| tshitatussen | you work | atusse! | Work! |
| tshinipan | you sleep | nipa! | Sleep! |
| tshimanakupeuin | you take off your coat | manakupeui! | Take off your coat! |
| tshimitshin | you eat it | mitshi! | Eat it! |
| tshimitshishun | you eat | mitshishu! | Eat! |
| tshimin | you drink | mini! | Drink! |
| tshinikamun | you sing | nikamu! | Sing! |
| tshitshiueun | you return home | tshiueui! | Go home! |
| tshitishikapaun | you stand in a certain way | ishikapaui! | Stand like this! |
| tshitshitapaten | you look at it | tshitapata! | Look at it! |
| tshitshipain | you close it | tshipai! | Close it! |
| tshitashtuein | you light it | ashtuei! | Light it! |
| tshitshitapamau | you see her/him | tshitapam! | Look at her/him! |
| tshuitshiau | you help her/him | uitshi! | Help her/him! |
| tshinatutuau | you listen to her/him | natutu! | Listen to her/him! |
Verb stems form the basis of conjugation. Every verb class is characterized by a certain number of verb stems. Endings vary between verb classes, and also depend on verb stems. Of all the verb forms, the 2nd person singular of the Indicative Imperative (which also indicates the order) makes it easiest to identify the stem of a verb, since this form never takes a prefix and, in most cases, does not take a suffix, either; in some instances, a long i is added to this imperative form, for example when a stem ends with a consonant; in other instances, the imperative form ends with a thematic vowel that is part of the inflection (TA and TI verbs). Since II verbs never take the imperative, their stem must be identified by removing suffixes.
The conjugation of Innu verbs is therefore organized in terms of four verb classes (AI, II, TI, TA) and by grouping stems that behave similarly in each verb class. These stems are named according to their common ending, for example:
- Stems ending with a long vowel (other than u): long a/e/i stems
- Stems ending with a long u: long u-stems
- Stems ending with a consonant: stems with a consonant
- Stems ending with a short i : short i-stems
- etc.
By paying close attention to conjugated forms, we can see that the stem itself changes very little, while a large variety of inflections are used to reflect all sorts of grammatical information.
| nitatussen | I work |
| tshitatussenau | you (pl) work |
| atussepan | s/he worked |
| apu atussein | you don’t work |
| tshuitshinan | you help us |
| nuitshiau | I help her/him |
| nuitshikuti | s/he helped me |
| uitshietshe | s/he should help him/her |
More information on the stems of each verb class is given on their individual pages.