Sepsáp thel sétl’atel

Sepsáp thel sétl’atel means ‘My big brother was stubborn/headstrong’.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

This phrase has the following structure:

Vocabulary:

• sepsáp – stubborn, headstrong
• thel – my
• sétl’atel – big brother (more generally, elder sibling; can be big brother or big sister, depending on context)

Notes:

• Note that there is no word for was, the tense is just understood from context.
• Elizabeth uses thel here for my before a male. Thel always means my, but some Elders use thel only before females (they would use tel before a male). However, like some other Elders, Elizabeth Herrling often uses thel for any gender.