Most words in Mvskoke are either nouns or verbs. NOUNS are things (people, places, ideas, etc.). VERBS are actions or states of being. There are different subtypes of nouns and verbs.

ADJECTIVES in Mvskoke are derived from verbs and end in -ē. VERBAL NOUNS are also derived from verbs and end in -etv or -kv.

Nouns

Nouns are naming words that refer to people, animals, places, or things, like mvhayv ‘teacher’, fuswv ‘bird’, Tvlse ‘Tulsa’, or cuko ‘house’. Nouns may also be ideas like vnokeckv ‘love’ or yekcetv ‘strength’.

Pronouns

PRONOUNS are a type of noun that refers to people or things. PERSONAL PRONOUNS refer to the speaker (first person), the hearer (second person), or another person or thing (third person).

Personal pronouns are not as common in Mvskoke as they are in English. In Mvskoke the verb has markers indicating who is doing the action, so personal pronouns aren’t used as much.

Personal pronouns are also not used much in the third person in Mvskoke. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS are used instead.

Mvskoke doesn’t have possessive pronouns like my, your, etc. Mvskoke uses prefixes instead: cvsakpv ‘my arm’, cesakpv ‘your arm’.

Mvskoke does have independent possessed pronouns. These refer to things that are possessed by different persons (as in, Mvt cvnaket os. ‘That is mine.’)

Mvskoke also has interrogative pronouns (question words like esti ‘who’), indefinite pronouns (‘someone’, etc.), and negative indefinite pronouns (‘anyone’, etc.). The same word is sometimes used for all three uses.

Demonstratives

DEMONSTRATIVES describe and point to nouns that are being discussed. Demonstratives come before nouns and distinguish three degrees of distance.

Demonstratives can also be used as pronouns (where they refer to another noun that is understood in context).

Postpositions

English has prepositions like to, in, or inside that indicate direction, location, or the relationship of a noun phrase to other words. These appear before their objects (to Tulsa, inside the bag). Mvskoke has postpositions like ofv ‘inside’ that appear after their objects: sukcv ofv ‘inside the bag’.

Verbs

Verbs describe actions or states of being. In Mvskoke, verbs may appear in different tenses like the future or past. In dictionaries, verbs are listed as infinitives with final –etv. Auxiliary verbs are “helping verbs” that accompany main verbs.

Numerals

NUMERALS are words like hvmken ‘one’ and hokkolen ‘two’ that express a number. Numerals appear after the nouns they describe.

Numerals also follow adjectives like lvstē ‘black’.

Numerals in Mvskoke are a type of verb. Like other verbs, they can appear in different tenses.

Adjectives

ADJECTIVES are a special type of word used to describe nouns. In a phrase like efv lvstē ‘a black dog’, lvstē ‘black’ is an adjective. Adjectives always end in -ē or the shorter form -e.

Adjectives in Mvskoke are closely related to verbs. When used as verbs, they describe getting or becoming a certain way. As adjectives, they describe the state existing after the action.

English sometimes derives adjectives from verbs. The adjective broken (as in a broken window) is derived from the verb break. In Mvskoke, all adjectives come from verbs.

Sometimes adjectives end in -ē, and sometimes they end in a shorter form -e.

The shorter forms in -e are used when the noun+adjective has a conventional meaning. Words like este-cate ‘red person’, este-hvtke ‘white person’, and este-lvste ‘black person’ require the short form. A word like fus-cate could refer to a red bird or a type of red birth (such as a cardinal). The expression fuswv catē is used for any bird that is red.

Verbal nouns

A VERBAL NOUN is a noun derived from a verb where the noun refers to an action or state of being. Verbal nouns may end in -etv (as in esketv ‘to drink’). They may also end in -kv (as in nockv ‘sleep’).

Infinitives in –etv can be used with a verb like eyacetv ‘to want’.

Some infinitives can also be used as concrete nouns. For example, hompetv can mean ‘to eat’ or ‘food (what you eat)’. Ohliketv can mean ‘to sit on’ or ‘chair (what you sit on)’. Usually the noun is something that the action applies to.
Verbal nouns can also be formed with -kv.

Verbal nouns in -kv are also sometimes used as concrete nouns.