Ew xwlalámetem o tútl’o.

She just listens to him.

Ew xwlalámetem o tútl’o means ‘She just listens to him‘.

Literally it means: He is just listened to.

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

• ew…o – just, only, merely (these two words together mean ‘just’, they are usually separated by the other words in the sentence)
• xwlalámet – to listen to
• xwlalámetem – is listened to (the –em ending here is a ‘passive’ marker)
• tútl’o – he, him

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure notes

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

Notes:

• As noted above, ew…o together mean ‘just‘ (or ‘only‘, ‘merely‘), and are usually separated by other words.
• As also noted above, the –em ending here marks ‘passive’, which turns the verb from ‘listen to’ into ‘is listened to‘.