Adding the lexical suffix -qun, meaning "throat", to the name of a group of people expresses the idea of speaking the language of those people. With some words, a prefix is added as well: hw- or sh-. Learn the following words.
| hwulmuhw | First Nations person | hwulmuhwqun | speak a First Nations language | |
| Quw'utsun | Cowichan | hwquw'utsun'qun | speak the Cowichan language | |
| Shts'um'inus* | Chemainus | hwshts'um'inusqun* | speak the Chemainus language | |
| Snuneymuhw* | Nanaimo | shnuneymuhwqun* | speak the Nanaimo language | |
| Snuw'nuw'us | Nanoose | shnuw'nuw'usqun* | speak the Nanoose language | |
| Sqwxwa'mush | Squamish | shqwxwa'mushqun* | speak the Squamish language | |
| Shi'she'lh | Sechelt | hwshi'she'lhqun | speak the Sechelt language | |
| Hwmuthkwi'um | Musqueam | hwmuthkwi'umqun | speak the Musqueam language | |
| chuymun | Chinese person | hwchuymunqun | speak Chinese | |
| hwunitum' | white person | hwunitum'qun | speak English |
*Note: The words marked with an asterisk above can also be pronounced Shts'uminus, Snunuymuhw, hwshts'uminusqun, snunuymuhwqun, snuw'nuw'usqun, and hwsqwxwa'mushqun, respectively. However, we will spell them as above in these lessons. Note that the speaker's pronunciation of Shts'uminus is close to "Shch'uminus" as the [ts'] sound assimilates to the preceding [sh] sound.