ᎣᏏᏲ, ᏙᎯᏧ?
osiyo, tohiju?
“Hello, how are you?” in Cherokee is ᎣᏏᏲ, ᏙᎯᏧ? (osiyo, tohiju?)
This phrase is a common greeting used to initiate a conversation and inquire about a person's well-being.
How does it change in a sentence?
The specific form ᏙᎯᏧ? is used when you are addressing a single person.
How do you pronounce it?
osiyo, tohiju?
Did you know?
- The syllabary used to write ᎣᏏᏲ was created by a man who could not read or write in English. He developed the signs by observing how sounds were used in spoken language.
- The Cherokee writing system, seen in ᎣᏏᏲ, is a syllabary. This means each character represents a whole syllable rather than a single letter, a system invented by Sequoyah in the early 19th century.
- Cherokee is a polysynthetic language, meaning it can combine many ideas into one word. While ᏙᎯᏧ? is a short phrase, other greetings in Cherokee can pack an entire sentence's worth of meaning into a single long word.
