Do you see Ē and ē, that is, an "e" with a long mark over it? If not, you may see one the following in its place on these pages. A plain capital E in the middle of a word, a strange looking symbol or an umlauted e, that is, an ë (with two dots over it). Simply replace these with the appropriate long "e." Ē -or- ē. Some browsers do not display the long e well.

Subject -- Object -- Verb
(S.O.V.)

There are no articles (the, a or an) in Creek. You must supply these in translation.
Creek Nouns: Nouns end in a vowel in their dictionary form. Examples:
 

This is their raw or naked form, the way they’re found in a dictionary. Many Creek words can be spelled more than one way—they are spelled as they are pronounced in different Muskogee speaking communities. Most nouns are both singular and plural in meaning. Only kinship terms, body parts and a few personal terms have plurals. Most Creek plurals are indicated within the sentence verbs or modifiers and not by the nouns.

Nouns used as the subject of a sentence will be marked with a final "-t" added only to the final word of the subject phrase. It is as if the "-t" is saying "That’s all there is of the subject, folks; the next words function as something else." The "-t" closes the subject. Remember, there are not articles in Creek, supply them in translation.

Nouns used, as the object of a sentence, will be marked with a final "-n" added only to the last word of the object phrase. The "--n" closes the object portion of the sentence. Simple and practical grammar!

English nouns are generally very narrow or specific in their defined meaning. Creek nouns are more like giant suitcases. Each noun usually packs a lot of meanings within itself. With additions, such as another letter, syllable, or particle, (prefix, suffix, affix, infix and so forth), Creek nouns expand into broad categories that greatly enrich the language’s internal "feel." At the same time, this gives fits to English speaking students who are taught to use words in a narrow specific focus. Put another way, English often has many words to narrowly define an action, idea or object, while Creek often uses one word to define more than one action, idea or object. Creek nouns provide a whole new way of seeing, understanding and dividing up the universe and your experiences within it. Each language is well suited for its own culture. Each does an adequate job fulfilling communication needs.

Narrow focus or use:

• -vlkē is the collective ending, implying a group, category or related collection of items

Modifiers, such as adjectives and adverbs, will usually end in a long "-ē," which can be represented by a capital "E" in email or typed pages. This ending is their dictionary form. When modifiers become part of compound words the long "ē" relaxes and becomes a simple short "e" sound not requiring the long mark above it. A final long "ē" becomes an "a" when describing a characteristic of the noun modified. This is demonstrated later in the text.