O tsel cha me q’ólthet we wáyeles

O tsel cha me q’ólthet we wáyeles means ‘I will come back tomorrow’, or ‘I’m going to come back tomorrow’.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

This phrase has the following structure:

• o – an untranslatable ‘particle’, often for certain kinds of emphasis, sometimes associated with the meaning ‘just, only’
• tsel – I
• cha – marks the future, like English will
• me – this is an auxiliary (‘helper’) verb, related to the meaning come
• q’ólthet – come back, return (see entry for me q’ólthet)
• we – an untranslatable emphasis marker, may sound like ‘ew’, or just ‘w’
• wáyeles – to take, grasp, take hold of

It is not quite clear why Elizabeth says the auxiliary me twice; it may be hesitation.