Observation

napessiu	he is a boy	ninapessiun	I am a boy
auassiu	s/he is young	apu auassiut	s/he is not young

Verbs like napessiu and auassiu have stems ending in long u. This stem is stable; the u appears in all verb forms.

The difference between long and short u stems can be heard in the imperative. Verbs with short u stems end in i (not u) in the imperative.

Careful! au stems are also often pronounced as long u [u:] in the western dialects.

EXAMPLES OF AI VERBS WITH LONG u STEMS

pashiku	s/he stands up	pashikui!	stand up!
kanieu	s/he wins	kanieui!	win!
kunu	s/he is covered in snow	tshikununau	you (pl) are covered in snow
uińnu	s/he is fat	nuińnuti	I was fat
minapu	it (anim) is purple	minapuipan	it (anim) was purple
uishtu	he has a beard	tshuishtun	you have a beard
ushiku	s/he is hurt	ushikuńua	s/he (obv) is hurt
nekau	s/he is covered in sand	ninekaun	I am covered in sand
ukaumau	she is a mother	tshukaumaunau	you (pl) are mothers
akaneshau	s/he is English	apu akaneshaut	s/he is not English

NOTES ON SPELLING

Innu spelling doesn’t mark vowel length; therefore, long u stems are not identified as such in the dictionary. When conjugated, long and short u stems can only be distinguished in the 2nd person singular of the Imperative Indicative Present: (short u) Nikamu! Sing!; (long u) Kanieui! Win! As with short u stem verbs, the inflection -u of the 3rd person singular of the Independent Indicative Present assimilates with the u of the stem; for example, nekau+u=nekau s/he is covered in sand, nekau+u+at=nekauat they are covered in sand.