Grammar

Please take note:

The following is from the "Brief Specimens of Cherokee Grammatical Forms" as printed in the "The Cherokee Messenger (ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏥᏅᏏᏛ)" in the years 1844 to 1846.
The original text used 'ds' for the soft 'ts' sound. These have been replaced with 'ts' to be consistent with the entirety of the dictionary. Additionally “qu” has been replaced with “kw” to be consistent with the usage of “gw” in the rest of the text.
The following description of Cherokee grammar is for 1840's Cherokee and not today's Cherokee. While most differences between the two are minor, there are differences. The material is very useful when working with the Cherokee New Testament, the Cherokee translation of Genesis, the Cherokee translation of Pilgrim's Progress, and so forth.
The English text is also from the 1840's and has not been “modernized”. It is important to understand that “thee” and “thou” are used to indicate “you one” and that “ye” and “you” are used to indicate “you two or more”.
Some re-arrangment of text, tables, and minor changes of wording have happened to facilitate e-book creation.

Syllabary

Characters as arranged by the inventor.

Ꭱ Ꭰ Ꮃ Ꮵ Ꮐ Ꮽ Ꮺ Ꮅ Ꮑ Ꮌ Ꭹ Ᏹ Ꮟ Ꮲ Ꭳ Ꮇ Ꮄ Ꭽ Ꮼ Ꮰ Ꮤ Ᏼ Ꮈ Ꭿ Ꮝ Ᏺ Ꮁ Ꭺ Ꮷ Ꮍ Ꮞ Ꮠ Ꮯ Ꮘ Ꮗ Ꮜ Ꮖ Ꮓ Ꭷ Ꮸ Ꮢ Ꮒ Ꭶ Ꮩ Ꭸ Ꮣ Ꭼ Ꮻ Ꭲ Ꭴ Ᏸ Ꮂ Ꮫ Ꭻ Ꮶ Ꮙ Ꮔ Ꮎ Ꮆ Ᏻ Ꮴ Ꮧ Ꮾ Ꮪ Ꮥ Ꮳ Ꭵ Ꮕ Ꮦ Ꮉ Ꮡ Ꮱ Ꭾ Ꮀ Ꮋ Ꮭ Ꮿ Ꮹ Ꮨ Ꮮ Ꮏ Ꮚ Ꮬ Ꮊ Ꮛ.

Characters systematically arranged with the sounds.

Sounds represented by vowels.

a as a in father, or short as a in rival
e as a in hate, or short as e in met
i as i in pique, or short as i in pin
o as o in note, but approaching to aw, in law
u as oo in moon, or short as u in pull
v as u in but, nasalized

Consonant Sounds.

g is sounded hard, approaching to k; sometimes before e, i, o, u and v its sound is k.
d has a sound between the English d and t; sometimes before o, u, and v, its sound is t, when written before l and s the same analogy prevails.

All other letters as in English.

Syllables beginning with g, except ga, have sometimes the power of k; syllables written with hl, except tla, sometimes vary to dl; la, le, li, lo, lu, lv, are sometimes sounded hla, hle, hli, hlo, hlu, hlv.