“X̲élh kw’el sqwálewel”, x̲ét’e. “Tl’o ta’ sqá:q il totí:lt!” x̲ét’e.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I was thinking of your brother!”

“X̲élh kw’el sqwálewel”, x̲ét’e. “Tl’o ta’ sqá:q il totí:lt!” x̲ét’e. means ‘I’m sorry, I was thinking of your brother.’

Pronunciation

• x̲élh – feel hurt
• kw’el – my (this is the version of ‘my‘ for remote or possible things)
• sqwálewel – thoughts, feelings
• x̲ét’e – to say
• tl’o… – it is…
• ta’ – your
• …il totí:lt – that I was thinking of

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

Note that Elizabeth does not explicitly say ‘she’, this is just understood from the context of the story.