Navajo

Pronoun

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

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

• éiyá
• éidí
• éidíígíí
• éí doodaiiʼ éí
• éísh