yóyes thel málelh means ‘my late father was working’‘. Some speakers would say tel málelh.
Pronunciation
Sounds like YEYE-us thill MAL-ith, except that instead of a th at the end you say the Halq’éylem hissy-l (lh). This is like a regular l, but hissy, and with no vibration in the throat.
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling
Structure
The phrase consists of these elements:
- yóyes – working – this is the –ing (‘progressive’) form of yóys – to work.
- thel – my (Many speakers would say tel before males, but speakers vary.)
- mál – father
- málelh – late father
Notice there is no equivalent to was (or any form of to be) in the language. In this sentence the tense of the verb (yóyes) is not marked, but we know it is past tense from context.
Elders can mark tense for the verb if they choose to, but often just leave it to context.
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