El stl’li kw’els yeláwel éy kw’e lamál há:we, x̲ét’e tútl’o

He said ‘I want to be better when I go hunting’.

El stl’li kw’els yeláwel éy kw’e lamál há:we, x̲ét’e tútl’o means ‘He said “I want to be better when I go hunting”‘.

A literal translation would be:   ‘My want (is) that-I (am) more good when go-I hunting, said he’.

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

• x̲ét’e – to say
• tútl’o – he, him
• el stl’í – I want (literally my want (is)….  See el stl’í kw’es…)
• kw’els – that I (the l marks ‘I’)
• yeláwel – more (see yeláw)
• éy – good
• yeláwel éy – better (i.e. ‘more good’)
• kw’e – that, if, when
• lám – to go
• -ál – I (this is the form you use in ‘possibility’ contexts, like ‘if/when…‘)
• há:we – hunting (see háwe , …kw’e lamál há:we)

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure notes

The structure of this phrase is as follows: