G2, DAKOTA GRAMMAR, TEXTS, AND ETHNOGRAPHY. 
NUMBER, 
§ 163. The principle on which the plural termination is employed is 
that of placing it as near the end of the sentence as possible. The order 
ina Dakota sentence is, first the noun, next the adjective, and lastly the 
verb. Hence, if a noun or pronoun is used alone or has no word following 
it in the phrase, it may take the plural ending; if an adjective follows, it is 
attached to the adjective; and if a verb is used, it is attached to the verb. 
1. When nouns are used to convey a plural idea, without qualificatives 
or predicates, they have the plural termination; as, ninapepi, thy hands ; 
hena Dakotapi, those are Dakotas. 
2. When a noun which represents an animate object is to be made 
plural, and is followed by a qualificative or predicate, the sign of the plural 
is joined, not to the noun, but to the qualificative or predicate; as, wiéasta 
wastepi, good men; koska kiy hipi, the young men have arrived ; wiéasta waste 
kin hipi, the good men have arrived. 
§ 164. The plural of nouns representing animate objects in the objec- 
tive case, whether they are governed by active verbs or prepositions, is 
designated by ‘ wiéa’ following, which is prefixed to or inserted in the goy- 
erning word; as, tahinéa wié aktepi (deer them-they-kill), they kill deer ; . Dox 
kota ewiéatayhay (Dakota them-from), he is from the Dakotas. 
ADJECTIVES 
POSITION. 
§ 165. When the adjective is used simply as a qualifying term, it is 
placed immediately after its noun; as, wiéasta waste, good man; Gay Siéa, 
bad wood. 
The adjective ikée, common, is placed before the noun which it qualifies, but its 
derivative ikéeka comes after; as, ikée haypa and haypikéeke, common moccasins ; 
ikGe wicasta, a common man, an Indian. The numeral adjectives, when used with éay, 
« day, ave placed before; as, noypa Gay, two days, ete. 
) 166. When the adjective forms the predicate of a proposition, it is 
placed after the article, and after the demonstrative pronoun, if either or 
both are used; as, wiéasta kin waste, the man is good; wiéasta kin he waste, 
that man is good; taku eéanoy kin he siéa, that which thou didst is bad. 
NUMBER. 
) 167. Adjectives, whether qualificative or predicative, indicate the 
number of the nouns or pronouns to which they belong; as, fyyay sapa 




