Foreign Language Inari Sámi - Basic key terms

The name of the Inari Sámi language itself, used when speakers refer to their own language in conversation or in writing about language rights and education.

Language, or a specific tongue such as a mother tongue or a foreign language; appears in phrases about language use, language policy and language learning.

Mother tongue, the first language a person learns at home; relevant to discussions of language transmission, bilingualism and school instruction in Inari Sámi.

Language nest, an early-childhood immersion programme where young children acquire Inari Sámi through daily play and care conducted mainly in the language.

A Sámi person; used as a self-designation and in phrases about Sámi identity, rights and cultural belonging across the Sámi homeland.

Inari, the municipality and village in northern Finland that is the heartland of Inari Sámi speakers and the centre of their institutions and services.

Lake Inari, the large lake around which the Inari Sámi homeland is centred; a frequent reference point in place names, directions and local geography.

Sápmi, the traditional Sámi homeland stretching across northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula; used in talk about territory and cross-border cooperation.

Reindeer, the central domestic animal of Sámi herding culture; appears in everyday vocabulary, place names and discussion of traditional livelihoods.

A reindeer calf or young reindeer; a basic herding term that also occurs in idioms and in descriptions of seasonal work.

A reindeer herder or person who tends reindeer; used in texts about livelihoods, seasonal migration and traditional occupations in the Sámi homeland.

A song, especially in the Sámi vocal tradition; the word appears in descriptions of joik-style singing, festivals and musical heritage.

To joik, to sing in the traditional Sámi manner that evokes a person, animal or place; a culturally specific verb distinct from ordinary singing.

The traditional Sámi garment worn with distinctive regional patterns and colours; a frequent topic in descriptions of dress, festivals and identity.

A drum, in particular the traditional Sámi frame drum used historically in ritual practice; appears in heritage texts and museum descriptions.

A region or district, used for administrative areas and for traditional Sámi settlement areas; helpful when reading local news and official texts.

A Sámi village or traditional settlement community; the term describes small local communities rather than municipal administrative units.

Knowledge or information; appears in phrases about news, facts and learning, and in expressions such as giving or receiving information.

To read; a core verb for the reading-comprehension domain and for describing literacy, study and everyday activities with texts.

To write; a central verb for written production, used for composing messages, filling in forms and describing school tasks.

A book or letter; a basic noun appearing in reading tasks, library contexts and descriptions of written correspondence.

To see or to meet; used in everyday conversation, in descriptions of perception and in arranging appointments with other people.

To hear or to listen; essential for listening-comprehension tasks and for phrases about paying attention and understanding speech.

To speak or to talk; a key verb for spoken interaction, used when describing conversations, presentations and language use.

To discuss or converse with someone; useful for interaction tasks such as negotiating plans, expressing opinions and reaching agreement.

Voice or sound; appears in listening tasks and in descriptions of speaking volume, pronunciation and audio recordings.

Grammar, the system of rules of a language; used in study contexts when discussing forms, cases and sentence structure.

A dictionary or glossary; a practical reference for vocabulary learning and for looking up meanings during reading and writing tasks.

Word count or number of words; appears in writing tasks when a minimum or maximum length is specified for a text.

A sentence or statement; a basic unit in grammar exercises and in written production when constructing clear, connected text.

A name or noun; used both for personal and place names and for the grammatical category when analysing sentence structure.

A verb, the word class expressing actions and states; relevant in grammar exercises and in describing how sentences are built.

Time or tense; used in everyday expressions about schedules and also for the grammatical category of tense in verb forms.

A number or numeral, used for counting, prices, dates and quantities; a frequent element in listening and reading tasks.

Day; a basic time word used in greetings, schedules, calendar questions and short narratives about daily routines.

Morning; appears in greetings, timetables and descriptions of daily routines in both listening and reading passages.

Weather; a common small-talk topic and a frequent subject in short listening texts and simple written messages.

Thank you, a borrowed everyday politeness formula; knowing when it is used alongside native expressions matters for pragmatic appropriateness.

A greeting word used when meeting someone; part of the basic politeness repertoire for opening conversations and written messages.