Cheyenne translation examples
Loan translation
- Pevevoona'o Good morning
- Peveešeeva Good day
- Pevêhetoeva Good evening
- Nêstaevâhosevoomâtse I'll see you again.
- Nénâha'enahe Did you catch it? (used today, as in English, for understanding something)
Sound translation
- Heavohe Devil (Cheyenne is from Spanish Diablo)
- He'konemâhoeve'ho'eno Hardin (literally, hard-whiteman-place; partial sound translation from English Hardin)
- séokaeve-éstse'he dress shirt (partial sound adaptation from English "silk")
Idioms
- Mónésó'táhoenôtse kösa? Are you still riding a goat? (=separated from spouse; idiom developed since men who left their wives would sometimes hop a Burlington Northern Railroad car; these cars had a goat painted on the side)
- Oónâhá'e mâxhevéesevôtse When frogs have teeth (=never).
- Móéšêto'sêhestsevévêšêhéhe He's about to grow horns (=he's "crazy").
- Náno'ee'êha'onôtse vóóhe I put on my shoes with the morning star (=I got up really early).
- Ého'néhevêhohtse She has wolf footprints (=she is very smart, she can outsmart men).
- Énêhpoese ma'eno Turtle is hanging shrouded (=It's foggy).
Also see Cheyenne idioms page.
Metaphors
- ó'kôhóme coyote (=sly, conniving person)
- Émaa'e He's barking (=courting).
- Náméváá'e They ate me (= They gossiped about me).
One word in English = multiple words in Cheyenne
- drink: émane 'he's drinking; énomene 'he's drinking heated liquid (e.g. coffee, tea, soup)'
- ask: énôhtsêstovóho 'he asked him'; évéestomevóho 'he asked him for it'
- hunt: éémôhóne 'he's hunting; énése'neva 'he's hunting (small game, e.g. birds, rabbits)
- live: évo'êstanéheve 'he's living (socially)'; éametanéne 'he's living (biologically)'
- forgive: no straightforward translation in Cheyenne, but the following words can refer to aspects of forgiveness:
- éévaa'xaoto 'he shook hands with him again'
- éévananóvâhtseo'o 'they recognized each other again'
- návonetanó'ta 'I have forgotten it'
One word in Cheyenne = multiple words in English
- éáahtovóho 'He listened to him; He obeyed him.'
- menôtse 'berries; fruit'
- éhohtóva 'He bought, sold (i.e. bartered).'
Monomials vs. polynomials
- ma'háhkéso old man
- mâhtamâháahe old woman
- kâse'ééhe young woman
- kâsovááhe young man
- boy hetané-ka'êškóne (lit. man-child)
- girl he'é-ka'êškóne (lit. woman-child)
English mistranslations of some Cheyenne names
- Vó'áá'ôhnóhne'aestse Lame Deer (literally, lame antelope)
- He'nétoo'o Dahle (lit. door)
- Évotseta Russell (lit. rustle for food)
- Nomá'héškéso Fisher (lit. minnow/little fish)
- O'kôhómôxháahketa Littlewolf (lit. little coyote)
- Véhóéso King (lit. little chief)
Contrastive syntactic roles
- This shirt fits me; Nátaa'ovo éstse'he (lit. I fit to the shirt)
- I'm lonesome for him; Náhóonôsé'ota (lit. he "lonesomes" me)