Mekw’ o stám la éyaqtes

He just changes everything.

Mekw’ o stám la éyaqtes means ‘He just changes everything.’

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

• mekw’ – every
• o – just, only
• stám – what, what it is (see mekw’stám – everything.  In this phrase, the o splits up the word).
• la – this is an untranslatable ‘auxiliary’ (‘helper’) verb, related to the full verb lam – to go.
• éyaqt – changing (this is a variant of iyáqt – change (it) )
• -es – here the –es ending marks agreement with a ‘third person’ (i.e. not me or you) as the subject. In this sentence, the third person subject is the understood ‘he‘.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure

The structure of this phrase is as follows:

The subject of the verb éyaqt is the understood ‘he‘, which, though silent, still counts as a ‘third person’ subject (i.e. a subject who is neither you nor me). Verbs like éyaqt require an –es ending when the subject is a ‘third person’.