-si-: Get, Buy — Greenlandic Grammar

-si- "get, buy" takes the thing into the verb: "car" gives biilisi- "buy a car". A final q of the noun becomes r: "watch" gives "buys a watch". A final t keeps an i after it.

Nerisassarsillungalu nutaamik nalunaaqutarsivunga.
I bought groceries and a new watch. (nerisassaq "food", nalunaaqutaq "watch")
Ataataga anaanannut tunissutisivoq.
My father bought a present for my mother. (tunissut "present" + -i- + -si-)
Amerlasuumik aningaasaateqaraluarlunga biilisisinnaanngilanga.
I can't buy a car even though I have a lot of money.

Earn, Find

"Get" can also be "earn" or "find".

Amerlanerusumik aningaasarsissaguma anginerusumik inissarsissaanga.
If I earn more money, I will buy a bigger apartment. (lit. if I get more money, I will get a bigger place)

Not the Same -si-

Another suffix has the same shape: it turns a verb with an object into one without, as in "gives something". That -si- goes on verbs, while "get" goes on nouns.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Greenlandic course

5 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 42. A few of them, with the words “-si-: Get, Buy” is about in bold:

Ataataga anaanannut tunissutisivoq.
My father bought a present for my mother.
Lesson 225

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