Nyaapum Hattepaavech 'Iikwich Kuttaattvu wiis: "'Enyekewuuw!"
Nyaapum heyull weyuuw tepekwirrp ewillp nyaamat. Nyaapum pehkwiis, 'emaaym um; 'Iikwich Kuttaattvech achepayh umaaw Hattepaavu.
Nyaapum Hattepaavech wiis: "Mu'yuu 'enyemewuuwh umaaw?"
Apekwirp tewaah, 'Iikwich Kuttaattvech semiiraayh, aashukph, nyaapum Hattepaavech weyuuwh.
Nyaapum heyull weyuuw tepekwirrp ewillp nyaamat. Nyaapum pehkwiis, 'emaaym um; 'Iikwich Kuttaattvech achepayh umaaw Hattepaavu.
Nyaapum Hattepaavech wiis: "Mu'yuu 'enyemewuuwh umaaw?"
Apekwirp tewaah, 'Iikwich Kuttaattvech semiiraayh, aashukph, nyaapum Hattepaavech weyuuwh.
Hattepaavech 'emaaym um nyaapum wiis: "'Uuch mum temewaa? 'Enyekewuuw!"
'Iikwich Kuttaattvech wiis: "'Iikwich 'ehin weyiws, perewii. 'E-en, 'iikwich 'ehin weyiw. 'Epal heyan perewii. Haa, 'epalches.
Hattepaavech akekwiis: "'Ekurchu?"
'Iikwich Kuttaattvech wiis: "Peyii helyepay weyiws."
Hattepaavech wiis: "Nyaapum kupilly 'ehin 'epuwkh; nyewuuwh."
Peyapaches.
'Iikwich Kuttaattvech wiis: "'Iikwich 'ehin weyiws, perewii. 'E-en, 'iikwich 'ehin weyiw. 'Epal heyan perewii. Haa, 'epalches.
Hattepaavech akekwiis: "'Ekurchu?"
'Iikwich Kuttaattvech wiis: "Peyii helyepay weyiws."
Hattepaavech wiis: "Nyaapum kupilly 'ehin 'epuwkh; nyewuuwh."
Peyapaches.
Notes
'iipayvech: "the people". Refers to the Kumeyaay people. You can tell it's plural from the plural verb it corresponds to, nyechewiich.
gayeen nyewaa: "chicken his house". = Chicken coop(s).
'ily pehemach: Evidently no suffix is needed for 'ily, the thing the chicken sleep on. Pehemach here has the sense of "used to".
Maaykally 'ehin: No suffix on 'ehin to relate the time at which something happened.
'Iikwich Kuttaatt: "Kuttaatt" is the name of the rooster, sounding like "the one who crows". 'Iikwich here seems to mean "mister".
um: This verb means to look out from a certain place or look out into the distance. Uk, meanwhile, is to look toward a certain point.
tuuyiw: Usually a helping verb, it is used on its own here to mean "was coming".
ums; hattepaa tuuyiw: This is how you say, "he saw coyote coming." Lit. "He looked; coyote was coming." Could conceivably also be: "hattepaa tuuyiwm ums." "Coyote was coming and he (rooster) saw him."
'ily 'emaaym um: "He looked out at the high tree." The -m appears to be a different-subject suffix on the verb 'emaay, "high". So this literally is, "the tree was high and he looked at it." However, -m could also be the suffix meaning "to".
aawaall 'ehini: It appears "wenak" uses the -i suffix on the object being sat on. 'ehin, despite being a verb, can take this suffix.
Kuttaattvu wii: "wii" takes an accusative object for the person being addressed/told/talked to.
'Enyekewuuw: Verbs in 2nd person with a 1st person object (you [verb] me) use the prefix 'enye- to mean "me".
heyull: "his tail". Body parts are always in the possessive form.
tepekwirrp ewillp nyaamat: "ewillp" is an amplifying verb that follows the first, meaning "fast" or sometimes "faster". "Nyaamat" is confusing here, but might mean "all around" or refer to the coyote's whole body, not just his tail.
Kuttaattvech achepayh umaaw Hattepaavu: Word order mixed for style.
Mu'yuu: This is a verb meaning "is how", simply meaning "how?" in this context. However, to be more clear that you are asking how, you would normally put the -m suffix and say, "mu'yuum?"
'enyemewuuwh umaaw: Since the first verb is conjugated for 2nd person, "umaaw" should technically be "memaaw". However, "umaaw" is used in all persons informally.
apekwirp tewaah: This looks like the future indicative: "he is going to be spinning", but here it is more like, "he meant to be spinning". This is different from "apekwirph tewaa," "he was going to spin."
semiiraayh…: The -h on this series of verbs is again not future, but part of a purpose clause: "He wanted to be spinning so that the rooster would be dizzy…"
'Uuch: "What" is left unmarked because it is accusative; the direct object of "mum".
weyiw: "is coming" or "has come". Notice the choice of word here, which is not much different in meaning from "tuuyiw". This might be more appropriate to use with the following verb, "perewii".
"weyiw, perewii": "It looks like he is coming." Literally, "he is coming, it looks like."
'epal: Means both "gun" and "arrow".
'E-en, haa: These both mean "yes".
akekwii: "Asks", when the thing being asked is a question.
'ekurchu: -chu is the present tense, 3rd person question ending.
peyii helyepay: "near to here".
peyii helyepay weyiw: "he's coming near to here."
kupilly 'ehin: "(on) one day"
nyewuuwh: With the -ny prefix, this means either "I will see you" or "he will see me". If no explicit object or subject is present, context should be enough to make the choice clear.
Peyápaches.
gayeen nyewaa: "chicken his house". = Chicken coop(s).
'ily pehemach: Evidently no suffix is needed for 'ily, the thing the chicken sleep on. Pehemach here has the sense of "used to".
Maaykally 'ehin: No suffix on 'ehin to relate the time at which something happened.
'Iikwich Kuttaatt: "Kuttaatt" is the name of the rooster, sounding like "the one who crows". 'Iikwich here seems to mean "mister".
um: This verb means to look out from a certain place or look out into the distance. Uk, meanwhile, is to look toward a certain point.
tuuyiw: Usually a helping verb, it is used on its own here to mean "was coming".
ums; hattepaa tuuyiw: This is how you say, "he saw coyote coming." Lit. "He looked; coyote was coming." Could conceivably also be: "hattepaa tuuyiwm ums." "Coyote was coming and he (rooster) saw him."
'ily 'emaaym um: "He looked out at the high tree." The -m appears to be a different-subject suffix on the verb 'emaay, "high". So this literally is, "the tree was high and he looked at it." However, -m could also be the suffix meaning "to".
aawaall 'ehini: It appears "wenak" uses the -i suffix on the object being sat on. 'ehin, despite being a verb, can take this suffix.
Kuttaattvu wii: "wii" takes an accusative object for the person being addressed/told/talked to.
'Enyekewuuw: Verbs in 2nd person with a 1st person object (you [verb] me) use the prefix 'enye- to mean "me".
heyull: "his tail". Body parts are always in the possessive form.
tepekwirrp ewillp nyaamat: "ewillp" is an amplifying verb that follows the first, meaning "fast" or sometimes "faster". "Nyaamat" is confusing here, but might mean "all around" or refer to the coyote's whole body, not just his tail.
Kuttaattvech achepayh umaaw Hattepaavu: Word order mixed for style.
Mu'yuu: This is a verb meaning "is how", simply meaning "how?" in this context. However, to be more clear that you are asking how, you would normally put the -m suffix and say, "mu'yuum?"
'enyemewuuwh umaaw: Since the first verb is conjugated for 2nd person, "umaaw" should technically be "memaaw". However, "umaaw" is used in all persons informally.
apekwirp tewaah: This looks like the future indicative: "he is going to be spinning", but here it is more like, "he meant to be spinning". This is different from "apekwirph tewaa," "he was going to spin."
semiiraayh…: The -h on this series of verbs is again not future, but part of a purpose clause: "He wanted to be spinning so that the rooster would be dizzy…"
'Uuch: "What" is left unmarked because it is accusative; the direct object of "mum".
weyiw: "is coming" or "has come". Notice the choice of word here, which is not much different in meaning from "tuuyiw". This might be more appropriate to use with the following verb, "perewii".
"weyiw, perewii": "It looks like he is coming." Literally, "he is coming, it looks like."
'epal: Means both "gun" and "arrow".
'E-en, haa: These both mean "yes".
akekwii: "Asks", when the thing being asked is a question.
'ekurchu: -chu is the present tense, 3rd person question ending.
peyii helyepay: "near to here".
peyii helyepay weyiw: "he's coming near to here."
kupilly 'ehin: "(on) one day"
nyewuuwh: With the -ny prefix, this means either "I will see you" or "he will see me". If no explicit object or subject is present, context should be enough to make the choice clear.
Peyápaches.
Vocabulary
aashukp
aawaall achepay akekwii apekwirp 'e-en 'ehin 'ekur 'emaay 'epal 'ewaa ewillp ewuuw gayeen haa hattepaa helyepay hemaa heyaay heyan heyull 'iikwich 'iipay 'ily kupilly maaykally mu'yuu nyaapum nyechewiich pehemach pehkwii perewii peyapaches peyii puwk puy semiiraay tepekwirrp tewaa tuuyiw um umaaw 'uuch wenak weyiw weyuuw wii |
fall off (animal, person, or long object)
branch pay attention asks (question) revolves yes a, one is far away high gun house is fast sees, looks at chicken yes coyote is near, close sleeps long ago carry in arms his tail man, male people (Kumeyaay) tree, branch, stick day morning why then pl. of nyewich, owns pl. of hemaa, sleeps stops, stands it looks like, appears that's all; the end here come back there is dizzy spins, is spinning helping verb, sitting, 3rd pers. is coming look out from a place is not what sits comes grabs, gets says |