Olsu ew stl’i kw’els yeláwel tl’eqtámeth’ teli tl’útl’o

I want to be taller than him.

Olsu ew stl’í  kw’els yeláwel tl’eqtámeth teli tl’útl’o means ‘I want to be taller than him’.

Literally: ‘So I want that I (am) more tall than him’

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

• osu – so [this is a sentence connector, often used at the start of sentences within a story]
• olsu – so I (the ending for ‘I’ is the –l, inserted into osu)
• ew – [this word has no direct translation, it just adds some emphasis to the statement]
• stl’i – want, a want
• kw’els – that I (again, ‘I‘ is marked by the –l ending)
• el stl’í kw’els… – I want that I am… My want is that I am… (cf. el stl’i kw’es…)
• yeláwel – more (see yeláw)
• tl’eqtámeth’ – tall
• telí – than (literally from)
• tútlo, tl’útl’o – he, him [tl’útl’o is a special form you use after teli, and in some other patterns]

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling
Note: this audio is selected from a longer sentence

Structure notes

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

Note that the word ew has no direct translation, it adds emphasis onto ‘I‘.

Note also that there is no word for ‘be‘ or ‘am‘.  The tense is just understood from context.