Useful phrases
It is helpful to know a few phrases in the language even without understanding the grammar. The following list is a set of 24 useful questions and other sentences that should be learned right away so that they can be used by both the teacher and students in the classroom. Note that in these phrases and throughout the book, only English personal names are used. SENĆOŦEN personal names are considered private property of families, so they are not used in this book. The grammatical patterns of all of these sentences are covered in various chapters of Part 3.
| ÍY¸ SȻÁĆEL! ‘Good day!’ | ÁȽE E SW̱ U¸ ÍY¸ OL¸? ‘How are you?’ |
| ÍY¸. ‘Good.’ | ÁN¸ U¸ ÍY¸. ‘Very good.’ |
| ÁN¸ SEN U¸ ÍY¸. ‘I’m very well.’ | EWE SEN S ÍY¸. ‘I’m not well.’ |
| HÁ¸E. ‘Yes.’ | EWE. ‘No.’ |
| EWENE. ‘Nothing.’ | EWENE NE SXĆIT. ‘I don’t know.’ |
| STÁṈ OĆE TŦÁ¸E? ‘What is that?’ | STÁṈ OĆE TI¸Á? ‘What is this?’ |
| NIȽ ȻE¸ PUC ‘It is a book.’ | NEȻE OĆE SÁN? ‘Who are you?’ |
| SÁN Ȼ EN¸ SNÁ? ‘What is your name?’ | ESE ȻE¸ Elsie. ‘I’m Elsie.’ |
| NIȽ OĆE SÁN? ‘Who is he/she?’ | NIȽ ȻE¸ Elsie. ‘It’s Elsie.’ |
| INET SW̱ OĆE? ‘What did you say?’ | STOṈET SW̱ OĆE? ‘What are you doing?’ |
| EXIN OĆE? ‘Where is it?’ | ÁȽE. ‘It’s here.’ |
| SI¸ÁM¸ ‘Respected one’ | HÍ SW̱ KE. ‘Thank you.’ |