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éí

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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Pronoun

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éí

  1. it, that one, that, those (demonstrative pronoun, not present or visible)
  2. Used to mark and/or refer to the subject of a sentence.
    • Awééʼ éí tʼáá naaki ńdeezid. Éí Dlíníbaaʼ wolyé.
      The baby is only two months old. She is called Dlíníbaaʼ.
    • Shimá bimósí tʼóó ahayóí ndi, éí shicheii bighandi kéédahatʼį́.
      My mother has a lot of cats, but they (the cats) live at my grandfather's house.

Usage notes

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Usually refers to something remote from and invisible to the speaker.
However, éí is often used as a filler word to help smooth the flow of a sentence. It can be used to separate two words that would otherwise seem to be connected. In this sense, éí is often translated as "as for":

Shí ʼéí Tłʼaaí yinishyé.As for me, I'm called Lefty; My name is Lefty. (because "shí Tłʼaaí" would be confusing)

Derived terms

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