bik ah dah us dah hih

Are you sitting down?

On a chair?

Call that chair, in Navajo, bikáá’ dah asdáhí.

Try describing a chair, keeping in mind that the “dah” here is the same one we used for dah naat’a’í – flag.

Bikáá’ is the Navajo word for describing the top of something, like its surface or on its top surface. Keep this word in mind because it’s common in words like table and desk.

Dah we described as suspended, or elevated, at an upwards position (i.e. off the ground).

Asdáhí is a nominalized word for the act of sitting down (sidá – he sits down – uses the same verb root).

You’re describing the chair as an object on the surface of which one sits at an elevated position.

There’s also another word you can say for chair, and that’s bik’idah’asdáhí. Bik’i meaning on it or upon it.