First Phrases

Our journey into person marking starts with first person singular—

’een’thu “me”

First person singular pronouns in English are: “I”, “me”, “my”, “mine”. Here are all
the different ways of expressing first person singular in Hul’q’umi’num’—

• ’een’thu ~ “It’s me” “I am” “to/for/by... me”

(1) ’een’thu yuxwule'. I am eagle.
(2) ’een’thu tse’ kwu’elh le’lum’ut. It is me that will be looking after him.
(3) m’i ch tseelqum ’utl’ ’een’thu. Come follow me.

• tsun ~ “I”

The first person singular subject pronoun is tsun “I”. Put tsun after the first major
word of the sentence. It is a second position clitic —a small word that clings.

(4) nem’ tsun ’umshasum’. I am going for a walk.
(5) ni’ tsun kwu’elh kwunnuhw. I indeed got it.
(6) ’i tsun t’ut’i’wi’ulh. I am praying.
(7) t’i’wi’ulh tsun tse’. I will pray.
(8) yuxwule’ tsun. I am an eagle.
(9) nan tsun ’uw’ kw’ekw’i’. I am very hungry.

• nu ~ “my”

(10) sii’em’ nu siiye’yu my respected friends and relatives
(11) ni’ ’untsu kwthunu kapou? Where is my coat?

• kwunus ~ “that I ..... (do something )” “for me... (to do something)”

(12) skw’ey kwunus nem’ tl’tawun. I can’t goto town.
      (It’s impossible for me to go to town.)
(13) ‘uy’ kwunus huye’. I’d better leave.
      (It is good for me to leave.)
(14) ‘uy’ nu shqwaluwun kwunus lumnamu. I am happy to see you.