Massimiliano - Montana Salish (Séliš) (Salish-Pend d'Oreille)

[Struthiomimus]

Wow, Massi, really thorough work. Good job

I can express a desire also using the following circumfix (I've read that circumfixes are a unique feature of the salishan languages): n...els . It comes from ntels (to desire, to want). It indicates a want/desire/need to do some action. Here are some examples:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumfix

Not exactly unique, but still interesting

It's very complicated

I agree!

[Massimiliano B]

Wow, Massi, really thorough work. Good job

I can express a desire also using the following circumfix (I've read that circumfixes are a unique feature of the salishan languages): n...els . It comes from ntels (to desire, to want). It indicates a want/desire/need to do some action. Here are some examples:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumfix

Not exactly unique, but still interesting

What is unique - or maybe quite rare (I'm not sure...I don't remember where I read about it, or whether I read about it ) - is that the few Salishan circumfixes have a lexical meaning, and not only a grammatical meaning, like the German circumfix ge...t, which indicates the past participle, or the Hungarian leg...bb, which is the superlative. A circumfix like č...us in Montana Salish means "eye".
Lexical affixes are found in Salishan and Wakashan languages, but lexical circumfixes only in the Salishan languages. Another unusual feature of the Salishan and Wakashan languages is that the phonological form of the lexical prefixes, suffixes, and circumfixes is often totally different from that of the independent words with equivalent meanings. For example, the suffix -ečst (hand) is totally different from the independent form čelš (hand).

[Massimiliano B]

The negation of the verb is tam, but it becomes tas in the third person.

u means "and", "who", "that", depending on the sentence. It may join two clauses, like in English "and". For example:

čn sust u čn iɫn = I ate and drank.


t indicates the direct object of an intransitive verb (I already studied it):

čnes susti t sqʔém u sewɫkʷ: "I'm drinking milk and water" (sqʔém = milk);
tas iɫn t skʷiskʷs : "he didn't eat chicken" (skʷiskʷs = chicken);
ha kʷqs iɫni t uʔuseʔ ?: "Are you going to eat eggs?" - Ta, tam čiqs iɫni t uʔuseʔ, čiqs iɫni t skʷiskʷs: "No, I'm not going to eat eggs, I'm going to eat chicken".

All the previous sentences have an intransitive verb, therefore they require the particle t before the direct object.


stem = what. When it is the direct object of a morphological intransitive verb, a t is put before it: t stem. Example: t stem u kʷ sust ? : "What did you drink?". kʷ sust means "you drank", but this form is not transitive as in English. To make it transitive, we need to use the transitive suffix -nt and the personal pronouns. So we obtain: stem u sustntxʷ? ("What did you drink?"). sustntxʷ means "you drank it" (-xʷ means "you"): it is transitive because it has in itself a reference to an object.
The particles u, in the previous sentence, means "that". The literal meaning of the question is "What was it that you drank?". I think a sentence like this is not correct in English; in Italian (my first language) a sentence like this is correct



Today I studied also that čen̓ means "where". It is often preceded by the prepositional particles l̓ (at, in on), and č̓ (to). Example:

č̓ čen̓ u kʷes xʷúyi ? = to-where are you going?; čnes xʷuyi č̓ citxʷ = I'm going (to) home. The literal meaning of the question is: "Where it is that you are going?". As I said before, a sentence like this in Italian is correct

[Massimiliano B]

In the last days I'm struggling with the verbal morphology of Montana Salish language.

An interesting feature of the M. Salish verb is that the basic form of a root verb is inherently intransitive, that is it has only one argument: for example, čn iɫn means "I ate".The verb iɫn is intransitive. An intransitive verb is intransitive even when it is accompanied by an object: čn iɫn t uʔuseʔ = I ate an egg. Here, the verb iɫn is followed by an object, but the verb has still an intransitive construction. In this case, the object must be preceded by the particle t. When the subject is represented by a full word, it is unmarked or preceded by the particle ɫu, which means "secondary importance", and the verb is at the beginning of the sentence. For example: iɫn Čoni t uʔuseʔ (literally: "ate Johnny (Čoni) egg"), or iɫn ɫu Čoni t uʔuseʔ: both the sentences mean "Johnny ate an egg". The subject (Čoni) is preceded by ɫu or left unmarked. Word order is VOS or VSO, so one may say also iɫn t uʔuseʔ Čoni or iɫn t uʔuseʔ ɫu Čoni.

A verb, in order to be morphologically transitive, must take the transitivizing suffixes -nt- or -st-. So, the intransitive root iɫn becomes iɫnt- and sometimes, due to phonetic changes, it becomes iɫi-. Only the presence of the transitive suffixe makes a verb a transitive verb. A transitive verb has within itself [can I say this in English?] a reference to an object. So, this morphologically transitive verb has two arguments: the subject and the object. But in this case the use of the particles ɫu and t is inverted: iɫis ɫu uʔuseʔ t Čoni (literally: ate-it egg Johnny): "Johnny ate an egg". I'm not sure, but I think the reason is that the transitive morphology in Montana Salish - in the third person - has an ergative construction: ɫu is the absolutive, and t the ergative

[Struthiomimus]

kʷ ec̓ščén̓ ?

The literal meaning of the question is "What was it that you drank?". I think a sentence like this is not correct in English; in Italian (my first language) a sentence like this is correct

No, it works in English too.

"Where it is is it that you are going?". As I said before, a sentence like this in Italian is correct

As for Montana Salish and Kalispel, have you tried writing a small text yet?

[Massimiliano B]

kʷ ec̓ščén̓ ?

i čn x̣es (the dot should be under the letter x, but my keyboard cannot write it correctly...)

The sentence means "I'm good". The letter i emphasizes that the situation is to be specially noted.

As for Montana Salish and Kalispel, have you tried writing a small text yet?

I'm tryng to write a small text, but it's very hard to build long sentences. The syntax of this language is so different from that of Italian or English! I will post it soon

[Massimiliano B]

Hi! A new update, after a little "holiday"

There are two important words I hadn't studied yet: stem and swet.

Stem means "what", "which":
t stem u tumist = "What did she/he buy?". Here, "what" is the object, so it's preceded by the particle t. The particle u has at least four different meanings. In this sentence, it is a relative pronoun ("that"), related to a definite person (here, "he" or "she"). Literally, the sentence means: "What is it that he/she bought?".

stem ɫu i kʷil= "What is red?". Here, "what" is subject, so it is not preceded by t. This sentence has ɫu instead of u. ɫu has a lot of different meanings. Here, it is a relative pronoun like u, used when the relative pronoun refers to an inanimated object. This sentence, literally, means "What is it that is red?"

Swet means "who". It is followed by ɫu, used when the relative pronouns refers to something or someone which is indefinite:
Swet ɫu q̓ʷoq̓ʷawist = who was sledding? Literally: "who was it that was sledding?"
swet ɫu sust ye sewɫkʷ = who drank this water? Literally: "who was it that drank this water?"

Here (pages 79-81) I found the informations about u and ɫu.

[Massimiliano B]

Montana Salish and Kalispel substantives have no gender or case. They have a singular and a plural form.

Some substantives form the plural by a reduplication, like skoi (mother) - skoiskoi(mothers).

Some nouns reduplicate the root but lose one vowel, like sqaltmixʷ (man), plural sqlqaltmixʷ (men), esmock(mountain), plural esmkmock (mountains). All the words begin with a consonant. So, esmockis pronounced with a glottal stop at the beginning, even though it is not written.

Other substantives double a consonant: sk̓ʷɫč̓mus (cheek), plural sk̓ʷɫč̓mmus (cheeks). There are no geminate consonants in M. Salish and Kalispel, so the m's are pronounced separately.

Some nouns form the plural by the use of the prefix uɫ, like naq̓ʷém̓n (thief)
uɫnaq̓ʷém̓n (thieves), qʷn̓qʷin̓t (poor), uɫqʷn̓qʷin̓t(poors).

Some substantives have a different form for the plural, like esšit(tree), plural c̓lc̓il (trees), skʷk̓ʷim̓lt (young person), plural sc̓cmelt (young persons).

Substantives ending in -aus and -eus change it in -alis, -elis.



The verb "to have" is epɫ:

čn epɫ = I have
kʷ epɫ = you have
epɫ = she/he/it has
qe epɫ = we have
p epɫ = you all have
éepɫ = they have

čn epɫ pus = I have a cat. The ɫ is dropped when it precedes words beginning with s: kʷ ep sic̓m= you have a blanket.

There a lot of ways to say "I have" . It depends on the substantive which is possessed. I will try to understand this point later.

[Massimiliano B]

Today I studied again the prepositionsl̓ and č̓ and the word čén̓ , which means "where". I studied also other prepositions.

As I said in another post, čen̓ is often used with the prepositions l̓ (at, in,on) and č̓ (to). Examples: l̓ čen̓ ɫu anqʷacqn = "where is your hat?" (literally: "in where is it that your hat is?"). Here, ɫu is used because the relative pronoun refers to an inanimated object (the hat).

"where are you?" in Kalispel (I didn't find this sentence in Montana Salish) is l̓ čen̓ kʷ l̓šeʔ?. l̓šeʔ is a verb, because it is preceded by the personal pronoun kʷ, but I don't know the right meaning of it. Probably it means "to stay". In Montana Salish I've found this sentence: kʷ čén̓ = "where are you?" (literally: "you where?").

As I said in a previous post, if I want to ask "where are you going?" I say č̓ čen̓ u kʷes xʷuyi (literally: "to where is it that you are going?). This sentence has u instead of ɫu, because the subject of the sentence is a definite person (in this case kʷ = you).

If I want to say where I'm going, I have to say this: čn es xʷuyi č̓.... For example: čn es xʷuyi č̓ snac̓x̣ɫq̓imíntn = "I'm going to school". The word snac̓x̣ɫqimíntn ( = school) comes from ac̓x̣ɫq̓im ( = read). It is formed also by the prefix sn... ( = "a place of") and the suffix ...mintn ( = "instrument/tool").

If I want to express that I'm going to do something, I'll say: čiqs xʷuyi č̓ sntumistn = "I'm going to go (xʷuy = to go) to the store". čiqs (čn + qs) is the first person singular pronoun in the future form.

"Where is...?" is simply čen followed by ɫu and the noun: čen ɫu čč̓np̓ic̓e = "where is the book?" (čč̓np̓ic̓e = book). The answer may be this: l̓ snčɫemutn ɫu čč̓np̓ic̓e = "the book is on the chair" (snčɫemutn = chair). (Literally: "it's on chair that the book is").

kʷɫišut means "under", so kʷɫišut l̓ snčɫemutn ɫu čč̓np̓ic̓e means: "the book is under the chair". I think that kʷɫišut is always followed by the preposition l̓.

čsax̣m m̌eans "near/close to".čsax̣m č̓ snčɫemutn ɫu čč̓np̓ic̓e means "the book is near the chair". Maybe čsax̣m is always followed by č̓, but I'm not sure.

lkʷut means "far". tɫ means "from". lkʷut tɫ means "far from", like in English!. Now try to guess what lkʷut tɫ snčɫemutn ɫu čč̓np̓ic̓e means! (Answer: "the book is far from the chair").

An interesting feature is that čén̓ means also "which": čén̓ ɫu tɫ esél ? = "which of the two?" (tɫ = from) (literally: "where from the two?") .



Shocking-amazing words of the day:

čpƛ̓encut (=to undress) . It contains the incredible consonant cluster čpƛ̓

But the next one is better: pƛ̓pƛ̓šnim ( = to remove footwear)

[Massimiliano B]

In a previous post I showed the transitive paradigm with unstressed base.

I will write now the full paradigm of a verb with stressed base (taken from here, pages 41-45).

The verb is ac̓x̣ ( = "to look at something/someone").

nte- is the transitive suffix. It has no stress. The stress is on the root word (ac̓x̣ ). For this reason, the -nte- suffix and the other pronominal suffixes undergo some phonetic changes.


Here is the conjugation of a stressed verb:

ac̓x̣ncn = I looked at you (from ac̓x̣ntesin → ac̓x̣ntsin → ac̓x̣ncin → ac̓x̣ncn).
ac̓x̣n = I looked at her him/her (from ac̓x̣nten→ ac̓x̣ntn → ac̓x̣nn → ac̓x̣n).
ac̓x̣ɫmn = I looked at you all (from ac̓x̣ɫulmn → ac̓x̣ɫlmn → ac̓x̣ɫmn)
aʔac̓x̣n = I looked at them (from aʔac̓x̣nten→ aʔac̓x̣ntn → aʔac̓x̣nn → aʔac̓x̣n).

qʷo ac̓x̣ntxʷ = you looked at me (from ac̓x̣ntexʷ→ ac̓x̣ntxʷ).
ac̓x̣ntxʷ = you looked at her/him (from ac̓x̣ntexʷ → ac̓x̣ntxʷ).
qe ac̓x̣ɫlt = you looked at us (from ac̓x̣ɫullt → ac̓x̣ɫllt → ac̓x̣ɫlt).
aʔac̓x̣ntxʷ = you looked at them (from aʔac̓x̣ntexʷ → aʔac̓x̣ntxʷ).

qʷo ac̓x̣is = she/he/it looked at me (from ac̓x̣ntes → ac̓x̣nts → ac̓x̣ns → ac̓x̣is).
ac̓x̣nc = she/he/it looked at you (from ac̓x̣ntesis → ac̓x̣ntsis → ac̓x̣ncis → ac̓x̣ncs → ac̓x̣nc).
ac̓x̣is = she/he/it looked at him/her (fromac̓x̣ntes → ac̓x̣nts → ac̓x̣ns → ac̓x̣is).
qe ac̓x̣ɫls = she/he/it looked at us (from ac̓x̣ɫuls → ac̓x̣ɫls).
ac̓x̣ɫms = she/he/it looked at you all (from ac̓x̣ɫulms → ac̓x̣ɫlms → ac̓x̣ɫms).
aʔac̓x̣is = she/he/it looked at them (from aʔac̓x̣ntes → aʔac̓x̣nts → aʔac̓x̣ns → aʔac̓x̣is).

ac̓x̣nct = we looked at you (from ac̓x̣ntesit → ac̓x̣ntsit→ ac̓x̣ncit → ac̓x̣nct).
qe ac̓x̣ntm = we looked at him/her (from ac̓x̣ntem → ac̓x̣ntm).
ac̓x̣ɫmt = we looked at you all (from ac̓x̣ɫulmt → ac̓x̣ɫlmt →ac̓x̣ɫmt ).
qe aʔac̓x̣ntm = we looked at them (from aʔac̓x̣ntem → aʔac̓x̣ntm).

qʷo ac̓x̣ntp = you all looked at me (from ac̓x̣ntep → ac̓x̣ntp).
ac̓x̣ntp = you all looked at him/her (from ac̓x̣ntep → ac̓x̣ntp).
qe ac̓x̣ɫlt = you all looked at us (from ac̓x̣ɫullt → ac̓x̣ɫllt → [ipa]ac̓x̣ɫlt[/ipa]).
aʔac̓x̣ntp = you all looked at them (from aʔac̓x̣ntep → aʔac̓x̣ntp).

qʷo aʔac̓x̣is = they looked at me (fromaʔac̓x̣ntes → aʔac̓x̣nts → aʔac̓x̣ns → aʔac̓x̣is).
aʔac̓x̣nc = they looked at you (from aʔac̓x̣ntesis → aʔac̓x̣ntsis → aʔac̓x̣ncis → aʔac̓x̣ncs → aʔac̓x̣nc).
aʔac̓x̣is = they looked at her him/her (from aʔac̓x̣ntes → aʔac̓x̣nts → aʔac̓x̣ns → aʔac̓x̣is).
qe aʔac̓x̣ɫls = they looked at us (from aʔac̓x̣ɫuls → aʔac̓x̣ɫls).
aʔac̓x̣ɫms = they looked at you all (from aʔac̓x̣ɫulms → aʔac̓x̣ɫlms →aʔac̓x̣ɫms).
aʔaʔac̓x̣is = they looked at them (fromaʔaʔac̓x̣ntes → aʔaʔac̓x̣nts → aʔaʔac̓x̣ns → aʔaʔac̓x̣is).

[księżycowy]

I think you should make some lessons after the NAILC is done.

[Massimiliano B]

Really?

I myself am a learner! It's really hard for me even to build a simple sentence in this language! And its vocabulary is so difficult!

[księżycowy]

I know, I know. It's just this language seems so hard and I doubt I'd be able to learn the same way you are, with grammars and such.

I was mostly joking at any rate.

[Massimiliano B]

Today I studied the future tense. In a previous post I wrote that the particle qs indicates the future. But in the last days I discovered that it is used particularly to express a hypothetical action. The real future requires the particle n̓em before the personal pronouns:

n̓em čn sust = I will drink
n̓em kʷ sust = you will drink
n̓em sust = she he it will dring
n̓em qe sust = we will drink
n̓em p sust = you all will drink
n̓em suʔust = they will drink

In the following question ha kʷes nte kʷqs susti? (= "do you want something to drink?") the suffix qs indicates a future and hypothetical action. ha is the interrogative particle, kʷes means "you-present", nte means "want", kʷqs means "you-future-hypothetical", and susti is "drink". Literally, the sentence means: "Do you want you would drink?".
The following sentence has the particle n̓em, indicating a "pure" future action, without the hypothetical nuance: ha n̓em kʷ xʷuy̓ č sntumístn? = "Will you go to the store?" (ha = interrogative particle; n̓em = will; kʷ = you; xʷuy̓ = go; č = to; sntumístn = store). Here, the particle n̓em means that the action is in the future.

[Massimiliano B]

Today I studied that in Montana Salish and Kalispel the action of wearing clothes is expressed by the clothing names (without the initial s- with which usually the noun begins) preceded by the intransitive personal pronoun (taken from here):

t stem̓ u kʷes x̣cnumt ? What are you wearing? (t precedes the object of a morphologically intransitive verb; stem̓ = what is it; u = that; kʷes = present tense of the singular second person of an intransitive verb; x̣cnum̓t = (he/she) wear- intransitive)

čnes nac̓ɫq̓eyt = I'm wearing a shirt (snac̓ɫq̓eyt = shirt)
kʷes noɫups = you are wearing pants
es lkepu = she/he is wearing a coat
čnes t̓st̓asšn = I'm wearing shoes
kʷes nq̓ ʷoƛ̓šn = you are wearing socks
es p̓čp̓ečst = she/he is wearing gloves

[Massimiliano B]

I'm sorry. In the last two weeks I have studied only a little bit.

I studied the imperatives.
By adding š to a verb makes it an intransitive command:
xʷuy means "he/she/it went"; xʷuyš means "go!".

The transitive command is formed by adding the transitive suffix -nt. This basic form transmits action to the third person: k̓ʷul̓ = he/she/it made; k̓ʷul̓nt = make it!

Bye

[księżycowy]

Yay, someone is still here!

[Massimiliano B]

Yes

[Massimiliano B]

Hi!
In January I wrote the following notes from the Kalispel lessons. Now I've decided to post a part of them. Maybe there are mistakes, both in my English language and in my "interpretation" of the Montana Salish-Kalispel language.



From lesson 1:

ʔa, x̣est skʷekʷst = Hello, good morning. (ʔa = hello - it is only said by a man; x̣est = good; skʷekʷst = morning).

kʷ ec̓ščén̓ ? = How are you? (kʷ = you; ec̓ščén̓ = happen; literally, I think the meaning is "what happens to you?")

i čn x̣es = I'm fine (i = it emphasizes the situation is to be noted; čn = I; x̣es = good).

n̓em eɫwíčncn = See you later (literally: "I see you again". n̓em = future particle; eɫ = again; wíč = to see; n = transitive suffix; c = you object; n = I).

n̓em eɫwíčtmn = See you all later. (t = ?; m = you all; n = I)

swe ɫu askʷest? = what's your name? (swe in Montana Salish; swet in Kalispel = who; a- = your, the complete form is an, but n is dropped before a noun beginning with s; skʷest = name)

(name) ɫu iskʷest = My name is (name) (the i of iskʷest means "my", the complete form is in, but n is dropped before a noun beginning with s).



From lesson 2:

kʷ sk̓ʷnš spentč ? = how old are you? (kʷ = you; sk̓ʷnš spentč comes from k̓ʷinš = how many?/how much? and spentč = year. I don't know what the first s- in sk̓ʷnšspentč means). Maybe it is the actual prefix "es".

čn (number of years) smx̣ʷop = I'm (number of years) years old. (čn = I; smx̣ʷop = snow).

čn (number of years) spentč = I'm (number of years) years old (spentč = year).



From lesson 3:

ha anx̣menč ɫu _______ ? = Do you like ________? (ha = interrogative particle; an = your; x̣menč = like, love; ɫu is a definite article (like English "the") used with substantives which refers to animate and inanimate things).

inx̣menč ɫu__________ = I like_____________.
(in = my; x̣menč = like, love).

tam inx̣menč ɫu___________ = I don't like. (tam = not; in- = my).

ha kʷes nteʔ t___________? = Do you want some ____________ ? (ha = interrogative particle; kʷes = present tense of a singular second person of an intransitive verb; nteʔ = want; t = some).

uné = yes, true.
ʔe = yes.
ta = no.
lémlmtš = thanks.

t stem̓ u kʷes ntélsi? = What do you want? (t introduces the object of a morphological intransitive verb; stem̓ = what is it; u = that; kʷes = present tense of the singular second person of an intransitive verb; ntélsi = want)



From lesson 8:

ha kʷes nteʔ kʷqs susti? = Do you want something to drink? (ha = interrogative particle; kʷes = present tense of a singular second person of an intransitive verb; nteʔ = want; kʷqs = future-hypothetical tense of the singular second person of an intransitive verb; susti = drink - intransitive).

uné, čnes nte t___________ = Yes, I want some ________. (Uné = yes čnes = present tense of the first person singular of an intransitive verb; nte = want; t = it introduces the object of a morphological intransitive verb).

stem̓ ɫu as sustm? = What are you drinking? (Stem̓ = what is it. Stem̓ is not preceded by t because the verb is morphologically transitive; ɫu = that; it introduces the subject of a morphological transitive verb) as = present tense of the transitive singular second person; sustm = "drink", in the transitive form).



From lesson 34:

stem̓ anx̣menč aqs iɫnm? = What do you like to eat? (stem̓ = what is it; anx̣menč = your-like; aqs = transitive future/hypothetical singular second personal pronoun; iɫnm = "eat", in the transitive form; iɫni is the intransitive form. So, aqs iɫnm means "you-probably-will (=aqs) eat-it (=íɫnm)", while kʷqs íɫni means "you-will (=kʷqs) eat (=iɫni)").

inx̣menč qs iɫn ɫu____________ = I like to eat _______. (inx̣menč = it's my like/love; qs = future/hypothetical marker; iɫn = morphologically transitive form of "to eat": it means "I-eat-it" (the final n means "I" and "it" is understood); ɫu = it introduces the object of a transitive verb).

ha anx̣menč qs iɫntxʷ ɫu___________? = Do you like to eat ______ ? (ha = interrogative particle; anx̣menč = is it your like/love; qs =future/hypothetical marker; iɫntxʷ = you-eat-it (-xʷ means "you-subject", and "it" is understood); ɫu introduces the object of a transitive verb).

tam inx̣menč qs iɫn ɫu___________ = I don't like to eat ____________(tam = negative particle (English "not"); inx̣menč = it's my like/love; qs = future/hypothetical marker; iɫn = I-eat-it (the final n means "I"); ɫu = it introduces the object of a transitive verb).

t stem̓ u kʷ tumí? What did you buy? (t = it precedes the object of a morphologically intransitive verb; stem̓ = what is it; u = that - it is used when the subject is a definite person; kʷ = past tense of the second person singular intransitive personal pronoun; tumí = buy - intransitive form)

čn tumí t___________ = I bought some _________ (čn = past tense of the first person singular intransitive personal pronoun); tumí = buy. This verb is morphologically intransitive, so its object is preceded by t).

[Massimiliano B]

Taken from Kalispel lessons:


from lesson 10:

č̓ čen̓ u kʷes xʷuyi? = Where are you going? (literally: "To where (is it) that you go?". č̓ = to; čen̓ = where is it; u = that - it is used when the subject is a definite person (in this case it is kʷes) ; kʷes = present tense of the second person singular intransitive personal pronoun; xʷuyi = go - the final -i is added when the verb is in the present tense). The word č̓ (= to) is a č with a glottal stop ( ̓ ).

čnes xʷuyi č̓ _______________ = I'm going to ________ (čnes = present tense of the first person singular intransitive personal pronoun; xʷuyi = go - the final -i is added when the verb is in the present tense; č̓ = to).

čiqs xʷuyič̓ __________________ = I'm going to go to ________. (čiqs = future/hypothetical tense of the first person singular intransitive personal pronoun; xʷuyi = "go" and final -i, used with the qs tense; č̓ = to).

ha n̓em kʷ xʷuy č̓ ___________ ? = Will you be going to the _________ ? (ha = interrogative particle; n̓em = future marker; kʷ = you - intransitive; xʷuy = go, without the final -i, because it is not present tense; č̓ = to).

ʔe, n̓em čn xʷuy č̓ ____________ = Yes, I will be going to the (ʔe = no; n̓em = future marker; čn = I - intransitive; xʷuy = go; č̓ = to).

ta, tam čiqs xʷuyi č̓ ____________ = No, I won't be going to the _______ (ta = no; tam = "not", it is the negation of the verb; čiqs = future/hypothetical tense of the first person singular intransitive personal pronoun; xʷuyi = go; č̓ = to). I don't understand why in this sentence the future/hypothetical tense is used (-qs), while in the previous the particle n̓em, which indicates a pure future tense, is used. Perhaps the negative sentence requires the -qs mark).



from lesson 19:

č̓čen̓ u kʷ xʷuy ? = Where did you go? (literally: "To where (is it) that you went?". č̓ = to; čen̓ = where is it; u = that; kʷ = you - past tense (intransitive); xʷuy = go - the verb is without -i in the past).

čn xʷuy č̓___________ = I went to the _____________- . (čn = I - past tense intransitive).


ha kʷ xʷuy č̓____________ ? = Did you go to the ______________ ? (ha = interrogative particle; kʷ = you - past tense intransitive).

tam čn xʷuy č̓_____________ = I didn't go to the ___________ (tam = negation).

č̓ čen̓ u xʷúʔuy? = Where did they go? (č̓ = to; čen̓ = where; u = that; xʷúʔuy they went (the third person plural subject is made by an insertion of a glottal stop after the stressed syllable and a repetition of the stressed vowel. Thus xʷuy becomes xʷúʔuy).

xʷúʔuy č̓ _______________ = They went to the _______________.



from lesson 12:

ƛ̓e l̓ k̓ʷinš ? = What time is it? (ƛ̓e = already, ready; l̓ = particle indicating in, on, with;
k̓ʷinš = how much, how many).

ƛ̓e l̓ t̓aq̓n = It is six o'clock (literally: "Already in/on six" (t̓aq̓n)).

ƛ̓e l̓ nk̓ʷuʔ eɫ sč̓ut = It is one thirty (literally "alrealdy in/on one again (eɫ) half").

ƛ̓e l̓ nk̓ʷuʔ eɫ ʔeslʔúpn = It is one twenty (nk̓ʷuʔ = one; ʔeslʔúpn = twenty).

ƛ̓e l̓ cil tl̓ ʔesél = It is two and five. (Literally: "already five (cil) from (tl̓) two" (ʔesél).