Observation

nikamu	s/he sings	apu nikamut	s/he does not sing
puamu	s/he dreams	apu puamut	s/he does not dream

Verbs like nikamu or puamu are verbs with stems ending in short u. The u of the stem is present in all forms of the verb.

The short u of this type of stem is pronounced [u] in the eastern dialect and [ǝ] elsewhere. The difference between long and short u stems can be heard in the imperative. Short u stem verbs end in u (not i) in the imperative.

EXAMPLES OF AI VERBS WITH SHORT u STEMS

kashu	s/he hides	tshikashuti	you hid
uiashipu	s/he eats meat	uiashipu!	eat meat!
animu	s/he sneezes	nitanimun	I sneeze
ushimu	s/he flees	ushimuipan	s/he fled
nashkumu	s/he thanks	ninashkumun	I thank
mushkumu	s/he cries while talking	mushkumuńua	s/he (obv) cries while talking
shaniku	s/he blows her/his nose	nishanikunan	we blow our noses
minu	s/he is clean	tshiminunau	you (pl) are clean
tshitu	s/he says a word	apu tshitut	s/he does not say a word

NOTES ON SPELLING
In the 3rd person of the Independent Indicative Present, the inflection -u assimilates with the u of the stem; for example, kashu+u=kashu s/he hides, kashu+u+at=kashuat they hide. This rule also applies to long u and au stems.