Inanimate:  Not endowed with life or spirit/lacking consciousness or power of motion.

Animate:  Possessing or characterized by life.

Inanimate/animate demonstratives have three degrees of distance:

Close:  Ode (this)            Not Close:  I (that)                Far:  Éi (That over there)

Ode (this) is the same for animates and inanimates, but the others are different.  Be sure to use animate demonstratives only with animate nouns and inanimate demonstratives only with inanimate nouns.

Inanimate
Ode gokbenagen	This basket
I gokbenagen	That basket
Éi gokbenagen	That basket over there

 

Animate
Ode nene	This man
O nene	That man
Ago nene	That man over there

 

Agreement of the demonstrative with the noun is required in number as well as animacy.

Inanimate Plural Demonstratives:

Close:  Node (these)            Not Close:  Ni (those)                Far:  Éni (those over there)

Animate Plural Demonstratives:

Close:  Gode (these)            Not Close: Gi (those)                Far:  Égi (those over there)

Inanimate 

Node mkekwen	These boxes
Ni mkekwen	Those boxes
Éni mkekwen	Those boxes over there

Animate  

Gode kwék	These women
Gi kwék	Those women
Égi kwék	Those women over there

 

 Below is a chart for comparing Demonstratives: 

	Inanimate
	Singular	Plural
Close	Ode - This	Node - These
Not Close	I - That	Ni - Those
Far	Éi - That over there	Éni - Those over there
	Animate
	Singular	Plural
Close	Ode - This	Gode - These
Not Close	O - That	Gi - Those
Far	Ago - That over there	Égi - Those over there