Vocabulary Words in Native American Languages: Michif
We have included twenty basic words, enough to give you a feeling for each language. All the nouns are singular and all
the verbs are 3rd person singular ("he or she sings") because many Native American languages don't have a separate infinitive ("to sing")
the way English and French do.
If you need to know a Michif word that is not currently on our page, you can take part in our
Indian translations fundraiser, buy a Michif
dictionary, or visit our main
Michif language site for more free resources.
Thanks for your interest in Native American languages!
Michif Word Set
Michif is a creole language with the very unusual feature of having nouns that come from the French language and verbs that come from the Cree language.
You can see that the nouns on this page are essentially French words with Cree-influenced phonology. (Sometimes they also incorporating the French word
"le" or "la," which means "the," as the first sound of the Michif word--Michif lo comes from French l'eau, which means "the water.")
Meanwhile most of the verbs are clearly Cree, with the pronunciation slightly simplified. (The complex Algonquian verb morphology remains in place, on the
other hand--very unusual for a mixed language.)
American Indian tribes
Hopi Kachinas
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