Su xwe’í q’ólthet kw’ulh la, la hálém the kyó.

Su xwe’í q’ólthet kw’ulh la, la hálém the kyó means ‘When she got back, the train was already gone’.

That is, when Elizabeth’s mother got back from checking the nets, the white lady had already taken Elizabeth away on the train—without permission (nothing bad happened, though!).

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

This phrase has the following structure:

• su – a general sentence connector, roughly translates as English so
• xwe’í q’ólthet – to return, to come back
• kw’ulh la hálem the kyó – the train/car was already gone

Notes:

• The ‘she‘ in the first sentence is just understood from context, not explicitly stated, as is common in the language.
• The repitition of la is probably just a slight hesitation.