30.3. Hypothetical: ____ q
| xʷítəŋ q cxʷ kʷaʔ šúptən q. | ‘You’d jump if I’d whistle.’ |
| húʔ q cn šúpt ʔiʔ xʷítəŋ q cxʷ. | ‘If I’d whistle, you’d jump.’ |
► 1 Consider the difference between these two English sentences:
‘If I whistle, you jump.’
‘If I would whistle, you would jump.’
These both express a main event (‘you jump’) and a conditional event (‘I whistle’). The difference is that the second sentence expresses the speaker’s opinion about a hypothetical situation. In English we use the auxiliary verb ‘would’ or ’d, as in the models, to express this. In Klallam we use a little word q after the verb and before the tense and subject markers.
► 2 This little word, which we’ll call the hypothetical q, is another speech act particle (see §3 and §41), one of a set of little words that follow the first word of the sentence. They all function to show something of how the speaker feels about what he or she is saying. We will see more of these in later sections.
► 3 When the hypothetical q is used with the future caʔ, the translation into English is the same as without it. For example, xʷítəŋ q cxʷ kʷaʔ šúptən and xʷítəŋ q caʔ cxʷ kʷaʔ šúptən both translate as ‘I would jump if you whistle.’ In Klallam there is a slight difference in meaning where the second example (with the caʔ) refers specifically to a future event.
► 4 When the hypothetical q is used with the past, the best translation into English is with ‘would have.’ For example, xʷítəŋ q yaʔ cxʷ kʷaʔ šúptən is translated as ‘I would have jumped if you whistled.’
► 5 Notice that one or both clauses of the conditional constructions may have the hypothetical q.
► 6 The hypothetical q may occur in any sentence, not just conditionals. For example, hiyáʔ q cn means ‘I would go.’
► 7 The hypothetical q comes before the past or future tense marker and after the yes/no question marker. For example: hiyáʔ u q yaʔ cxʷ means ‘Would you have gone?’
► 8 The hypothetical q is pronounced qɬ or əqɬ or qə by some speakers.
 | wáʔ q cə q̓áʔŋiʔ kʷaʔ čtátxʷ q. | ‘The girl would go along if you would ask her.’ |
 | čtát yaʔ cn. | ‘I asked her.’ |
| ʔínət ʔuč? | ‘What did she say?’ |
| húʔ q cn ʔáwə c hiyáʔ ʔiʔ hiyáʔ q. | ‘If I wouldn’t go, she would.’ |