In this lesson, I am showing two basic ways of greeting someone. One is the Aanii, which is very common, and the other is Bozhoo, which is more of a ceremonial greeting. "Aanii" can be used most of the time, for example, when answering the telephone. When you use Bozhoo, you have to see the person you are greeting and maybe even greet them with a handshake. We don't have a word for goodbye in our language. In our culture, we are taught that once you meet someone, they are always in your circle, so you don't need to say goodbye. When speaking about yourself, you always begin your word with an "N", as in the pronoun "niin". For example, the word for "I am fine" - "Nminoyaa". If you want to say the word for "you are fine", you say "Gminoyaa", as in the pronoun "giin". Also, the suffix "yin" is another form of "you" singular.

When you use the negative form "not", you use the suffix "sii" in the word, even when you use the words "kaa" or "kaawiin".

In English, when answering the question "what is your name?", you would say your name first and then say, "is my name". Also in English, I often hear people say, "I am so and so (name)". If we in Anishinaabemowin want to say, "I am so and so" we would say, "I am Anishinaabe or Anishinaabe kwe", then we would say our name.