10.1. ‘None,’ ‘nothing,’ and ‘not exist’
| ʔáwənə. | ‘There’s none/there’s nothing/it doesn’t exist.’ |
| ʔáwənə yaʔ. | ‘There was none/there was nothing/it didn’t exist.’ |
| ʔáwənə u. | ‘Is there nothing?/Isn’t there anything?’ |
| ʔáwənə tálə. | ‘There’s no money.’ |
| ʔáwənə nətálə. | ‘I have no money.’ (lit., my money doesn’t exist) |
| ʔáwənə nəsx̣čít. | ‘I don’t know it.’ (lit., my knowing it doesn’t exist) |
| ʔáwənə yaʔ skʷúl. | ‘There was no school.’ |
| ʔáwənə yaʔ cán. | ‘There was nobody.’ |
► 1 The word néʔ in Klallam means ‘exist, come into existence, be born, be some.’ When this combines with ʔáwə it forms a special compound: ʔáwənə, which means ‘nothing’ or ‘none’ or ‘not exist.’
► 2 The word ʔáwənə is really a verb meaning ‘to be nothing’ or ‘to not exist.’ It’s possible to say ʔáwənə cxʷ, meaning ‘You don’t exist’ or ‘You’re nothing.’
► 3 When the word following ʔáwənə has a possessive pronoun on it, the translation often includes ‘have no,’ as in ʔáwənə nəsqáx̣aʔ ‘I have no dog.’
► 4 Note the new vocabulary: skʷúl ‘school’ (a word borrowed by Klallam from English) and cán ‘somebody.’ The word cán can also mean ‘who.’ We’ll learn more about this word in §12.1.
► 5 Here are a few more new words used in the exercises: čáy ‘work’; mə́y̓əq ‘forget’; háhək̓ʷ ‘remember’
 | ʔáwənə u táləs cə ʔən̓sčáʔčaʔ. | ‘Doesn’t your friend have money?’ |
 | ʔáwənə nəsx̣čít. | ‘I don’t know.’ |
| čáy u yaʔ cə ʔən̓sčáʔčaʔ. | ‘Did your friend work?’ |
| ʔáwənə nəsháhək̓ʷ. | ‘I don’t remember.’ |