to ask
Petá:met is the Halq’eméylem word for ‘to ask’, as in Petá:metes tútl’o the Mary – ‘He asked Mary’.
Pronunciation
Petá:met sounds like puh-TAM-it
Audio: Elizabeth Phillips, Elizabeth Herrling
-ing form
Petá:met has a special ‘-ing’ (‘continuative’) form, like this: pétemet – asking (audio here)
In this case (and a few other words) the ‘-ing’ form is created by shifting the emphasis to stress the first syllable.
Usage notes
You use petá:met when you are asking a specific person about something, e.g. Tsel petá:met the Mary – I asked Mary.
If you are just making a general kind of inquiry (not specifying which person you are going to ask), you can use the shorter form petá:m, e.g. Petá:m tsel cha – ‘I will ask’.
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