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Lesson 1 Dialogue

"Is this Siberian onion?"

Daughter: Mother! Is this Siberian onionAllium ochotense?

Mother: It is Siberian onion. There is no pronoun 'it' in the original Ainu sentence, but it must be inserted in the English translation. Subjects do not need to be explicitly stated in the third-person.

Daughter: Is this nirinsouAnemone flaccida, Japanese woodland white windflower?

Mother: No. It isn't nirinsou. This is aconiteA family of poisonous plants. Arrowtips used to be poisoned with these plants for hunting..

Father: Aconite is a terrible thing, you know. Don't touch!
Be careful to pick only nirinsou. 'Pirkano' literally means 'well' or 'properly', but the meaning here was best translated as 'Be careful' in context.

Daughter: Okay! 'E' can be used in response to imperatives. Basically like 'okay', 'got it', or 'understood'.

Lesson 1 Vocabulary

Ainu English
sinep 1 (one)
matnepo daughter
hapo mother (irregular accent)
mici father (irregular accent)
tanpe this (lit. "this thing")
pukusa Siberian onion
ne to be (am, is, are, was, were, etc.)
ya interrogative particle (sentence-end)
wa affirmative particle (sentence-end)
pukusakina nirinsou
somo no, not
surku aconite
anak topic particle (similar to Japanese は)
asitoma terrible, dreadful (irregular accent)
p(e) thing (after a vowel, the 'e' is dropped)
na emphatic particle
iteki do not (negative imperative, prohibitive)
kere to touch
pirkano well, properly
patek only
numke to choose, to pick
e yes (in response to instructions)