Pronouns and other function words

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
  1. Learn »
  2. kwunthat ch – Getting Started »
  3. Pronouns and other function words »

1. The question particle ’u

nem’ ’u ch ‘umshasum’? ‘Are you going to go for a walk?’
m’i ’u tseep yaays? ‘Are you (pl) coming to work?’

2. Future tse’

hwts’e’nutsum ’u ch tse’? ‘Will you sit down?’
qwal ’u ch tse’? ‘Will you talk?’

3. Ability xwum…(’i’)

xwum ’u ch ’i’ t’ilum? ‘Can you sing?’
xwum ’u tseep ’i’ nem’ yaays? ‘Can you (pl) go work?’

4. Main clause subject pronouns

Singular Plural
First person tsun tst
Second person ch tseep
4.1 tsun ‘I’
nem’ tsun ‘umshasum’. ‘I am going for a walk.’
m’i tsun yaays. ‘I am coming to work.’
hwts’e’nutsum tsun tse’. ‘I will sit down.’
xwum ’u tsun ’i’ nem’? ‘Can I go?’
4.2 tst ‘we’
nem’ tst ‘umshasum’. ‘We are going for a walk.’
m’i tst tse’ yaays. ‘We will come to work.’
xwum ’u tst ’i’ hwts’e’nutsum. ‘Can we sit down?’

5. Sample question and answer pairs

A. m’i ’u ch yaays? ‘Are you coming to work?’
B. hee’. m’i tsun (yaays). ‘Yes, I am coming (to work).’
A. nem’ ’u tseep ’umshasum’? ‘Are you (pl) going to go for a walk?’
B. hee’. nem’ tst (‘umshasum’). ‘Yes, we are going (for a walk).’
A. hwts’e’nutsum ’u tseep tse’? ‘Will you (pl) sit down?’
B. hee’. hwts’e’nutsum tst tse’. ‘Yes, we will sit down.’
A. xwum ’u ch ’i’ t’ilum? ‘Can you sing?’
B. ’uwu. ’i’ xwum tsun ’i’ qw’uyulush. ‘No, but I can dance.’

6. Homework

  1. Use the verbs from lesson one and the particles from lessons one and two to make ten question and answer pairs.
  2. Use three pairs to create a little dialogue for two people.
  3. Unscramble these words to make a sentence: tseep lhumts’el’s ’u nem’ tse’