La hálém te kyó means ‘The car (is) going’. Here Elizabeth is referring to a railroad car, so a fluent translation would be ‘The train is going’.
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling
Vocabulary and structure
This phrase has the following structure:
Vocabulary:
- la – an untranslatable auxiliary (‘helper’) verb, related to lám – to go. Elders commonly use this auxiliary with verbs of motion (away from the place of speaking)
- hálém – going
- the – the – you can also use te here. (Many speakers use the only before nouns descibing females, but Elizabeth often uses the more freely.)
- kyó – car
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