23.2. Time of day
Models
| 1) | ĆESE¸ SE¸ I¸ YÁ¸ SEN. | ‘I will go at two o’clock.’ |
| 2) | ĆESE¸ LE¸ I¸ YÁ¸ SEN. | ‘I went at two o’clock.’ |
| 3) | ĆELÁU¸ ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸ I¸ YÁ¸ SEN. | ‘I go after two o'clock.’ |
| 4) | I¸ȽĆÁL¸E¸ ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸ I¸ YÁ¸ SEN. | ‘I go before two o'clock.’ |
| 5) | YÁ¸ SEN ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸ TINTEN. | ‘I go at two o’clock.’ |
| 6) | YÁ¸ SEN SE¸ ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸ TINTEN. | ‘I will go at two o’clock.’ |
| 7) | YÁ¸ LE¸ SEN SE¸ ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸ TINTEN. | ‘I went at two o’clock.’ |
| 8) | YÁ¸ SEN ¸E TI¸Á TÁṈEN DXEṈ. | ‘I go at six o'clock this evening.’ |
| 9) | YÁ¸ SEN ¸E TI¸Á ȻEĆIL¸ DXEṈ. | ‘I go at six o’clock this morning.’ |
| 10) | YÁ¸ SEN ¸E TŦE ĆELÁW¸ ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸. | ‘I go after two o’clock.’ |
| 11) | YÁ¸ SEN ¸E TŦE ĆELÁL ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸. | ‘I go before two o’clock.’ |
‣ 1 There are basically two grammatical patterns for talking about the time of day. Models 1, 2, 3, and 4 show the conjoined adverbial pattern, and models 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 show the adverbial prepositional phrase pattern.
‣ 2 Models 1 and 2 illustrate the basic form of the conjoined pattern. This is a ‘conjoined’ pattern because each of these models is two sentences conjoined by I¸ ‘and.’ Model 1 is ĆESE¸ SE¸ ‘It will be two’ and YÁ¸ SEN ‘I go.’ Model 2 is CESE¸ LE¸ ‘It was two’ and YÁ¸ SEN ‘I go.’
‣ 3 For the conjoined pattern, specify the time as a number, then use I¸ to conjoin it to another sentence that specifies the event that takes place (or took place) at that time.
‣ 4 Models 3 and 4 show how to express I¸ȽĆÁL¸E¸ ‘before’ and ĆELÁU¸ ‘past’ with respect to the hour. Note that the hour—ĆESE¸ in the examples—is the object of the preposition ¸E.
‣ 5 Models 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 show the prepositional pattern for expressing time of day. This is the same adverbial pattern described in §21.1.
‣ 6 Models 5, 6, and 7 have a new word, TINTEN. This word also means ‘bell.’ It comes from Chinook Jaron. Its use as ‘o’clock’ comes from sailors’ use of phrases like ‘two bells’ to mean ‘two o’clock.’ The use of TINTEN is optional here, just as ‘o’clock’ is in English. So YÁ¸ SEN SE¸ ¸E TŦE ĆESE¸, without the TINTEN means ‘I go at two.’
‣ 7 Models 8 and 9 show how to specify am and pm. In both of these, the time expression is adverbial and expressed as a prepositional phrase. ¸E TI¸Á TÁṈEN, means ‘this evening’ or ‘pm,’ and ¸E TI¸Á ȻEĆIL¸ means ‘this morning’ or ‘am.’ You add the time after that. The time here is a form of relative clause, which is discussed in detail in §47.
‣ 8 Compare models 10 and 11 to models 3 and 4. These are two ways of expressing the same thing. Models 3 and 4 the use the conjoined adverbial pattern while models 10 and 11 use the adverbial prepositional phrase pattern. As usual, the focused idea comes earlier in the sentence. In models 3 and 4 the focus is on the time; in models 10 and 11 the focus is on the event.
‣ 9 New vocabulary (with the stressed vowel in red):
ĆELÁU¸ ‘after’
I¸ȽĆÁL¸E¸ ‘before’
TINTEN ‘bell, o’clock’
TÁṈEN ‘evening’
ȻEĆIL¸ ‘morning’
KILET ‘daytime’
NÁT ‘nighttime’
TEW̱ KILET ‘noon’
ĆELÁU¸ KILET ‘afternoon’
TEW̱ NEW̱NÁT ‘midnight’
 | QIN¸ SE¸ OĆE I¸ YÁ¸ SW̱? | ‘What time will you go?’ |
 | DXEṈ SE¸ I¸ YÁ¸ ȽTE. | ‘We’ll go at six o’clock.’ |
| DXEṈ E ¸E TŦE ȻEĆIL¸? | ‘Six o’clock in the morning?’ |
| EWE. DXEṈ ¸E TŦE TÁṈEN. | ‘No. Six in the evening.’ |
| 23.2A. Answer these questions in SENĆOŦEN. 1. QIN LE¸ OĆE I¸ ȽÁU¸ TŦE SḴAXE¸? 2. QIN OĆE I¸ IȾEṈ SW̱ HÁLE? 3. QIN OĆE I¸ IȽEN SEN? 4. QIN I¸ NEḴEṈ SW̱? 5. QIN LE¸ OĆE I¸ ȻONEṈET? | 23.2B. Answer these in SENĆOŦEN. 1. What time did you see it? 2. What time will he jump? 3. What time do you folks sleep? 4. What time will we walk? 5. What time did they fly? |