5.1. Possessive prefixes and suffixes
| nətán | ‘my mother’ |
| tánɬ | ‘our mother’ |
| ʔən̓tán | ‘your mother’ |
| ʔən̓tán hay | ‘you folks’ mother’ |
| táns | ‘his/her/its/their mother’ |
► 1 Note that forms meaning ‘my’ and ‘your’ are prefixes, while the forms meaning ‘our’ and ‘his/her/its/their’ are suffixes.
► 2 Note that, just as in the previous sections, when there is more than one ‘you,’ hay is put at the end.
► 3 When words with the possessive prefixes and suffixes are used in a noun phrase, they must be preceded by an article, just as any other noun, as in hiyáʔ cə nətán ‘my mother goes.’
► 4 Klallam differs from English, where the possessive word takes the place of the article. We do not need to say ‘the my mother goes;’ in fact, this is ungrammatical in English. But in Klallam the article must be there.
► 5 Note that, just as with other nouns, words with the possessive pronouns can be used as nouns or verbs. For example,
x̣čít cn cə nətán. ‘I know my mother’
nətán u cxʷ. ‘Are you my mother?’
► 6 Note that the possessive prefixes and suffixes are never stressed.
► 7 In fluent, connected speech the ə is usually dropped in the ‘my’ and ‘your’ prefixes. So, for example, ‘my mother’ is pronounced ntán and ‘your mother’ is pronounced ʔn̓tán.
 | ʔəsʔúmənaʔ u yaʔ kʷə ʔən̓cə́t. | ‘Did your father hunt?’ |
 | ƛ̓ácu yaʔ kʷə nəcə́t. | ‘My father fished.’ |
| ʔəsx̣ʷaʔníŋ ʔuč cə ʔən̓tán hay. | ‘How is your mother?’ |
| ʔuʔə́y̓ cə tánɬ. | ‘Our mother is fine.’ |