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).
  

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)