léts’e

one

‘Léts’e’ (also pronounced ‘léts’a’ is the way you say the number ‘one’, for general counting.

Pronunciation

Here is how you can pronounce léts’e:

• Basically, you just say “LUTTS-uh”
• Try and add in a little “catch in the throat” sound, after the ts. That is what the apostrophe marks.
• If you’d like to learn more about the “catch in the throat”, click here.

The elders sometimes also say léts’a, with more of an a sound at the end. Both pronunciations are correct.

Using the Word

Here are some good contexts for using this word:

• Counting to ten on your fingers.
• Counting numbers one to ten.
• Doing arithmetic like addition or subtraction.

Note that there are special forms of the numbers if you are counting people, canoes, trees, and certain other objects (some examples appear below). Léts’e is just the general ‘all purpose’ form for counting.

Related Words

Here are some other words related to léts’e:

• lólets’e – one person (special form for counting people)
• léts’es – one dollar (special form for counting dollars)
• lets’á:wes – one paddle (special form for counting paddles)

Note: the audio sample above is by Elizabeth Herrling – Th’áth’elexwot. If you don’t see an audio player above, you can try here.