30.1. Subordinate conditional
Models
| 1) | W̱ITEṈ SW̱ ȻE ŚOPTEN. | ‘You jump if I whistle.’ |
| 2) | W̱ITEṈ SW̱ ȻE ŚOPTEȽTE. | ‘You jump if we whistle.’ |
| 3) | W̱ITEṈ SEN ȻE ŚOPTEW̱. | ‘I jump if you whistle.’ |
| 4) | W̱ITEṈ SEN ȻE ŚOPTEW̱ HÁLE. | ‘I jump if you folks whistle.’ |
| 5) | W̱ITEṈ SW̱ ȻE ŚOPTES. | ‘You jump if he/she/they whistle.’ |
‣ 1 As the models show, ȻE introduces a subordinate clause that uses the subordinate subject pronoun suffixes. These are introduced in §17. They are repeated here for ease of reference:
Subordinate subject pronouns
| Singular | Plural | |||
| 1 | ‑EN | ‘I’ | ‑EȽTE | ‘we’ |
| 2 | ‑EW̱ | ‘you’ | ‑EW̱ HÁLE | ‘you folks’ |
| 3 | ‑ES | ‘he, she, it’ | ‑ES | ‘they’ |
main event ȻE condition event
The main event has the main clause subject, while the condition event has the subordinate clause subject.
‣ 3 In English it is possible to put the conditional clause first, as in ‘If I whistle, you jump.’ This is also possible with the subordinate conditional in SENĆOŦEN, but it is very rare. When it does occur, the following ‘then’ clause is preceded by the conjunction I¸: ȻE ŚOPTEN I¸ W̱ITEṈ SW̱ ‘If I whistle, you jump.’ The I¸ marks the construction as somewhat reversed from usual. Usually, if you want to put the condition first in SENĆOŦEN, you have to use the coordinate conditional construction, as described in §30.2.
‣ 4 The ȻE particle here can be translated ‘if’ or ‘when.’ In each of the models, the ‘if’ of the translation could be replaced with ‘when.’ For example, W̱ITEṈ SW̱ ȻE ŚOPTEN can also be translated ‘You jump when I whistle.’ However, there are other uses of the ȻE particle that cannot be translated as ‘if’ or ‘when.’ See §53 for its use with indirect quotes.
 | I¸SEU¸Á¸ SEN ȻE YÁ¸EW̱. | ‘I’ll go along when you go.’ |
 | ÍY¸. ȻȽĆELÁL SEN I¸ YÁ¸. | ‘Good. I’ll go soon.’ |
| LÁLE¸SET SEN SE¸. | ‘I’ll get ready.’ |
| YÁ¸ ȽTE SE¸ ȻE HO¸I¸EN | ‘We’ll go when I finish.’ |
| 30.1A. Translate each into English. 1. ȽÁU¸ SEN SE¸ ȻE TÁĆELES ȻSE SṮÁLEḴEM. 2. IȽEN ȽTE SE¸ ȻE EMETEȽTE. 3. YÁ¸ SEN ȻE DOQEW̱. 4. ŚTEṈ SEN ȻE EWES SE¸ S ȽEMEW̱. | 30.1B. Translate each into SENĆOŦEN. 1. I’ll go if you go. 2. You go when the canoe gets here. 3. Will you sing if I sing? 4. We’ll sleep if you folks go to Victoria. |