Matthew Lyon

Fun With Navajo Verbs Book 1 Sisnaajini Matthew Lyon

This book from Access Navajo (a majority Navajo-owned publisher) is intended to help create an environment in which you can have fun while improving your Navajo verb conjugation skills. One hundred and twenty-five verbs have been carefully selected for their usefulness in daily life and their relevance to Navajo culture. A full conjugation is given in up to seven modes for each verb, along with meanings and usage, conjugation patterns, a component breakdown, and more.

To help increase the fun factor in learning to conjugate Navajo verbs, the book can be used in coordination with a software game available at no cost on the company's website at www.accessnavajo.com. (A Java SE Runtime Environment (JRE(TM)), currently available for download free of charge from Oracle, is also required.) The game is played by clicking on a verb mode, clicking on specific verb forms, and then clicking on corresponding positions to arrange the forms in order and earn points. If all 12 forms of a given mode are correct, you get bonus points. There are three skill levels to test how well you really know your forms. You can also play against the clock, and play strategically for a high score by assigning a certain amount of time to a given verb mode. It is also possible for two players to play against each other. You can check your answers multiple times against an answer set, making it possible to quickly acquire knowledge of a large number of verbs in multiple modes in a way that is both interesting and challenging. The book, in conjunction with the software game and descriptive videos on the Access Navajo YouTube(R) channel, can turn the complex internal patterns of Navajo verbs into a source of great enjoyment. The trickier the verb, the more fun it is to conjugate!