Osu ileqelhsthóxes te mimele’ó:ylha means ‘She bought me a doll’. The word ‘she‘ (referring to the white lady) is not explicitly stated, but is understood from context..
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling
This phrase has the following structure:
- osu – a general sentence connector, sometimes untranslatable, but often used equivalent to English so
- íleqet – to buy
- -elhts– a verb ending which gives the meaning for
- -óx – me
- -es – here, marks the presence of a ‘third person’ (someone other than you or me) acting as the subject (what linguists call ‘3rd person agreement’); in this case, the third person subject is the understood she
- te – a, the
- mimele’ó:ylha – doll
Linguists call the –t ending on íleqet a ‘transitive’ marker. Note how the –elhts ending (meaning ‘for‘) comes before this transitive –t. This –t also becomes –th before the –óx ending (meaning me).
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