lóy kw’es ew hamámts o te sth’óqwi

lóy kw’es ew hamámts o te sth’óqwi means ‘(he) was only just giving away the fish’. The ‘he’ is just understood from context.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure and Vocabulary

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

• lóy – only
• kw’es – that
• ew…o – just (the two words together mean ‘just’)
• hamámt – giving away (this is the ‘-ing’ or ‘progressive’ form of mámt – to give away)
• te – the
• sth’óqwi – fish

Note: the source of the –s on hamámt is not clear.