Beginner Cree Lesson:
There are a total of 7 vowels
4 vowels are long vowels marked with a MACRON “^” above the vowel: â, ê, î, ô
long â: sounds like “ah” like in bar
- Example: â-stam (come)
long ê: sounds like “aye” as in bay
- Example: ê-ko-si (that’s all, that’s enough)
long î: sounds like “eee” as in be
- Example: mî-ci-so (eat)
long ô: sounds like “oh” as in bone
- Example: ô-ta (here)
3 vowels are short vowels: a, i, o
short a: sounds like “uh” as in but
- Example: a-pi (sit)
short i: sounds like “ih” as in bit
- Example: i-skwê-w (woman)
short o: sounds like “oo” as in book
- Example: o-mi-sî-si (this way)
There are 10 consonants in the cree language p, t, k, c, s, m, n, w, h, y all of which sound the same as the English languageexcept the letter “c” which sounds like “ch”
- Example of c: cê-skwa (wait)