The house is big.
Híkw te lá:lém. means ‘The house is big.’
Híkw means ‘big’ and te lá:lém means ‘the house’.
Note that in Halq’eméylem there is no separate word equivalent to ‘is’…
Pronunciation
Híkw te lá:lém. sounds like HEEKW tuh LA-lum.
See the entries for híkw and lá:lém for more information about these words.
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling
Word order
Halq’eméylem word order is often very different from English. In this sentence, ‘(is) big’ appears at the front of the sentence, where-as in English it appears at the end. Other examples with a similar word order include:
- Iyómex the slhá:lí – The woman is beautiful. – Iyómex means ‘(is) beautiful’.
- I’i tel méle – My child is cute. – I’i means ‘(is) cute’.
- Ey ta’ syo:ys – Your work is good. – Ey means ‘(is) good’.
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