LingoraGrammar guidesLearn Greenlandic

Greenlandic grammar · A1

Before: -nnginnermi and -tinnagu

Alexander StebnerCreator of Lingora · Updated 14 October 20262 min readComments

"Before" in "before I go to bed" or "before buying it" has no single word in Greenlandic. It is said with the idea of "not yet".

01

Before I …

"Before I go to bed" is "in my not going to bed": the verb takes "not", then -neq "the doing", then -nni "in my". So "goes to bed" gives "before I go to bed".

  • Innannginninni kigutigissaqqaartarpunga.

    I brush my teeth before going to bed.

  • Innannginninni uffaqqaassaanga.

    I'll take a bath before going to bed.

02

Before … It

-tinnagu at the end of a verb means "before … it", done by the subject of the main verb.

  • Piano pisiareqqaartinnagu misilissinnaavara?

    May I test this piano before buying it? (-qqaar- "first" + -tinnagu)

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Greenlandic course

3 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 402. A few of them, with the words “Before: -nnginnermi and -tinnagu” is about in bold:

  • Innannginninni uffaqqaassaanga.

    I'll take a bath before going to bed.

    Lesson 481

All 121 Greenlandic grammar topics

Comments

Loading comments…