tl’o kw’e hókwexexw

Tl’o kw’e hókwexexw means ‘it’s what you use’.
You could also use it for ‘It’s what you wear’.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Vocabulary and Structure

This phrase has the following structure:

Vocabulary

• tl’o – it is (this puts the ‘focus’ on the following item, equivalent to English ‘it is...’)
• kw’e – you can use this for the (for remote or possible objects), but in this usage a better translation is what, as in ‘what you use‘ (you would not use kw’e for making questions, though; then you would use stám)
• hókwex – to wear, to use
• -exw – you (‘you’ is more usually chexw, but Elders use the shortened form –exw in certain contexts, including after tl’o)