te lá:léms te sqá:q

the little brother’s house

Te lá:léms te sqá:q means ‘the little brother’s house’ (literally ‘the house of the little-brother’).

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

• te – the – sounds like tuh.
• lá:lém – house – sounds like LA-lum .
• sqá:q – little brother, younger sibling – sounds like SKACK, except that instead of k you say the Halq’eméylem q sound, touching back to your uvula.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Similar Examples

Here are some examples of similar phrases:

• te sqwemá:ys te sqá:q – the little brother’s dog
• te méles te swíyeqe – the man’s child
• te sqáqs te swíyeqe – the man’s little brother

Compare also the phrase te lá:léms tl’ John – John’s house.

Structure

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

• te lá:lém-s te sqá:q
• the house-of the little-brother

The –s ending on lá:lem marks that it is possessed by the following noun, similar to English of.