Breakdown of the Verb Phrase Construction in
ᏌᎾᎴ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ and ᏒᏃᏱᏃ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ
in "The Eagle's Revenge"

ᏌᎾᎴ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ - When it became morning

ᏌᎾᎴ /sanale/ (or ᏑᎾᎴ /sunale/) - morning

ᏒᏃᏱᏃ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ - When it became morning

ᏒᏃᏱ /sunoyi/ - at midnight

-Ꮓ /-hno/ - This suffix is often used on the first word in a new sentence to in story telling to alert the listener of a new topic. This construction appears frequently in Cherokee story telling and it has a number of possible English translations such as, "now", "well", or even sometimes it doesn't need to translated into English.

ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ nulstana = [ni + ul(i)stan-a]

ni- - Prefix used to denote a specific object or action. (Required with some verbs).

ulstan- - Remote Past (or Perfect) stem ofto become, turn into, happen

-a - When this verb suffix or ending is attached to a verb's Remote Past stem that is the first verb in a sentence (or clause) instead of the usual "-vɂi" past ending, and then followed by another verb with the usual Remote Past Tense ending, it creates a sentence that means "when x, then y" or "when x happened, then y occurred." Examples used in this story are:

    ᏌᎾᎴ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ ᎢᎤᎾᏫᏛᎮ ᎠᏫ ᎠᎴ ᏧᏪᏅᏒ ᎢᎤᏪᏅᏎ - When it became morning, he took the deer and went back home

    ᏒᏃᏱᏃ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ ᎩᎶ ᎤᏙᎯᏎ - Now when it became midnight, someone yelled.

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