Kw’ulh la hálém the kyó means ‘The train was already gone‘ or ‘The car was already gone’. Kyo can refer to a regular car or to a railroad carriage (in the story Elizabeth is talking about the car on a train’).
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling
Vocabulary and structure
This phrase has the following structure:
Vocabulary:
- kw’ulh is a combination of kw’e – when, if, that and -ulh which is the past tense marker. This also translates as already.
- 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 (some speakers use the only before nouns descibing females, but Elizabeth often uses the more freely)
- kyó – car
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