Xaad kil



Xaad kil
Haida Language
  • Xaat’ kihl
One of the facets of Xaat’ kihl is the absence of a present tense; the word for "yesterday" is the same word for "tomorrow." Instead of a present tense we have a "future perfect;" everything is always "becoming."  In Haida Language, we either described things as "being" or "becoming."

It is nearly impossible to adequately translate Haida (or any other indigeneous languages) to English. Very few languages are translatable across languages, verbatim.

Sourced from Snewaylh Co-op Radio, July 25, 2011.