi – Inari Sámi – Skolt Sámi – English dictionary (requires a password)
• Names of birds found in Sápmi in a number of languages, including Skolt Sámi and English. Search function only works with Finnish input though.
• OAHPA! Online interactive Sámi pedagogical program suite
• Sámi language technology project
• Sámi dictionary and terminology database
• Sámi proofing tools project
• Sátnemeahccái project for children
• Gradation described
• Wordlist with sound files
• Gulahalan, a course on North Sámi in Swedish (has sound files)
• Irja Seurujärvi-Kari talks in Northern Sámi
• Lexin picture themes – Northern Sámi
• Sami alphabet – Flash/Sound