10.3. ‘Not able,’ ‘can’t,’ ‘useless,’ and ‘no good’
| sqiʔám̓ cn. | ‘I can’t.’ |
| sqiʔám̓ či nəshiyáʔ. | ‘I can’t go.’ |
| sqiʔám̓ cə nəsqáx̣aʔ. | ‘My dog is useless.’ |
| sqiʔám̓ či nəsʔíɬən. | ‘I can’t eat.’ |
| sqiʔám̓ cə nəsʔíɬən. | ‘My food is no good.’ |
► 1 sqiʔám̓ is one negative word that does not use a form of ʔáwə.
► 2 Some speakers always pronounce this ʔəsqiʔám̓, which is the basic, careful pronunciation. The more common, casual form, sqiʔám̓, is used here.
► 3 The meaning of sqiʔám̓ includes ideas like ‘unable,’ ‘no good,’ ‘useless,’ ‘cannot,’ 'impossible.' So, sqiʔám̓ cn could also mean ‘I’m unable (to do it)’ or ‘I’m useless (for something)’ or ‘I’m no good (at it).’
► 4 The word sqiʔám̓ is related to the word qaʔqiʔám̓, which means ‘weak.’ This makes sense, since someone who is ‘weak’ is ‘unable’ to do something.
► 5 Generally, if you want to say that something is ‘no good’ or ‘useless,’ use sqiʔám̓ as the verb and the thing that is ‘no good’ or ‘useless’ as the subject preceded by any of the ‘particular, specific’ articles (see §4.2) such as cə. For example, sqiʔám̓ cə snə́xʷɬ ‘the canoe is no good.’
► 6 If you want to get across the idea of ‘can’t’ or ‘not able,’ use sqiʔám̓ as the main verb, and the thing that cannot be done as the subject preceded by či, the ‘not particular’ article (see §4.3).
► 7 If the meaning is ‘can’t’ or ‘not able,’ you must use the possessive pronouns (see §5.1) on the word after the či to indicate who is ‘unable.’ For example, sqiʔám̓ či shiyáʔɬ ‘We can’t go.’
► 8 sqiʔám̓ is used with ʔáwə to form a very useful and interesting phrase: sqiʔám̓ či nəsʔáwə c ... ‘I have to…’ This literally means ‘I can’t not…’ So sqiʔám̓ či nəsʔáwə c hiyáʔ means ‘I have to go,’ or literally ‘I can’t not go.’ This can be generally used if you change the hiyáʔ to some other verb. And, of course, you can change it from ‘I’ to ‘you,’ and so on. So, for example, we can say:
sqiʔám̓ či ʔən̓sʔáwə c hiyáʔ. ‘You have to go.’
sqiʔám̓ či sʔáwəɬ c hiyáʔ. ‘We have to go.’
sqiʔám̓ či sʔáwəs c kʷánəŋət. ‘He/she/etc. has to run.’
sqiʔám̓ či ʔən̓sʔáwə hay c t̓úk̓ʷ. ‘You folks have to go home.’
► 9 This pattern has the very common s‑ prefix. We will see much more of it in later sections. Its use is basically this: when a verb has a possessive pronoun, it must also have an s‑ prefix. The s‑ has no other meaning or function. It just has to be there if a verb has a possessive pronoun. So in sqiʔám̓ či nəshiyáʔ ‘I can’t go,’ the verb hiyáʔ cannot just take the nə‑ ‘my’ prefix without an s‑. Pay close attention to when this s‑ is used in the exercises.
 | hiyáʔ u cxʷ ƛ̓aʔtáwn. | ‘Are you going to town?’ |
 | sqiʔám̓ či nəshiyáʔ. | ‘I can’t go.’ |
| sqiʔám̓ u cə ʔən̓sčaʔkʷaʔyúɬ. | ‘Is your car broken down?’ |
| ʔáw. kʷənáŋət caʔn cə nətán. | ‘No. I’m going to help my mother.’ |