lhí:ts’et

to cut (it)

Lhí:ts’et is the Halq’eméylem word for ‘to cut (it)’.

Pronunciation

Lhí:ts’et sounds like LEE-tsut, except that:

• The first sound is not regular l, but the hissy lh. To make this sound, say an l but with more friction, and no vibration in the throat.
• Note that you also say a glottal stop after the ts (ts’).

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips

Pronunciation

Here are some examples of how you can use lhí:ts’et:

• Tsel lhí:tset te pipe. – I cut the paper.
• Tsel lhí:tset te sméyeth. – I cut the meat.
• Tsel lhí:tset. – I cut it. (‘it’ is understood, here)

Note: if you don’t say specifically what you cut, speakers will understand ‘cut it‘, as in the last example above.

-ing form

To talk about cutting as an ongoing action, you use a special form of lhí:ts’et, like this: lhílhets’et – cutting (audio here).

Related words

Here are some other words related to lhíts’et:

• lhá:ts’tel – knife (the -tel ending marks tools, devices)
  

  lhá:ts’tel

• lhíts’eqwt – to cut (his/her) hair (the -eqw ending marks of the head, hair)
  

  lhíts’eqwt

• slhíts’es – wind-dried salmon (the -es ending marks face, surface, so this is literally ‘with cuts on the surface’)