Híkw te lá:léms te sqá:qs tútl’o.

His little brother’s house is big.

Híkw te lá:léms te sqá:qs tútl’o. means ‘His little brother’s house is big.’ (literally ‘Big (is) the house-of the little-brother-of him’).

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

• híkw – big – sounds like heek, but with rounded lips on the final k.
• te – the – sounds like tuh.
• lá:lém – house – sounds like LA-lum.
• sqá:q – little brother, younger sibling – sounds like SKACK, except that instead of k you say the Halq’eméylem q, which you make by touching the back of your tongue to your uvula.
• tútl’o – he, him – sounds like TOOT-la, except that the t is ‘popped’, by combining it with a glottal stop.

Note:  this is a very natural sentence, but in the original recording Elizabeth has another word after tútl’o, which has been cut from the audio for this post (we will include the additional word in the next post).  This affects her pronunciation.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Similar Examples

Here are some examples of similar phrases:

• Híkw te sqwemá:ys te sqá:qs tútl’o. – His little brother’s dog is big.
• Iyómex te méles tel sqá:qs thútl’o- Her little brother’s child is good looking.
• Tl’eqtameth’ te stó:les te sqá:qs tútl’o. – His little brother’s wife is tall.

Structure

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

• Híkw te lá:lém-s te sqá:q-s tútl’o.
• big the house-of the little.brother-of him