9.2.1. ‘Not’ with ‘it/he/she’
| hiyáʔ. | ‘It/he/she went.’ |
| ʔáwə c hiyáʔ. | ‘It/he/she did not go.’ |
| ƛ̓kʷə́ts. | ‘It/he/she took it.’ |
| ʔáwə c ƛ̓kʷə́ts. | ‘It/he/she did not take it.’ |
| snə́xʷɬ. | ‘It’s a canoe.’ |
| ʔáwə c snə́xʷɬ. | ‘It’s not a canoe.’ |
| ʔə́y̓. | ‘He/she/it is good.’ |
| ʔáwə c ʔə́y̓. | ‘He/she/it is not good.’ |
► 1 The pronouns ‘he,’ ‘she,’ and ‘it’ are known as third-person pronouns. In stories, the third-person pronouns and sentences with third-person subjects occur much more frequently than sentences with ‘I,’ ‘you,’ ‘we,’ or commands. So this section covers the third-person negative forms separately.
► 2 Notice that the negative c comes between the ʔáwə and the main verb or negated idea.
► 3 Note that ‑s subject suffix of the transitive word (ƛ̓kʷə́ts) stays with the word in the negative.
► 4 When the main negated verb is intransitive, the sentence actually has two meanings. Depending on how it is used, it can be a negative statement or a weak, negative command. So, for example, ʔáwə c hiyáʔ can mean ‘he/she/it does not go’ or it can mean ‘don’t go.’ See §9.2.2. on how to make a strong negative command.
► 5 Usually you translate ʔáa as ‘yes.’ However, in answering a negative question, ʔáa is translated into English as ‘no.’ So, for example, in English a negative question like ‘Didn’t he go?’ would be answered ‘yes’ if he did go, and ‘no’ if he did not go. In Klallam it is just the reverse: ʔáwə u c hiyáʔ ‘Didn’t he go?’ is answered ʔáwə ‘no (it’s not true that he didn’t go)’ if he did go, and ʔáa ‘yes (it’s true he didn’t go)’ if he did not go. Klallam is in this respect like many languages of the world. It is English that is odd.
► 6 The negative c is sometimes pronounced t.
 | ʔáwə u c ƛ̓kʷə́ts cə snə́xʷɬ. | ‘Didn’t he take the canoe?’ |
 | ʔáa. ƛ̓kʷə́ts cə tálə. | ‘No. He took the money.’ |
| ʔuʔáwənə x̣čŋíns. | ‘He’s not smart.’ |
| ƛ̓áy̓ cn ʔuʔ ƛ̓kʷə́t cə tálə. | ‘I took the money, too.’ |