Modern Grammar

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Chapter 1. Spelling
A. The alphabet and its evolution.
The alphabet we will use for writing Chicontepec Nahuatl is the product of more than four
hundred years of evolution. Nahuatl was alphabetized by groups of friars and indians at the
beginning of the fourth decade of the Sixteenth Century. They used the spelling conventions
employed for the Spanish of that period, but since these had not become completely
standardized, each group developed its own way of writing Nahuatl. One of the initial tasks was
preparing the first group of indigenous scribes, who would record in Nahuatl the municipal
documentation of the many altepetl whose government had been restructured according to the
pennisular model. And not only did they produce administrative writings (city council minutes,
bills of sale, wills, financial records, etc.), but histories, literary works (songs and theater) and
personal correspondence as well. To this corpus we may add the tremendous amount of works
created through the collaboration between Spanish clergy and indians, such as dictionaries,
grammars, encyclopedias and religious writing. All of these works, be they in manuscript form
or published, are available for our reading today.
Once the first generation of indigenous notaries had begun working, the participation of the
Church in the training process lost importance because the scribes in each town took over the
process of preparing their successors. From that point on, the spelling system used in indigenous
writing became more and more standarized, and the conventions, with few exceptions, are those
used by Horacio Carochi in his Gramática de la Lengua Méxicana, published in 1645.
Nahua writing and intelectual activity continued after the Mexican War of Independence,
through the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and now into the Twenty-first Century; however, in 1940 a
new set of spelling conventions were introduced into Nahua writing creating two parallel schools
of thought and practice that compete with each other to this day. The new system develops
independently of the earlier colonial conventions, grounding itself in linguistic considerations
that seek to rationalize spelling: digraphs originating in Spanish orthography are eliminated
whenever possible; glottal stops and vocalic length are respresented. In general, the new
convention confuses the concept of everyday writing with that of phonetic documentation.
The older spelling system continues to be used in a modified form, and it has been codified by
Richard Andrews in his Introduction to Classical Nahuatl, Frances Karttunen in her Analytical
Dictionary of Nahuatl, and Joe Campbell and Frances Karttunen in their Foundation Course in
Nahuatl Grammar. This modified older orthography is used by the members of the Asociación
de Escritores Indígenas, A.C., as well as the teachers and researcher at the Instituto de Docencia
e Investigación Etnológica de Zacatecas, A.C.
We have prepared this grammar of Modern Huastecan Nahuatl in the ancient tradition of
indigenous writing because we feel that spelling is the product of tradition and not of science.
Further, the conventions of the linguistic tradition are so different from older writing that they
constitute an obstacle to the reading and the study of the great corpus of older works that
constitute the written cultural legacy of the Nahua civilization. One of the fundamental goals of
IDIEZ is to stimulate indigenous students to participate in academic activities in their own
language, through the reading and commentary of texts written by their ancestors. In other
words, we seek to revitalize the tradition of older indigenous writing in Mexican higher
education.
The alphabet we will use has twenty elements:
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a, c, ch, cu/uc, e, h, hu/uh, i, l, m, n, o, p, qu, t, tl, tz, x, y, z.

There are four vowels (a, e, i, o) and sixteen consonants. Six of the latter are digraphs (ch, cu/uc,
hu/uh, qu, tl, tz).
B. Syllable structure
There are four types of syllables in Nahuatl. Each of these syllable forms can appear at the
beginning, in the middle or at the end of a word.
1. vowel (V).
• Achiya (a-chi-ya). “She waits her turn at the well.”
• Icuaatzin (i-cua-a-tzin). “It is his/her fontanelle.”
• Maltia (mal-ti-a). “He/she is bathing.”
2. vowel + consonant (VC).
• Icpatl (ic-patl). “It is thread, yarn.”
• Nicuailpia (ni-cua-il-pia). “I tie up a load of wood.”
• Ohuaatl (o-hua-atl), “It is sugarcane juice.”
3. consonant + vowel (CV)
• Petlatl (pe-tlatl). “It is a sleeping mat.”
• Pipilolli (pi-pi-lol-li). “It is an earring.”
• Ohtli (oh-tli). “It is a road, path.”
4. consonant + vowel + consonant (CVC).
• Tzictli (tzic-tli). “It is gum.”
• Tecactli (te-cac-tli). “It is a sandal, shoe.”
• Nichocac (ni-cho-cac). “I cried.”
C. Stress
The written accent (´) is not used in Modern Nahuatl writing; here we will deal with stress, in
other words, the syllable within a word that is pronounced more forcefully than the others. As a
rule, the second-to-last syllable in all words with two or more syllables is stressed.
• Tzictli. “It is gum.” tzic-tli
• Totolin. “It is a turkey.” to-to-lin
• Tzontecomitl. “It is a skull.” tzon-te-co-mitl
• Nimitznohnotzaz. “I will speak with you.” ni-mitz-noh-no-tzaz
• Tinechcahuilteuhqui. “you left me.” ti-nech-ca-huil-teuh-qui
The possessed forms of atl, “water” and etl, “bean” are an exception. When pronounced, these
words are divided into two parts: the possessive prefix and the combination of the nucleus and
the possessive suffix. Both parts are pronounced with equal stress.
• Noeuh. “They are my beans.” no-euh
• Inmoeuh. “They are y’alls beans.” inmo-euh
• Moauh. “It is your water.” mo-auh
• Ininauh. “It is their water.” inin-auh
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D. Vowel elision
Vowel elision refers to a situation whereby a vowel found at the end of one morpheme is
followed by another vowel at the beginning of the following morpheme. Sometimes when this
happens the weaker of the two vowels will disappear. The hierarchy of vowels from strongest to
weakest is:
1. long vowels (ā, ē, ī y ō) and vowels followed by an h never disappear
2. a, e and o.
3. i is the weakest vowel
This process is very common in some variants, including Classical Nahuatl; however, it only
occurs in Modern Huastecan Nahuatl in a few cases, mostly with the short i. For example:
• Noicxi (no-icxi), “Itʻs my foot,” can also appear as nocxi.
• Quiahci (qui-ahci), “He/she touches it,” can also appear as cahci.
• Moaxixa (mo-axixa), “He/she urinates on him/herself,” can become Maxixa, “He/she
urinates.”
E. Special characteristics of some letters

There are four vowels in the alphabet —a, e, i, o—; however, each one has two distinct
pronunciations: one short (a, e, i, o) and one long (ā, ē, ī, ō). Actually it’s more than just a matter
of pronunciation. There are pairs of morphemes and words with different meanings that are only
distinguished in writing because one has a short vowel and the other has a long vowel. Here are
some examples:
• Nictlatia. “I light it.” Nictlātia. “I hide it.”
• Nometz. “My leg.” Mētztli. “Itʻs the moon; Itʻs a month.”
• Nicpoloa. “I lose it.” Nicpōloa. “I smear it.”
• Nopīloquichpil. "My little boy.” From pīl- (diminutive/honorific prefix) and -pil
(possessed noun, son/daughter).
Native speakers of Nahuatl distinguish short and long vowels easily. Nevertheless, of the
thousands of works written in Nahuatl during the Colonial Period, only three consistently mark
vowel extension, and none of these were written by native speakers. Nahuas simply didn’t
consider it important to show this difference in writing. In fact, today only linguists mark vocalic
extension in their research projects.
Native speakers of Nahuatl hear /o/ and /u/ as a single sound, and this causes confusion
sometimes when they speak Spanish. Instead of “burro”, a native speaker may say “borro”, and
“calentora” instead of “calentura”. These two sounds are represented with one letter in the
alphabet, the o. The u is not a vowel, nor does it function as a distinct element in the alphabet: it
is only used to form the digraphs cu/uc, hu/uh and qu.
Sometimes when a syllable ends in a or i, and the following syllable begins with hu, the
vowel absorbs the roundness of the consonant and can change into an o.
• Niyaz (ni-yaz). “I will go.” > Yohui (yo-hui). “He/she goes.”
• Niciauhtoc (ni-ci-auh-toc). “I’m tired.” > Niciohui (ni-ci-o-hui). > “I get tired.”
• tlaayauhqui (tla-a-yauh-qui). “It was foggy.” > Tlaayohui (tla-a-yo-hui). “It’s foggy.”
In some variants of Nahuatl cihuatl (ci-huatl), “woman”, is pronounced zohuatl (zo-huatl). And
on ocasion, even within the Chicontepec region, a word can be pronounced in two different
ways.
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• tequihuia or tecohuia, “to use s.t.”

• Notlayihuan or Notlayohuan. “Itʻs my uncle.”
There are no dipthongs in Nahuatl. Contiguous vowels belong to separate syllables.
• Nitlaoya. “I shuck corn.” (ni-tla-o-ya)
• Timaltia. “You bathe.” (ti-mal-ti-a)
• Iicxi. “Itʻs his/her foot/feet.” (i-ic-xi)
• Nomaizti. “Itʻs/theyʻre my fingernail(s).” (no-ma-iz-ti)
The /k/ is written with the c and the qu. The c is used at the beginning of a syllable and when
followed by a or o; and always at the end of a syllable. The qu is only used at the beginning of a
syllable when followed by e or i:
• ca- Nicmaca (nic-ma-ca). “I give it to him/her.”
• que- Ticchiuhqueh (tic-chiuh-queh). “We did it.”
• qui- Ticholohqui (ti-cho-loh-qui). “You fled.”
• co- Tzontecomitl (tzon-te-co-mitl). “Itʻs a skull.”
• -ac Yolpactoc (yol-pac-toc). “Heʻs/sheʻs happy.”
• -ec Chectic (chec-tic). “Heʻs/sheʻs a spoiled child.”
• -ic Miccatzin (miccatzin). “Itʻs a dead person.”
• -oc Poctli (poc-tli). “Itʻs smoke.”
Sometimes when the c with a /k/ sound falls at the end of a syllable and the next syllable
begins with a consonant, the c softens and either sounds like an h or becomes barely audible.
This always happens when the c represents a third person singular specific object prefix and is
followed by a consonant. Here it can hardly be heard, and for this reason many people make the
mistake of not writing it, thinking that the object prefix has disappeared. However, the following
examples clearly show that the object prefix does not disappear; it only changes in form and
pronunciation depending on the sounds or silences that surround it.
• Nicmati (ni-c-mati-Ø). “I know it.”
• Ticmati (ti-c-mati-Ø). “You know it.”
• Quimati (Ø-qui-mati-Ø), “He/she knows it.”
• Ticmatih (ti-c-mati-h). “We know it.”
• Inquimatih (in-qui-mati-h). “You (pl) know it.”
• Quimatih (Ø-qui-mati-h). “They know it.”
Something similar happens when the verb mati, “to know s.t.”, looses its final vowel and adds an
auxiliary construction, such as -toc, -tihcac or-tehua. The t of mati falls at the end of a syllable
and the t of the auxiliary construction begins the following syllable. Here the pronunciation of
the first t is reduced to an aspiration.
Quimati. “He/she knows it.” Quimattoc. “He/she has known it.”
The /s/ sound is written with z and c. The z is used at the beginning of a syllable when
followed by a or o; and always at the end of a syllable. The c is only used at the beginning of a
syllable when followed by e or i:
• za- Quitelecza (qui-te-lec-za). “He/she kicks it.”
• ce- Cecec (ce-cec). “Itʻs cold”
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• ci- Inquiticih (in-qui-ti-cih). “You (pl) grind it.”

• zo- Zoquitl (zo-quitl). “Itʻs mud.”
• -az Mitztlaztlah (mitz-tlaz-tlah). “They watch over you jealously.”
• -ez Nohuez (no-huez). “Sheʻs my sister-in-law.”
• -iz Iztatl (iz-tatl). “Itʻs salt.”
• -oz Timotlaloz (ti-mo-tla-loz). “You will run.”
The digraph hu- represents the voiced sound /w/ and always appears at the beginning of a
syllable. But when this sound falls at the end of a syllable it becomes devoiced, and its spelling is
changed to -uh. This convention was adopted during the Colonial Period because when hu- was
written at the end of a syllable, many people became confused and reinterpreted it as a new
syllable composed of the consonant h and the vowel u. For example, the word for “amaranth”,
huauhtli (huauh-tli), has two syllables. The first syllable begins and ends with the sound /w/, but
this is written hu- (voiced) at the beginning and -uh (devoiced) at the end. If it were written hu-
in both positions, one might think that the word were pronunced with three syllables (hua-hu-tli).
This phenomenon is common when verbs change from the present to the preterite tense. All
Class 2 verbs end with the sequence “vowel + consonant + vowel”, and the final syllable of
many of these verbs is “hua” or “hui”. In the preterite, the final vowel of the nucleus is lost and -
qui or -queh is added. When this happens, the -hu that began the final syllable of the verb in the
presente tense becomes the last consonant of the penultimate syllable in the preterite tense, and it
is written -uh.
• Niccahua (nic-ca-hua). “I leave it.” > Niccauhqui (nic-cauh-qui). “I left it.”
• Timehua (ti-me-hua). “You weed.” > Timeuhqui (ti-meuh-qui). “You weeded.”
• Polihui (po-li-hui). “It is lost.” > Poliuhqui (po-liuh-qui). “It was lost.”
• Titlapohuah (ti-tla-po-huah). “We read (present).” > Titlapouhqueh (ti-tla-pouh-queh).
“We read (past).”
The digraph cu- is written at the beginning of a syllable to represent the voiced sound /kw/.
But at the end of a syllable this sound becomes devoiced and is written -uc. This convention was
also adopted during the Colonial Period because when cu- was written at the end of a syllable,
some people mistakenly reinterpreted it as a new syllable composed of the consonant c and the
vowel u. The prime example of this is an error in pronunciation which continues to be committed
to this day, even by well known researchers. Teuctli meant “head of a noble house” in older
Nahuatl. It has two syllables and was pronounced /tekw-tli). But due to the fact that in some very
early works it was written tecutli, many people mistakenly pronounce it with three syllables /te-
ku-tli/. This transformation occurs often when a verb changes from the present to the preterite
tense. All Class 2 verbs end with the sequence “vowel + consonant + vowel”, and the final
syllable of many of these verbs is “cua” or “cui”. In the preterite, the final vowel of the nucleus
is lost and -qui or -queh is added. When this happens, the -cu that began the final syllable of the
verb in the presente tense becomes the last consonant of the penultimate syllable in the preterite
tense, and it is written -uc.
• Quitzacua (qui-tza-cua). “He/she encloses it.” > Quitzaucqui (qui-tzauc-qui). “He/she
enclosed it.”
• Ticahcocui (tic-ahco-cui). “You put it away (present).” > Ticahcoucqui (tic-ah-couc-qui).
“You put it away (past).”
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The y is a voiced consonant when it begins a syllable; however, when it fall at the end of a
syllable it becomes voiceless and turns into an x. This is the same transformation that occurs with
hu/uh and cu/uc. When a verb nucleus ending in -ya is conjugated in the preterite tense the final
a drops off and -qui or -queh is added. The y then becomes the last letter of the penultimate
syllable, looses it voice and is written as an x.
• Ticpiyah, (tic-pi-yah). “We have it.” > Ticpixqueh (tic-pix-queh). “We had it.”
• Tlatotoniya (tla-to-to-ni-ya). “It’s hot weather.” > Tlatotonixqui (tla-to-to-nix-qui). “It was
hot weather.”
There are two sets of verb endings that can cause confusion, because the elements that make
them up, while different, sound very much alike. They are -ia and -iya, on the one hand, and -oa
and -ohua, on the other. They are commonly misspelled in texts.
Let us begin with the -ia vs. -iya set. Verbs ending in -ia belong to Class 3, and when they are
conjugated in the preterite tense the final a is dropped and an h is added. Verbs ending in -iya
belong to Class 2. In the preterite tense they loose the final a, and the y, which in the present
tense began the final syllable is now in a syllable-final position. Here is becomes voiceless and
turns into an x.
• Nimaltia (ni-mal-ti-a). “I bathe.” (Class 3) > Nimaltihqui (ni-mal-tih-qui). “I bathed.”
• Niachiya (ni-a-chi-ya). “I wait my turn at the well.” (Class 2) > Niachixqui (ni-a-chix-qui).
“I waited my turn at the well.”
The -oa vs. -ohua set works in the same way as the previous one. Verbs ending in -oa belong
to Class 3, and when they are conjugated in the preterite tense the final a is dropped and an h is
added. Verbs endin in -ohua generally belong to Class 2. In the preterite tense they loose the
final a, and the hu, which in the present tense began the final syllable is now in a syllable-final
position. Here it becomes voiceless and turns into an uh.
• Nictlapoa (nic-tla-po-a). “I open it.” (Class 3) > Nictlapohqui (nic-tla-poh-qui). “I opened
it.”
• Nicpohua (nic-po-hua). “I read or count it.” (Class 2) > Nicpouhqui (nic-pouh-qui). “I read
or counted it.”
The elements of these two sets are clearly distinguished in writing; however there still exists a
problem because in Huastecan Nahuatl the pronunciation of the h and the uh is very similar. For
this reason, in the case of the -oa vs -ia set, it’s a good idea to apply another test: the future tense.
In this tense Class 3 verbs loose their final vowel while Class 2 verb do not.
• Nictlapoa (nic-tla-po-a). “I open it.” (Class 3) > Nictlapoz (nic-tla-poz). “I will open it.”
• Nicpohua (nic-po-hua). “I read or count it.” (Class 2) > Nicpohuaz (nic-po-huaz). “I will
read or count it.”
The letter h is pronounced in three different ways depending on its position in a word and the
letters that surround it.
1. At the end of a word, the h is an almost imperceptible aspiration which has the effect of
lengthening the pronunciation of the preceding vowel. This use of the h is restricted to the plural
suffix of present tense verbs
• Tiihcihuih. “We hurry.”
the plural suffix of nouns
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• Chichimeh. “Theyʻre dogs.”

the plural suffix of the preterite tense and of agentive nouns
• Inihzaqueh. “Yʻall woke up.”
• Zoquiyohqueh. “Theyʻre dirty.”
the end of the preterite nucleus of Class 3 verbs, including agentive nouns
• Ticholoh. “You fled.”
• Xalloh. “It is covered with sand.”
and the end of Spanish loanwords that end in a vowel
• Cahuayoh. “Itʻs a horse.”
• Cuamezah. “Itʻs a table.”
2. At the end of a syllable (but not at the end of a word), the h sounds like a Spanish j or a
gutteral English h.
• Ahqui. “Heʻs/sheʻs swimming.” ah-qui
• Ticholohqui. “You fled.” ti-cho-loh-qui
• Ohtli. “Itʻs a road, path.” oh-tli
3. The h only begins a syllable when the preceding syllable ends in a vowel. In this case, it
sounds like an English h. It is only used in the process of reduplication.
• Ehecatl. “Itʻs air, wind.” e-he-catl
• Nechahaltia. “He/she bathes me.” nech-a-hal-ti-a
• Mooholinia. “He/she/it moves.” mo-o-ho-li-ni-a
The n is a voiced consonant when it appears at the beginning of or inside a word. But when it
falls at the end of a word it becomes voiceless; in other words it is aspirated silently through the
nose. For this reason, many people mistakenly substitute an h for it or eliminate it entirely in the
word-final position. Nevertheless, if a suffix such as -tzin, -oc or -ya is added to a word ending in
a devoiced n, the n is no longer in the word-final position and regains it voice.
• niman, “soon, immediately afterward” > nimantzin, “immediately”
• teipan, “afterward” > teipanoc, “afterward”
There is one exception to this rule. When n falls at the end of a monosyllabic word it is always
voiced.
• zan, “only”
• pan, “in, on”
• tlen, “what, that, that which”
• huan, “and, in the company of”
• tlan, “if”
As a rule, when n is followed by y itʻs pronunciation changes to /y/.
• tohhuantin, “we” > tohhuantinya, “ourselves”
• Niontequiti. “Iʻm off to work.” > Nionyauh. “Iʻm off.”
The n can transform into an m if it precedes m or p. For example, the word tzontli, used in
compounds, means “head”.
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• Quitzontequi. “He/she cuts it with a machete.”

• Notzoncal. “Itʻs my hair.”
• Motzompiquih. “They cover themselves up with a blanket.”
• Motzompan. “On top of your head.”
However, the n of the directional prefix on- will not always change to m before m or p.
• Conchiuhqui. “He/she did it quickly.”
• Compacqui. “He/she washed it quickly.”
• Onmoquechtilanqui. “He/she got taller in a short period of time.”
When m falls at the end of a word it always becomes a devoiced n.
• Tzontecomitl. “Itʻs a skull.” > Notzontecon. “Itʻs my head.”
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Chapter 2. The absolutive noun

A Nahuatl noun, in its most basic or absolutive form has three parts: a subject prefix, a noun
stem, and a number suffix. All nouns in Nahuatl have subjects, and for this reason they can
constitute a complete sentence in themselves. On the one hand, the word for “baby”, conetzin,
can function as the subject or object of an action:
• Manehnemi conetzin. “The baby is crawling.”
• Niquitta conetzin. “I see the baby.”
On the other hand, conetzin can stand by itself.
• Conetzin. “He/she is a baby.”
• Ticonetzin. “You’re a baby.”
In the previous example, the prefix ti- means “you” (second person singular subject), and the
absence of a prefix (Ø-) means “he, she or it.” Nahuatl doesn’t use the verb “to be” to connect a
subject to a noun: it just attaches one of the following six subject prefixes directly to a noun
stem.
The subject prefixes
Ø ni-, “I” [first person singular]
Ø ti-, “you” [second person singular]
Ø Ø- (in other words, the absence of a prefix), “he, she, it” [third person singular]
Ø ti-, “we” [first person plural]
Ø in-, “y’all” [second person plural]
Ø Ø-, (the absence of a prefix), “they” [third person plural]
You will have noticed by now that the prefixes, ti- and Ø- can each represent two subjects,
one singular and one plural. For this reason absolutive nouns also have six basic number suffixes
(five singular and one plural) that combine with the subject prefixes to eliminate confusion.
The singular absolutive number suffixes
Ø -tl is used with most noun stems ending in a vowel. Cihuatl. “She’s a woman.”
Ø -tli is used with most noun stems ending in a consonant. Cuamomohtli. “It’s an owl.”
Ø -li is used with most noun stems ending in “l”. Timacehualli. “You’re an indigenous
person.”
Ø -(i)n is only used with the names of some small animals and plants. Michin. "it’s a fish.”
Ø -Ø (the absence of a suffix) is used with a few animals (Chichi. “It’s a dog.”), the stem -
pil-, “child” (Nicihuapil. “I’m a girl.”), the diminutive-affective suffix, -tzin (Pilpitzotzin.
“It’s a little pig.”) and amost Spanish loan nouns ending in a vowel (Cahuayoh. “It’s a
horse.”)
The plural absolutive suffix
Ø -meh is used to pluralize all animate absolutive nouns (Ticihuameh. “We are women.”
Cuamomohmeh. “They are owls.” Inmacehualmeh, “Y’all are indigenous people.”
Michimeh. “They are fish”. Cahuayohmeh. “They are horses.”
It is important to mention here that traditionally only animate nouns would take the plural
number suffix. For example:
• Ce conetl. “Itʻs one child. Ome conemeh. “Theyʻre two children.”
but
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• Ce tetl. “Itʻs one rock.” Ome tetl. “Theyʻre two rocks.”

However today, due to the influence of Spanish, the use of -meh is very common with inanimate
nouns.
Nahuatl, like English, does not classify nouns by gender. The masculine and feminine suffixes
that characterize Spanish, for example, simply do not exist in Nahuatl. Let’s look at a few
examples:
• Cihuatl. “She’s a woman.” Tlacatl. “He’s a man.”
• Nitetahtzin. “I’m an old man.” Nitenantzin. “I’m an old woman.”
• tohhuantin, “we” (regardless of whether “we” are men or women)
• Conetzin. “It’s a baby.” (boy or girl)
• Titlamachtihquetl. “You’re a teacher.” (male or female)
• Niquitta. “I see him. / I see her. / I see it.”
Further on we will see how certain compounding elements can distinguish, in some cases,
between male and female.
There is a negative prefix, ax-, which can be used with nouns and verbs. It always appears as
the very first part of a word, and can alternate with the independent words axcanah, amo and
amocanah, which also mean “no.” Here are a few examples.
• Nimomachtihquetl. “I am a student.” > Axnimomachtihquetl. / Axcanah nimomachtihquetl.
/ Amo nimomachtihquetl. / Amocanah nimomachtihquetl. “I'm not a student.”
• Yehyectzin. “He/she is good-looking.” > Axyehyectzin. / Axcanah yehyectzin. / Amo
yehyectzin. / Amocanah yehyectzin. “He/she is not good-looking.”
• Michimeh. “They're fish.” > Axmichimeh. / Axcanah michimeh. / Amo michimeh. /
Amocanah michimeh. “They’re not fish.”
Remember that all nouns have a subject prefix and a number suffix, and that these are always
in agreement as far as being singular or plural. For example, a singular subject prefix, such as
ni-, “I”, will always be accompanied by one of the singular suffixes (-tl, -tli, -li). Niichpocatl (ni-
ichpoca-tl). “I'm an adolescent girl.” A plural subject prefix, such as in-, “y’all”, will always be
accompanied by the plural suffix -meh. Intlacameh (in-tlaca-meh). “Y’all are men.” The subject
prefixes ti- and Ø- can take both singular and plural suffixes. If ti- is accompanied by a singular
suffix it means “you (singular).” Timacehualli (ti-macehual-li). “You’re an indigenous person.”
If it is associated with a plural suffix it means “we.” Timacehualmeh (ti-macehual-meh). “We are
indigenous people.” Ø- means “he, she or it” when accompanied by a singular suffix. Quimichin
(Ø-quimichi-n). “It's a mouse.” When used with a plural suffix it means “they.” Quimichimeh
(Ø-quimichi-meh). “They are mice.”
The absolutive noun
ni
ti tl, tli, li, n, Ø
Ø noun
ti stem
in meh
Ø
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Chapter 3. The possessed noun

While the absolutive noun has a minimum of three parts (subject prefix, noun stem and
absolutive number suffix), the possessed noun has four, because a prefix identifying the
possessor is inserted between the subject prefix and the noun stem. There are seven possessive
prefixes.
The possessive prefixes
Ø no-, “my”
Ø mo-, “your” (singular)
Ø i-, “his, her, its”
Ø to-, “our”
Ø inmo-, “your” (plural)
Ø inin-, “their”
Ø te-, “somebody’s”
We have seen that an absolutive noun always has an absolutive number suffix. When we add a
possessive prefix to a noun, another set of number suffixes is used, but it’s job is the same: to
help us distinguish between singular and plural subjects. There are four possessive number
suffixes (three singular and one plural).
The singular possessive suffixes
Ø -Ø (the absence of a suffix) is the most common possessive suffix and is used after noun
stems that end in both vowels and consonants. Nopitzo (Ø-no-pitzo-Ø). “It’s my pig.”
Notzontecon (Ø-no-tzontecon-Ø). “Itʻs my head.”
Ø -uh is the next most common possessive suffix and is used after many noun stems that end
in a vowel. Nimotelpocauh (ni-mo-telpoca-uh). “I’m your teenage son.”
Ø -hui is the least common possessive suffix and is used with some noun stems ending in a
consonant. Titoyeyohhui (ti-to-yeyoh-hui). “You are our daughter-in-law.”
The plural possessive suffix
Ø -huan is used to pluralize all animate absolutive nouns.
§ Nopitzohuan (Ø-no-pitzo-huan). “They are my pigs.”
§ Timotelpocahuan (ti-mo-telpoca-huan). “We are your teenage sons.”
§ Intoyeyohhuan (in-to-yeyoh-huan). “Y’all are your daughters-in-law.”
The possessed noun
ni no
ti mo Ø, uh, hui
Ø i noun
ti to stem
in inmo huan
Ø inin
te
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If we remove the absolutive suffix (-tl, -tli, -li, -n, -Ø, -meh) from a noun, we are left with the
noun stem. And generally the possessive suffixes (-Ø, -uh, -hui, -huan) can be added directly to
this stem.
• Pitzomeh (Ø-pitzo-meh). “They’re pigs.” [pitzo-] Nopitzohuan (Ø-no-pitzo-huan).
“They’re my pigs.”
• Amatl (Ø-ama-tl). “It’s a piece of paper.” [ama-] Iamauh (Ø-i-ama-uh). “It’s her
paper.”
• Ohtli (Ø-oh-tli). “It’s a road.” [oh- ] Moohhui (Ø-mo-oh-hui). “It’s
your road.”
• Tlalli (Ø-tlal-li). “It’s land.” [tlal-] Totlalhui (Ø-to-tlal-hui). “It’s our
land.”
• Totolin (Ø-totol-in), “It’s a turkey.” [totol-] Inintotol (Ø-inin-totol-Ø). “It’s
their turkey.”
• Chichi (Ø-chichi-Ø). “It’s a dog.” [chichi-] Inmochichi (Ø-inmo-chichi-Ø).
“It’s yʻalls dog.”
However their are some nouns ending in the absolutive suffix -tl, that undergo additional
changes in the possessive form. Some stems that end in consonant+vowel, lose the last vowel of
the stem in addition to the absolutive suffix.
• Petlatl (Ø-petla-tl). “It’s a woven mat.” [petla- > petl-] Nopetl (Ø-no-petl-Ø). “It’s
my woven mat.”
And when an m falls at the end of a word as a result of this process, it changes to n.
• Tecomitl (Ø-tecomi-tl). “It’s a gourd.” [tecom- > tecon-] Itecon (Ø-i-tecon-Ø).
“It’s his/her gourd.”
When a noun ending in -aitl or -eitl goes into the possessive form and loses the absolutive suffix,
the i that end up at the end of the word becomes an h.
• Nomah (Ø-no-mah-Ø). “It’s my hand.” Today, the absolutive form, maitl, means “a slap in
the face;” in Older Nahuatl it simply meant “Itʻs a hand.”
• Itocah (Ø-i-tocah-Ø). “It’s his/her name.” The absolutive form, tocaitl, is no longer used.
In Older Nahuatl it meant “Itʻs a name.”
• Mocueh (Ø-mo-cueh-Ø). “It’s your skirt.” Cueitl means, “Itʻs a skirt.”
There are two classes of nouns that almost always appear in the possessed form: body parts
and kinship terms.
• Tinoahui (ti-no-ahui-Ø). “You’re my aunt.”
• Moicxi (Ø-mo-icxi-Ø). “It’s your foot.”
• Nimotatah (ni-mo-tatah-Ø). “I’m your father.”
• Imetz (Ø-i-metz-Ø). “It’s his/her/its leg(s).”
When there exists an absolutive form for a body part, it is only used to refer to a severed limb.
For example, the word tzontecomitl can mean “cranium” or it can refer to a pig’s head that has
been removed from the rest of the body. But if we ask a native speaker how to say “head”, he or
she will answer Notzontecon, meaning “(It is) my head.”
Here are a few tips. Remember:
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1. The possesive number suffixes tell us whether the subject of the noun, not it’s possessor, is
singular or plural.
2. A possessed noun has four parts. If it looks like it has less, then look for a -Ø subject prefix
(he, she, it or they) or a -Ø possessive number suffix. Notlalhui (Ø-no-tlal-hui). “It’s my land.”
Icon (Ø-i-con-Ø). “It’s his or her clay jar.”
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Chapter 4. The diminutive/reverential

Nouns have a set of prefixes and sufixes that denoted smallness, and at times, care and respect.
The diminutive of an absolutive noun is formed by prefixing pil- and suffixing -tzin, for singular
subjects, and -tzitzin, for plural subjects to a noun stem.
• Conetl. “Itʻs a child.” > Pilconetzin. “Itʻs a baby.” > Pilconetzitzin. “Theyʻre babies.”
• Tocomahtli. “Itʻs a squirrel.” > Piltocomahtzin. “Itʻs a little squirrel.” > Piltocomahtzitzin.
“Theyʻre little squirrels.”
• Tlapiyalli. “Itʻs a (farm or domestic) animal.” > Piltlapiyaltzin. “Itʻs a little (farm or
domestic) animal.” > Piltlapiyaltzitzin. “Theyʻre little (farm or domestic) animals.”
• Xilin. “Itʻs a crawdad.” > Pilxilitzin. “Itʻs a little crawdad.” > Pilxilitzitzin. “Theyʻre little
crawdads.”
• Chichi. “Itʻs a dog.” > Pilchichitzin. “Itʻs a little dog.” > Pilchichitzitzin. “Theyʻre little
dogs.”
The diminutive of a possessed noun is formed by prefixing pil- to the noun stem, then adding the
normal possessive suffixes: -uh -hui or -Ø for singular subjects and -huan for plural subjects.
• Ichpocatl, “Sheʻs a teenage girl” > Nopilichpocauh. “Sheʻs my dear teenage daughter.” >
Nopilichpocahuan. “Theyʻre my dear teenage daughters.”
• Yeyohtli, “Sheʻs a daughter-in-law.” > Mopilyeyohhui. “Sheʻs your dear daughter-in-law.”
> Mopilyeyohhuan. “Theyʻre your dear daughters-in-law.”
• pitzotl, “pig” > ipitzo, “her pig” > ipitzohuan, “her pigs”
Inanimate nouns that normally would not take a plural suffix do use -tzitzin.
• Ce tetl. “One rock.” > Ome tetl. “Two rocks.”
• Ce piltetzin. “One little rock.” > Ome piltetzitzin. “Two little rocks.”
(absolutive) (possessed)
ni ni no
ti tzin ti mo Ø, uh, hui
Ø noun Ø i noun
pil pil
ti stem ti to stem
in tzitzin in inmo huan
Ø Ø inin
The diminutive can also be used:

a). to refer to light colors
• Coztic. “Itʻs yellow.” > Pilcozticatzin. “Itʻs light yellow.”
b). to refer to objects used by children
• Conetzitzin quemman mahuiltiah, nochipa quitequihuiah piltazahtzitzin, pilcucharahtzitzin,
pilcarrohtzitzin. “When children play they always used little cups, little spoons and little
cars.”
c). to show compassion,
• Tlahtlacolli nopilchichi, “Itʻs my poor little dog.”
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d). to show reverence

• ʻCompaleh, xictlali tlaixpan ce pilcafentzin, ce piltlacualtzin, ce pilcantelahtzin, ce
pilxochitzin.ʻ “ʻCompadre, place some coffee, a bit of food, a candle and a flower on the
alter.ʻ”
e). to communicate intimacy in conversations
• ʻCompaleh, yehyectzin tlaqui mopileuh.ʻ “ʻCompadre, your bean plants are growing
nicely.ʻ”
f). and especially in relation to food. This brings in the ideas of intimacy and reverence.
• Tlahtlacolli nopiltlaxcal, ¿quenque nechcuatepehuilqueh? “My poor little tortilla, why did
they throw you away?”
• Xinechmaca achi pilcafentzin. “Please sirve me some coffee.”
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Chapter 5. The intransitive verb

An intransitive verb has three main parts in the present tense: a set of subject prefixes, a verb
stem and a set of number suffixes. Verbs use the same series of subject prefixes as nouns.
The verb, in the same way as the noun, needs number suffixes to help distinguish between the
subjects represented by ti- (first person plural and second person singular) and Ø- (third person
singular and plural). The most important verbal number suffixes are -Ø for singular subjects and
-h for plural subjects. In the present tense they are attached directly to the verb stem.
The number suffixes
Ø -Ø, singular subjects
Ø -h, plural subjects
Here is the complete conjugation of two verbs in the present tense: nehnemi, “to walk, to be
walking,” and ihcihui, “to hurry up.”
• Ninehnemi (ni-nehnemi-Ø). “I walk. / I’m walking.”
• Tinehnemi (ti-nehnemi-Ø). “You walk. / You’re walking.”
• Nehnemi (Ø-nehnemi-Ø). “He/she/it walks. / He/she/it is walking.”
• Tinehnemih (ti-nehnemi-h). “We walk. / We’re walking.”
• Innehnemih (in-nehnemi-h). “Y’all walk. / Y’all are walking.”
• Nehnemih (Ø-nehnemi-h). “They walk. / They’re walking.”
• The intransitive verb in present tense

•
ni
ti Ø
Ø verb
ti stem
in h
Ø
Notice that no vowel elision takes place when the verb stem begins in a vowel.
• Niihcihui (ni-ihcihui-Ø). “I hurry up. / I’m hurrying up.”
• Tiihcihui (ti-ihcihui-Ø). “You hurry up. / You’re hurrying up.”
• Ihcihui (Ø-ihcihui-Ø). “He/she/it hurries up. / He/she/it is hurrying up.”
• Tiihcihuih (ti-ihcihui-h). “We hurry up. / We’re hurrying up.”
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• Inihcihuih (in-ihcihui-h). “Y’all hurry up. / Y’all are hurrying up.”

• Ihcihuih (Ø-ihcihui-h). “They hurry up. / They’re hurrying up.”
In the same way as with the noun, the negative prefix ax-, is used optionally with verbs.
However, when it does appear it is always the first element in the sequence of prefixes. It can
alternate with the words axcanah, amo or amocanah, which also mean “no”. There are two
additional negative prefixes that can be used with verbs: ayi-, “not yet”; and ayoc-, “no longer.”
Each one also has an alternate form consisting of an independent word: ayicanah, “not yet” and
ayoccanah, “no longer.”
• Axniahqui. / Axcanah niahqui. / Amo niahqui. / Amocanah niahqui. “I don’t swim. I’m not
swimming
• Ayiniahqui. / Ayicanah niahqui. “I’m not swimming yet.”
• Ayocniahqui. / Ayoccanah niahqui. “I’m not swimming anymore.”
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Chapter 6. The specific object prefixes

The objects of a verb can be represented by three kinds of prefixes: the specific, the reflexive and
the indefinite. The specific object prefix refers to objects different from the subject (in other
words, excluding reflexive objects) that can be identified (in other words, excluding indefinite
objects). There are six specific object prefixes:
The specific object prefixes
Ø nech-, “me”
Ø mitz-, “you”
Ø qui-, “him, her or it”. This specific object prefix can also appear as c- or qu-.
Ø tech-, “us”
Ø mech-, “y’all”
Ø quin-, “them”
Let’s look at some examples. Remember that all verbs have a subject prefix. So if a verb seems
to begin with a specific object prefix, it really begins with the third person singular or plural
subject prefix Ø-.
• Tinechahci (ti-nech-ahci-Ø). “You’re touching me.”
• Mitzahaltiah (Ø-mitz-ahaltia-h). “They’re bathing you.”
• Inquicaquih (in-qui-caqui-h). “Y’all are listening to him/her.”
• Techmaquilia (Ø-tech-maquilia-Ø). “He/she is hitting us.”
• Nimechzanilhuia (ni-mech-zanilhuia-Ø). “I’m speaking with y’all.”
• Tiquinittah (ti-quin-itta-h). “We see them.”
The specific object prefix remains in the sentence even if its referent is mentioned.
• Nictlalana (ni-c-tlalana-Ø). “I lift it.”
• Nictlalana tetl. “I lift the rock.”
Nahuatl does not distinguish between direct and indirect objects. If a verb has two specific
objects, only the most animate one will be represented by a specific object prefix. Let’s look at
some examples with the verb quixtilia, “to take something from s.o.” In all of these examples,
the qui- refers to Jorge’s younger sister.
• Jorge quiquixtilia (Ø-qui-quixtilia-Ø). “Jorge takes it from her.”
• Jorge quiquixtilia cintli. “Jorge takes corn from her.”
• Jorge quiquixtilia ichocho. “Jorge takes it away from his younger sister.”
• Jorge quiquixtilia cintli ichocho. “Jorge takes corn from his younger sister.”
The specific object prefix for the third person singular (he, she or it) can be written c-, qu-, or
qui-, depending on what precedes or follows.
1. c- is used before the subject prefixes ni- and ti-, and before the vowels a and o and all
consonants.
• Ticahcih (ti-c-ahci-h). “We touch it.”
• Nicohoni (ti-c-ohoni-Ø). “I sip it.”
• Nicnequi (ni-c-nequi-Ø). “I want it.”
2. qu- is used after the subject prefixes ni- and ti- and before the vowels e and i.
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• Niquehua (ni-qu-ehua-Ø). “I lift it.”

• Tiquihxitia (ti-qu-ihxitia-Ø). “You wake him up.”
3. qui- is used after the subject prefixes Ø- and in-, regardless of what follows.“ustedes”
• Quinohnotza (Ø-qui-nohnontza-Ø). “He/she calls him/her (on the phone).”
• Quihuicah (Ø-qui-huica-h). “They take it.”
• Inquiihtoah (in-qui-ihtoa-h). “Y’all say it.”
• Quiehua (Ø-qui-ehua-Ø). “He lifts it.”
4. Either qui- or c- can be used after the subject prefixes Ø- and in-, and before the directional
prefix on-.
• Quionchihua (Ø-qui-on-chihua-Ø) or Conchihua (Ø-c-on-chihua-Ø). “She does it
quickly.”
• Inquionchihuah (in-qui-on-chihua-h) or Inconchihuah (in-c-on-chihua-h). “Y’all do it
quickly.”
The following are complete conjugations of five different transitive verbs, each beginning in
one of the four vowels and a consonant. Notice how the third person singular specific object
prefix is used in each example. The verbs are ahhua, “to scold someone,” oholinia, “to wave or
move something,” ehua, “to life something or someone,” itta, “to see something or someone,”
and temoa, “to look for something or someone.”
nicahhua nicoholinia niquehua niquitta nictemoa
ticahhua ticoholinia tiquehua niquitta tictemoa
quiahhua quioholinia quiehua quiitta quitemoa
ticahhuah ticoholiniah tiquehuah tiquittah tictemoah
inquiahhuah inquioholiniah inquiehuah inquiittah inquitemoah
quiahhuah quioholiniah quiehuah quiittah quitemoah
The specific object prefixes are located after the subject prefixes and before the directional
prefixes (on- and hual-), the reflexive object prefix (mo-), the non-specific object prefixes (te-
and tla-), an incorporated noun and the verb stem.
The specific object prefixes.
ni nech
ti mitz Ø
incor-
Ø c/qu/qui on te verb
mo porated
ti tech hual tla stem
noun
in mech h
Ø quin
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Chapter 7. The directional prefixes.

The verbal prefixes on- and hual- are traditionally called directional prefixes because they signal
the direction in which an action takes place from s.o.ʻs perspective. This person may or may not
be the speaker or the person performing the action. on- refers to action done in an outbound
direction (going; thither) and the prefix hual- refers to action done in an inbound direction
(coming; hither). on- also points out actions done quickly, at a specific time or right before doing
or returning to s.t. else. The directional prefixes follow the subject prefixes and the specific
object prefixes; they precede the reflexive prefix, the non-specific object prefixes, any
incorporated noun and the verb stem.
1. Here are two examples that will help illustrate the general directional use of on- and hual-.
Letʻs say Iʻm in my yard and my neighborʻs child and a friend are playing in her yard. I see her
child fall down and begin to cry. She runs out of her house and wants to know if the friend hit
her child. From my vantage point I can yell out to her,
• Niconittac quemman huetzqui moconeuh. “I saw (from where I am toward where you are)
when your child fell down.”
But if I first cross over to her yard and approach her, I would have to say,
• Nichualittac quemman huetzqui moconeuh. “I saw (from where I was then toward where I
am now) when your child fell down.”
Hereʻs another example. I am at point A and I cross over a log in the road to point B. Now for
some possibilities.
Before I cross over the log, my friend who is standing at point B can say to me,
• Xihualcuapano. “Cross (toward me) over the log.”
I might answer,
• Cualtitoc, nioncuapanoz. “Fine, Iʻll cross (toward you) over the log.”
After crossing and arriving at point B I can say to my friend,
• Nihualcuapanoc. “I crossed (from there to here) over the log.”
But, if after crossing the log I turn, walk around the log and return to point A, I would have to
say,
• Nioncuapanoc. “I crossed (from her to there) over the log.”
2. In Modern Huastecan Nahuatl the purposive construction is only used with the past and future
tenses and the imperative mode (See Chapter 17), but habitual purposive action can also be
expressed using the present tense and the directional suffixes.
• Mohmoztla ontlachiya notelpocauh momillah. “Everyday my teenage son goes to check
(for the purpose of checking) on things at your field.”
• Mohmoztla hualtlachiya motelpocauh nomillah. “Everyday your teenage son comes to
check (for the purpose of checking) on things at my field.”
3. on- and hual- are used when a person is reporting a conversation he or she had with another
person at a distance, either because they were using the telephone or, for example, because each
was on the opposite side of a river or field. The person reporting the conversation identifies his
or her speech with on- and tags the other person’s with hual-.
• Yalhuaya Moises nechnohnotzqui pan tepozcuamecatl. Na nicontlahtlanilih, ‘¿Queniuhqui
itztoc nocomaleh?’ Huan ya nechhualnanquilih, ‘Cualli.’ Teipan nechhualtlahtlanilih,
‘¿Queniuhqui itztoc nocompaleh?’ Huan niconnanquilih, ‘Cualli, titlazcamati.’
Nouhquiya nechhualillih, ‘Niman niyaz nimechpaxaloti.’ Huan niconillih, ‘Xihuallauh
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quemman ta ticnequiz.’ “Yesterday Moises spoke to me on the telephone. I asked him,

‘How is my comadre (your wife)?’ And he answered me, ‘She’s fine.’ Then he asked me,
‘How is my compadre (your husband)?’ And I answer him, ‘Fine, thank you.’ He also
said to me, ‘Soon I’ll go and visit y’all.’ And I told him, ‘Come whenever you want.’”
4. on- and hual- can be used by someone to report a conversation between two other people. The
speech of the person closest to the reporter is tagged with on-, and that of the farthest speaker
with hual-.
• Chicueyiya nototatah huan na tiyahqueh millah. Nototatah quipantih ce macehualli zan
huahca. Nopa tlacatl quihualtlahtlanilih, ‘¿Canin tiyauh tlayi?’ Nototatah connanquilih,
‘Niyauh nomillah nitlachiyati tlan axtlacuahtohqueh totomeh.’ “A week ago my
grandfather and I went to the field. My grandfather saw a person off at a distance. That
man asked him, ‘Where are you going, sir?’ My grandfather replied to him, ‘I’m going to
the field to see if the birds haven’t eaten (the crops).’”
5. on- is used for actions that are done “right now” or “or at a precise time.”
• Niontlacuazza pampa cehuiz, “I’m going to eat right now because (the food) will get
cold.”
• Xiconcalaqui noyoyon quemman tiquittaz pehuaya huetzi atl pampa axniitztoz. “Put my
clothes inside when you see that it begins to rain because I won’t be here.”
2. on- means that a person does something quickly because they are about to do something else,
or because they have suspended a previous activity that they would like to get back to.
• Moztla niontequititi momillah huan niman nimocuapaz. “Tomorrow I’ll go work in your
field for a short while and I’ll return quickly.”
• Eliazar ontlacuaz huan teipan zampa yaz momachtiti. “Eliazar is just going to eat and then
heʻll go back to his studies.”
The directional prefixes.
ni nech
ti mitz Ø
incor-
Ø c/qu/qui on te VERB
mo porated
ti tech hual tla STEM
noun
in mech h
Ø quin
3. on- is used with the particle zan to emphasize that as soon as one activity is finished, another
will begin.
• Zan nicontlamiz nicpiqui nochichiquil, huacca nicochiti. “As soon as I finish wrapping the
tamales I’ll go to bed.”
6. When on- and -hual appear together on the same verb, on- precedes hual-. In this case, on-
will always mean that the action takes place in that instant or that as soon as it is finished another
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action will take place. In other words, on- and hual- cannot both have directional meanings
when they are used together.
• Nochipa onhualtequitih. “They always come to work (for a short while).”
• Zan ticonhualtlamiqui motequiuh, tiyaz mochan. “As soon as you come and finish our
work, you can go home.”
• Xiconhualtequi alaxox. “Come and cut the oranges right now.”
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Chapter 8. The reflexive object prefix

The reflexive object prefix, mo-, is used to refer to three kinds of activity: reflexive action,
mutual action and the passive voice. There is also a formal reflexive consisting of a few verbs
that have lost their original reflexive meaning over time but have a form of the reflexive object
prefix which in some cases is fused to their stem.
1. Reflexive action. The reflexive object prefix is used when the subject and the object of an
action is the same entity.
• Nimoitta pan tezcatl. “I see myself in the mirror.”
• Timocehuiah. “We sit (ourselves) down.”
Mo- is used for all subjects. Here is an example of the complete conjugation of a verb, xilhuia,
“to comb s.o.’s hair.”
• Nimoxilhuia (ni-mo-xilhuia-Ø). “I comb my hair.”
• Timoxilhuia (ti-mo-xilhuia-Ø). “You comb your hair.”
• Moxilhuia (Ø-mo-xilhuia-Ø). “He/she combs his/her hair.”
• Timoxilhuiah (ti-mo-xilhuia-h). “We comb our hair.”
• Inmoxilhuiah (in-mo-xilhuia-h). “Y’all comb your hair.”
• Moxilhuiah (Ø-mo-xilhuia-h). “They comb their hair.”
2. Mutual action. Mo- can also refer to an action that people do to each other. Reflexive action
and mutual action have the same structure and usually need to be distinguished by context.
• Moittah, for example, can mean “They each look at themselves (in a mirror),” or “They
look at each other.”
• Inmoxilhuiah can mean “Yʻall each comb your hair,” or “Yʻall comb each other’s hair.”
3. The passive voice. Mo- is used to impersonalize the action of a transitive verb. The object of
the active voice sentence takes the place of the subject, and mo- is added.
Active voice Passive voice

Niccua (ni-c-cua-Ø) miac nacatl nochan. “I Mocua (Ø-mo-cua-Ø) miac nacatl nochan.
eat lot’s of meat at my house.” “A lot of meat is eaten at my house.”
Inquicahuah (in-qui-cahua-h) yoyomitl pan Mocahua (Ø-mo-cahua-Ø) yoyomitl pan
cuamezah. “Y’all leave clothing on the table.” cuamezah. “Clothing is left on the table.”
Ichpocameh quionih (Ø-qui-oni-h) tzopelatl Mooni (Ø-mo-oni-Ø) tzopelatl campa
campa mochihua. “The young women mochihua. “Softdrinks are consumed at the
consume softdrinks at the dance.” dance.”
4. The formal reflexive. In some cases, mo- has neither a reflexive, a mutual nor a passive
meaning.
• Nimotlaloa (ni-mo-tlaloa-Ø). “I run.” (intransitive verb)
• Timocicinia (ti-mo-cicinia-Ø). “You get angry.” (intransitive verb)
• Quimocuitlahuiah (Ø-qui-mocuitlahuia-h). “They take care of him/her/it.” (transitive verb
with one object). Momocuitlahuiah (Ø-mo-mocuitlahuia-h). “They take care of
themselves.” In this last example, the first mo- refers to reflexive action, and the second
mo- is fused to the verb stem.
When the original verb stem begins in a vowel, the o of mo- or the initial vowel of the stem
disappears.
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• Melpotza (Ø-melpotza-Ø). ”I burp.”

• Timeltzimiah (ti-meltzimia-Ø). “We choke.”
Sometimes these verbs come in pairs: a transitive form that takes both a specific object and a
reflexive object; and an intransitive form containing the fused m- of the reflexive object prefix.
• Example 1: ihzotla, “to vomit on s.o. or s.t.”
Transitive form: Tinechihzotla (ti-nech-ihzotla-Ø). “You vomit on me.”
Reflexive form: Timoihzotla (ti-mo-ihzotla-Ø). “You vomit on yourself.”
Intransitive form: Timihzotla (ti-mihzotla-Ø). “You vomit.”
• Example 2: axixa, “to urinate on s.o. or s.t.”
Transitive form: Quiaxixa (Ø-qui-axixa-Ø). “He/she/it urinates on him/her/it.”
Reflexive form: Moaxixa (Ø-mo-axixa-Ø). “He/she/it urinates on himself/herself/itself.”
Intransitive form: Maxixa (Ø-maxixa-Ø). “He/she/it urinates.”
• Example 3: itzquia, “to grab s.o. or s.t.”
Transitive form: Quiitzquiah (Ø-qui-itzquia-h). “They grab him/her/it.”
Reflexive form: Moitzquiah (Ø-mo-itzquia-h). “The grab themselves.”
Intransitive form: Motzquiah (Ø-motzquia-h). “They become stuck/glued/adhered.”
The very cocoa, “to hurt s.o. or s.t,” begins in a consonant, but behaves much in the same way.
Transitive form: Ticcocohqueh (ti-c-cocoh-queh) “We hurt him/her/it (preterite only).”
Reflexive form: Timococohqueh (ti-mo-cocoh-queh). “We hurt ourselves (preterite only).
Instransitive form: Timococoah (ti-mo-cocoa-h). “We are sick.”
The reflexive prefix.
ni nech
ti mitz Ø
incor-
mo porated
noun
in mech h
Ø quin
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Chapter 9. The indefinite object prefixes

In English I can say, “I eat a hamburger” or “I eat it”; and if I don’t want to specify what I’m
eating, I can just omit the object and say, “I eat.” This can’t happen in Nahuatl. If a verb takes an
object, the slot for that object’s prefix always has to be filled, either with a specific object prefix,
a reflexive object prefix, or with a place holder when we can’t or don’t want to specify the
object. For example, in English I can say, “I scold my brother” and “I scold him”, but I can’t just
say “I scold.” I would need to say “I scold people”. Here, the word “people” is acting as a place
holder for the object of the verb.” Nahuatl uses two place holders, or non-specific object
prefixes. Te- refers to people. tla- normally refers to everything else: animals, plants and
inanimate things. But sometimes, tla- can also refer to people. Here are some pairs of sentences
illustrating how te- and tla- act as an object place holder.
• Pablo quicahcayauhqui nomimi. “Pablo deceived my older brother.
Pablo tlahuel quiamati tecahcayahuaz. “Pable really likes to deceive people.”
• Ticchicuenia cueitl. “You are rinsing out the skirt.”
Titlachicuenia. “You are washing clothes.”
• Nochipa innechahhua. “Y’all always scold me.”
Nochipa inteahhuah. “Y’all always scold people.”
• Ticmanextiah telpocatl. “We are pointing to the young man.”
Titlamanextiah. “We are pointing.”
The indefinite or non-specific prefixes.
ni nech
ti mitz Ø
incor-
mo porated
noun
in mech h
Ø quin
When the addition of te- or tla- produces an important change in meaning, the prefix is fused
to the verb stem and a new word is formed. Here are some examples.
• Elena mitzchiya. “Elena is waiting for you.” (chiya, “to wait for s.o.”)
Elena tlachiya. “Elena is watching or observing.” (tlachiya, “to watch or observe.”)
• Tinechnohnotza. “You call me by phone.” (nohnotza, “to call s.o. by phone.)
Titenohnotza, “You’re friendly.” (tenohnotza, “to be friendly.)
• Techmacah tomin. “They give us money.” (maca, “to give s.t. to s.o.)
Techtlamaca. “They feed us.” (tlamaca, “to feed s.o.”)
• Nimitzillia tlen panoc. “I tell you what happened.” (illia, “to tell s.o. s.t.)
Nimitzteillia. “I acuse you.” (teillia, “to acuse s.o.)
• Ticoni atl. “You are drinking water.” (oni, “to drink s.t.”)
Titlaoni. “You are drinking alcohol.” (tlaoni, “to dring alcohol.”)
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• Inquipehuah piyomeh. “Y’all are rounding up the chicks.” (pehua, “to herd or round up
animals.”)
Intlapehuah. “Y’all are hunting.” (tlapehua, “to hunt.”)
This fusion also takes place when a verb has two objects and one of them is te- or tla-.
• Nechcacatzhuilia cafen. “They toast coffee for me.” (cacatzhuilia, “to toast s.t. specific for
s.o.”)
Nechtlacacatzhuilia. “They toast things for me.” (tlacacatzhuilia, “to toast things for
s.o.”)
• Ticmamaltiliah coxtalli cahuayoh. “We are loading bags on the horse.” (mamaltilia, “to
load s.t. specific on s.o. or some animal.”)
Tlahuel tictlamamaltiah tocahuayoh. “We really load up our horse.” (tlamamaltilia, “to
load up s.o. or s.t.”)
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Chapter 10. The incorporated noun

A noun stem can be prefixed directly to a verb stem, and function either as an object or an
adverb.
1. The incorporated noun as an object. We have seen in Chapter 6 that a noun can function as the
specific object of a verb, and that when this happens it is represented by a specific object prefix.
• Yalhuaya Elena quionic atolli. “Yesterday Elena drank corn gruel.”
The same thing can be said by attaching the root atol- to the verb.
• Yalhuaya Elena atolonic. “Yesterday Elena drank corn gruel.”
Sometimes an incorporated noun will take on a generic meaning.
• Naman Elena quinnamacac eyi piyomeh. “Today Elena sold three chickens.”
• Naman Elena piyonamaca pan tianquiz. “Today Elena is selling chicken at the market.”
Verbs that take more than one object can also incorporate a noun.
• Moztla Elena quihuehhuelhuiliz cuahuitl Sandra. “Tomorrow Elena will cut wood for
Sandra.”
• Moztla Elena quicuahuehhuelhuiliz Sandra. “Tomorrow Elena will cut wood for Sandra.”
2. The incorporated noun as an adverb. The most famous example of this from Older Nahuatl.
The name Cuauhtemoc, is often translated erroneously, “Fallen or Falling Eagle,” and thus
integrated into the tragic narrative of the Conquest. The verb temo, means “to descend.” Here it
is conjugated in the preterite tense, and has become an agentive noun, “a descender.” Cuauhtli
functions as an adverb of manner. So the name means something like, “a diver, in the manner of
an eagle”, and characterizes Cuauhtemoc as a hunter.
An incorporated noun can only work as an adverb when all the objects of a noun are already
accounted for. Here are some examples.
• Cuatlehco means “to climb a tree.” Since tlehco, “to get up (on s.t.)” is intransitive, the
cua- root, meaning “tree,” couldnʻt possibly be an object. Rather it is an adverb of place,
“on a tree.”
• Mapoloa means “to smear (s.t. on) s.o.ʻs hands.” Poloa is a transitive verb that takes only
one object, and this object refers to the person who is getting smeared. So again, the ma-
root, “hand,” couldnʻt be the object of the verb. Rather, as an adverb of place, it refers to
the part of the body that gets smeared. So nimitzmapoloh means “I smeared your hands.”
The incorporated noun.
ni nech
ti mitz Ø
incor-
mo porated
noun
in mech h
Ø quin
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Chapter 11. The relational word

A. Characteristics of relational words
Relational words have pretty much the same function as adverbs and prepositions in English:
they tell us where, when or how an action takes place. Structurally they resemble nouns: some
can actually be reanalyzed as nouns; some can take possessive prefixes, as well as the diminutive
suffix, -tzin; some can even be be prefixed to verbs as incorporated nouns or function as noun
roots in the formation of new verbs. Letʻs look at the three most important characteristics of
relational words.
1. Relational words use the same possessive prefixes as nouns, but with relational words they
prefixes point to the equivalent of the object of an English preposition. We will use -ican,
“behind s.t. or s.o.” as an example.
• noican (no-ican), “behind me”
• moican (mo-ican), “behind you”
• iican (i-ican), “behind him, her or it”
• toican (to-ican), “behind us”
• inmoican (inmo-ican), “behind yʻall”
• ininican (inin-ican), “behind them”
• teican (te-ican) “behind people”
• tlaican (tla-ican) “in back”
The referent of the third person possessors, i- and inin-, can be specified in a sentence.
iican, (i-ican), “behind it” or chichi iican, “behind the dog”
ininican (inin-ican), “behind them” or chichimeh ininican, “behind the dogs”
Under the influence of Spanish, some relational words that traditionally took possessive prefixes,
no longer do so, or do so only in certain circumstances. These are huan, “and, in s.o. or s.t.ʻs
company”; pan, “on, on top of”; and pampa, “because.”
2. In many cases the noun referent is prefixed directly to the relational word. Some relational
words accept incorporated nouns but not possessive prefixes. For example -co means “in, on or
at a certain place.”
• altepetl, “city” + -co = altepeco, “in the city”
Some relational words can substitute their noun referent for their possessive prefix. For example,
-nechca means “next to s.o. or s.t.”
• calli inechca, “next to the house”
• calnechca, “next to the house”
The incorporated noun referent can itself take a possessor.
• nocalnechca (no-cal-nechca), “next to my house”
• mocalnechca (mo-cal-nechca), “next to your house”
• icalnechca (i-cal-nechca), “next to his or her house”
• tocalnechca (to-cal-nechca), “next to our house”
• inmoocalnechca (inmo-cal-nechca), “next to yʻallʻs house”
• inincalnechca (inin-cal-nechca), “next to their house”
Nahuatl incorporates the parts of the human body into relational words and uses them as
metaphors for organizing space in general. For example:
• -ixco, “on top of or above s.o.,” from ixtli, the obsolete word for “eye” and -co, “in, on, at”
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• -tenno, “the edge of s.t.,” from tentli, the obsolete word for “lip” and -no, “in, on, at”
• -ixpan, “in the presence of s.o.,” from ixtli, the obsolete word for “eye” and -pan, “on”
• -ihtico, “inside s.t. or s.o.,” from ihtitl, “stomach” and -co, “in, on, at”
• -tzintlan, “at the base of s.t.” from tzintli, the obsolete word for “anus” and -tlan, “next to”
• -nacaztlan, “the corner of s.t.,” from nacaztli, “ear” and -tlan, “next to”
These relational words will take possessive prefixes and/or additional incorporated nouns. For
example:
• nonacaztlan, “to my side”
• calnacaztlan, “the corner of the house,” from calli, “house”
• tocalnacaztlan, “the corner of our house”
• moixco, “above you, or on top of your head”
• tepeixco, “on top of the hill”
3. Some relational words employ the ligature -ti- when incorporating a noun referent. For
example, noelchiquititlan means “(next to) my ribs or rib cage”
no-, “my”
elli, obsolete word for “liver”
chiquihuitl, “basket”
-ti-, ligature
-tlan, the relational word, “next to”
B. Specific relational words

We will now discuss, in alphabetical order, twenty-four of the most important relational words.
Some consist of a single mopheme and some are compounds made up of a relational word and an
incorporated noun.
1. -co, -c, -no, “in, on, at”
-Co, -c, -no only incorporates nouns directly (without a ligature). It does not take possessive
prefixes directly, only those of the incorporated noun. -co is used with most incorporated nouns.
-no is only used with -tzinno, “s.t.ʻs base,” and -tenno, “the edge of s.t.” -c is only used with a
few words, such as -ihtic, “inside s.t.,” -mapatlac, “s.o.ʻs palm,” and quiyahuac, “outside the
house enclosure.” Here are some other example of relational words based -co.
• amelco, “at the spring”
• mocamaco, “on your mouth”
• tepeco, “on or at the hill”
• atlauhco, “at the river”
• cehco, “another place”
• zancehco, “together”
• tlapanico, “up there”
• iixco, “on top of it”
• inintepotzco, “(coming up) on their heels”
2. -ca, “with, by means of, concerning, imprecise location”
-Caʻs most important function is the expression of instrumentality. When the instrument refered
to is specifically mentioned in the sentence, -ca follows the verb and, due to the influence of
Spanish, does not take a possessor.
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• Nitlatzontequi ca machete. “Iʻm cutting bushes with a machete.”

However, when the referent is not mentioned in the sentence, -ca precedes the verb and takes a
possessive prefix.
• Ica nitlatzontequi. “Iʻm cutting bushes with it.”
The -ti- ligature is only used for quemmantica, “sometimes.”
-Ca is used with various place words to express the idea of imprecise location. Sometimes it is
attached to the word.
• calican, “behind the house” > ica calican or cacalican, “somewhere behind the house”
• nican, “here” > ica nican or nicanca, “around here; someplace close by”
3. -can, “a place or time characterized by...”
-Can can appear as part of a particle cluster.
• canin, “where” (relative pronoun)
• canque, “where” (relative pronoun)
• campa, “where” (relative adjective)
• canahya, “place, someplace”
• nican, “here”
It can also incorporate some simple nouns.
• cualcan, “early
• tlayeccan, “a clear sky”
• tlahuexcan, “a piece of land that extends out in all directions”
Perhaps -can is best know for its incorporation of agentive nouns. Here the -ca of -can is clearly
the preterite suffix, and it functions to link the agentive noun with the locative suffix -n.
• tlazoquiyohcan, “a dirty place”
• ohuihcan, “a weedy, overgrown place”
• tlaihyomiccan, “a hot breezeless place”
4. -cuitlapan, “(on) s.o.ʻs back” from cuitlatl, “excrement” and -pan, “in, on, at”
• mocuitlapan, “(on) your back”
• pitzotl icuitlapan, “(on) the pigʻs back”
5. -huahca, “far (from s.o. or s.t.)” from hueyi, “big” and another relational word -ca that deals
with intervals.
-Huahca can be used with or without a possessor.
• tohuahca, “far from us”
• Maribel momachtia huahca. “Maribel studies far away.”
It can also be attached to other relational words.
• huahcapan, “up, above”. Del relacional -pan.
• huahcatlan, “deep.” From huahca, “up, above” and -tlan, “next to s.t. or s.o., at the base of
s.t.”
6. -huan, “and, in s.o. or s.t.ʻs company”
-Huanʻs most common use is for the word “and.” Here, under the influence of Spanish, it no
longer takes the possessive prefixes.
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• Niccua tlaxcalli huan etl. “Iʻm eating tortillas and beans.”

• Zan tiitztoqueh ta huan na. “Itʻs just you and I.”
• caxtolli huan eyi, “eighteen”
For the most part, -huan has ceded the meaning of “in s.o.ʻs or s.t.ʻs company” to its cousin, the
relational word, -huanya. But it is still used with this meaning in some expressions.
• Ininhuan niyaz conemeh. “Iʻll go with the children.”
• Niquittac motatah tehuan. “I saw your father with a group of people”
• Nohuan itztoc. “He/she is with me.”
7. -huanya, “with, in s.o. or s.t.ʻs company,” from -huan, “in s.o. or s.t.ʻs company” and the
anchoring particle -ya.
-Huanya can take the possessive prefix; however, under the influence of Spanish this is being
lost. So more and more it behaves like a Spanish preposition.
• Ninehnemi mohuanya, “Iʻm walking with you”.
• Ninehnemi huanya ta, “Iʻm walking with you.”
8. -ican, “behind s.o. or s.t.”
-Ican can take a possessive prefix directly.
• Cihuameh itztoqueh moican. “The women are behind you.”
It can also take an incorporated noun, and this may or may not be possessed.
• calli iican > calican, “behind the house”
• nocalican, “behind my house”
• ica calican or cacalican, “somewhere in back of the house”
• Diana tlahuel quicocoa icuaican. “Diana has strong pain in the back of her head.”
9. -ihtic, “inside s.t.,” from ihti[tl], “stomach” and the relational word -co, -c, -no, “in, on, at.”
-Ihtic can take a possessive prefix directly.
• caxah iihtic, “inside the chest or box”
• aihtic, “in the water”
• mocuaihtic, “inside your head”
10. -ixco, “above, on top of, on s.o.ʻs face,” from ixtli, the obsolete word for “eye, face, surface”,
and the relational word -co, -c, -no, “in, on, at.”
-Ixco can take a possessive prefix directly.
• cuahuitl iixco, “on top of the tree”
• tepanixco, “on top of the rock pile”
• inmocuaixco, “on top of yʻallʻs heads”
• toyolixco, “on our chests” (literally “on the surface of our heart”)
11. -ixpan, “in front of or in the presence of s.o. or s.t.,” from ixtli, the obsolete word for “eye,
face, surface” and -pan, “at, above, on top of s.t.”
-Ixpan can take a possessive prefix directly.
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• inmoixpan, “in front of yʻall”

• calixpan, “in front of the house”
• mocalixpan, “in front of your house”
12. -ixtenno, “in front of s.o. or s.t.,” from ixtli, the obsolete word for “eye, face, surface” and -
tenno, “at the edge of s.t.”
-Ixtenno takes the possessive prefixes.
• ininixtenno, “in front of them”
• Tiitztoqueh Pablo iixtenno. “Weʻre in front of Pablo.”
13. -nechca, “next to s.o. or s.t.”
-Nechca can take a possessive prefix directly.
• inechca, “next to him/her/it”
• Notonanan mocehuihtoc nonechca. “My grandmother is seated next to me.”
• calnechca, “next to the house”
• motlalnechca, “next to your land”
14. pampa, “because”
Under the influence of Spanish, pampa has lost its ability to take a possessive prefix.
• Nimitzpalehuia pampa timococoa. “Iʻm helping you because youʻre sick.”
15. -pan, “at, above, on top of s.t.; always; long ago; upward”
Under the influence of Spanish, -pan no longer takes possessive prefixes when it functions to
locate s.t. or s.o. in space. Today, -pan only uses the possessive prefix i- when it refers to time.
• Notatah ipan huallauh Zacatecas. “My father always comes to Zacatecas.”
• Mocahuaz zan quen ipan nimitziltoya. “Its going to stay just the way I had told you.”
When dealing with space, and when the referent is specifically mentioned in the sentence, -pan
follows the verb.
• Nocihuauh tici pan metlatl. “My wife grinds corn on a grinding stone.”
However, when the referent is not mentioned in the sentence, -pan precedes the verb.
• Niccohuilih yancuic metlatl nocihuauh; naman pan tizqui. “I bought a new grinding stone
for my wife; today she ground corn on it.”
-Pan takes incorporated nouns, with or without a possessive prefix.
• teipan, “after”
• apan, “at the river or well”
• calmapan, “corridor that runs along the outside wall of a house under the outcropping of
the roof.”
• tlanempan, “patio where there are trees and farm animales.”
• moxicpan, “in your uterus”
• María iixcampan, “(on) Mariaʻs cheek.”
• notlancochpan, “on/in my teeth”
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-Pan is used in the formation of complex relational words,

• -ixpan, “in front of s.o. or s.t.”
• -cuitlapan, “on s.o.ʻs back”
• -tzompan, “on top of s.o.ʻs head”
• -tempan, “by s.o.ʻs authorization”
• -tzimpan, “at the base of s.t.”
-Pan can use the -ti ligature to incorporate nouns.
• caxtoltipan, “in two weeks”
• notlahcotipan, “(on) my waist”
When used with the relational words huahca, “far” and echca- “not far”, -pan means “upward.”
• huahcapan, “above (a long distance from the ground)”
• echcapan, “below (a short distance from the ground)”
16. -pani, “on or on top of s.o. or s.t.”
-Pani takes possessive prefixes.
• Huetzqui mopani ce alaxox. “An orange fell on you.”
• Xichualtlali nopani nopa cintli. “Load me up with that corn.”
• Ne calli eltoc tlapani. “That house is up on the high ground.”
-Pani takes incorporated nouns, with or without a possessive prefix.
• apani, “elevated ground at the edge of a river”
• calpani, “on top of the house”
• Huetzqui ce hueyi tetl nocxipani huan nechcocoh. “A big rock fell on my foot and injured
me.”
17. -tech, “stuck right on to s.t;” or part of the expression -tech pohui.
-Tech can only incorporate one noun, calli, “house or building.”
• Manuel quitenqui cintli caltech. “Manuel put the corn right up against the house.”
It is used in the expression -tech pohui, meaning that s.o. is entitled to s.t., or that it is s.o.ʻs
responsability/turn/lot to do s.t.” In this case it always takes a possessive prefix.
• Totech pohui ticchihuazceh ilhuitl pan ni meztli, “Itʻs our responsability to celebrate the
“Day of the Dead” this month.”
• Notech pohui ne calli, “Iʻm entitled to that house.”
18. -tenno, “at the edge of s.t.,” from tentli, the obsolete word for “lip, edge” and the relational
word -co, -c, -no, “in, on, at.”
When -tenno takes a human possessor it means “at the edge of s.o.ʻs mouth.”
• Tlahuel cacalihui notenno quemman tlaceceya, “The edge of my mouth getʻs very dry
when itʻs cold.”
When its possessor is non-human, -tenno means “at the edge of s.t.”
• atl itenno, “at the edge of the water”
It also takes incorporated nouns, with or without a possessive prefix.
• cuatenno, “bathroom, latrine” (literally, “at the edge of the woods”)
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• caltenno, “outside”
• tocaltenno, “outside our house”
• moixtenno, “in front of you”
19. -tepotzco, “at s.o.ʻs heels,” from tepotztli, the obsolete word for “s.o.ʻs back”, and the
relational word -co, -c, -no, “in, on, at.”
-Tepotzco only takes the possessive prefixes.
• Samuel huallauh totepotzco. “Samuel is following us (he is on our heals).”
• tlatepotzco, “the last person or thing”
20. -tlah, “place characterized by an abundance of s.t.”
-Tlah only incorporates unpossessed nouns. It will appear as -lah if the root of the incorporated
noun ends in “l”.
• xochitlah, “a place full of flowers”
• cuauhtlah, “a place where there are many hawks”
• tlaxoxoctlah, “a place with much vegetation”
• millah, “a cultivated field” (literally, “a place with many cultivated fields”)
21. -tlan, “next to s.t., time when an event takes place, downward”
-Tlan only incorporates nouns, which may or may not be possessed, and other relational words.
-Tlan will appear as -lan when the root of the incorporated noun ends in “l”.
-Tlan is used to form the names for many body parts.
• mocotztlan, “your calf”
• iquechtlan, “his/her neck”
• noxillan, “my vagina”
• totzinquechtlan, “our waist”
• iellan, “his/her armpit”
• noelchiquiuhtitlan, “mi ribs/ribcage”
Some body parts will combine with -tlan to form new relational words. Here, body parts function
metaphorically to organize space.
• itzintlan cuahuitl, “at the base of the tree,” from tzintli, the obsolete word for “anus”
• atzintlan, “river bottom”
• toixtlan, “in front of us,” from ixtli, the obsolete word for “eye, face”
• toixtlan techahhuaco icihuauh Eulalio, “Eulalioʻs wife scolded us to our face”
• nonacaztlan, “to my side,” from nacaztli, “ear”
• mocalnacaztlan, “the corner of your house”
The -ti- ligature is used in some cases between the incorporated noun and -tlan.
• cuatitlan, “woods, forest, the wild”
• caltitlan, “the center of town, where there are many houses”
When used with the relational words huahca, “far” and echca- “not far”, -tlan means
“downward.”
• huahcatlan, “deep (a long distance under the earth or water)”
• echcatlan, “not very deep (a short distance under the earth or water)”
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22. -tzalan, “underneath or in between s.t. or s.o.”

-Tzalan takes possessive prefixes.
• motzalan, “underneath you”
• cuahuitl itzalan, “under the tree(s)”
• tetl itzalan, “underneath the rock(s)”
• cahuayoh imetztzalan, “between the horseʻs legs”
• cuatzalan, “under the tree(s)”
• tetzalan, “under the rock(s)”
23. -tzintlan, “under or at the base of s.t.,” from tzintli, the obsolete word for “anus” and the
relational word -tlan, “next to s.t., time when an event takes place, downward”
-Tzintlan takes possessive prefixes.
cuahuitl itzintlan, “under or at the base of the tree”
• atzintlan, “underwater”
• cuatzintlan, “under or at the base of the tree”
• noquechtzintlan, “my throat,” literally “under my neck”
• Xictepehuati tepalcatl cuatzintlan. “Go throw out the broken pieces (of glass or clay pots)
under that trees.”
24. -yan, “time or place in which an action takes place”
-Yan normally incorporats the present or preterite root of a verb. The resulting relational word
may or may not take a possessive prefix.
• itlamiyan meztli, “the end of the month,” from tlami, “to finish”
• tlamanyan, “plain (flat extension of land),” from mani, “for s.t. to be layed out; for water to
be held in some kind of container”
• motlahcotiyan, “your waist,” from the unattested verb, tlahcoti, “to become the middle or
half”
• noixcotiyan, “activity or task that is s.o.ʻs responsability,” from the unattested verb, ixcoti.
It can also incorporate a few nouns.
• motlahcoyan, “your waist,” from tlahco, “half or middle”
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The relational words.
pampa 14 because
-ca 2 with, by means of, concerning,
imprecise location
-cuitlapan 4 (on) s.o.ʻs back
-huahca 5 far (from s.o. or s.t.)
-huan 6 and, in s.o. or s.t.ʻs company
-huanya 7 with, in s.o. or s.t.ʻs company
-ixtenno 12 in front of s.o. or s.t.
no- pampa 14 because
mo- -tepotzco 19 at s.o.ʻs heels
i- -can 3 a place or time characterized by...
to- -yan 24 time or place in which an action
inmo- takes place
inin- ti -tlan 21 next to s.t., time when an event
te- takes place, downward
tla- -ihtic 9 inside s.t.
Ø- -ixco 10 above, on top of, on s.o.ʻs face
noun -ixpan 11 in front of or in the presence of
or s.o. or s.t.
verbal -nechca 13 next to s.o. or s.t
embed -tech 17 stuck right on to s.t; itech pohui
-tenno 18 at the edge of s.t
-ican 8 behind s.o. or s.t.
-pani 16 on or on top of s.o. or s.t.
-tzalan 22 underneath or in between s.t. or s.o
ti -pan 15 at, above, on top of s.t.; always;
long ago; upward
-tzintlan 23 under or at the base of s.t.
-co/-c/-no 1 in, on, at
-tlah 20 place characterized by an
abundance of s.t
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Chapter 12. The present tense

The simplest form of a present tense verb only has three parts: a subject prefix (the same ones
that are used with nouns) a verbstem and a number suffix.
You will have noticed by now that the prefixes, ti- and Ø- can each represent two subjects,
one singular and one plural. For this reason all verb tenses have number suffixes that combine
with the subject prefixes to eliminate confusion.
The number suffixes used for the present tense
Ø -Ø (the absence of a suffix), “singular or inanimate subject”
Ø -h, “plural subject”
The present tense has three applications:
1. It expresses what in English would be termed the “present progressive”:
• Ninehnemi. “I am walking.”
• Timahuiltiah. “We are playing.”
• Maltia. “He is bathing.”
• Tlacuah. “They are eating.”
2. With adverbs such as mohmoztlah, “everyday”; nochipa, “always”; axquemman, “never”;
quemmantica, “sometimes”; etc., it expresses customary action:
• Mohmoztlah timomachtia. “You study everyday.”
• Nochipa inmotlaloah pan caltlamachtihquetl. “Y’all always run to school.”
• Elena axquemman moxilhuia. “Elena never combs her hair.”
• Quemmantica quichihchihuah tohtolon. “Sometimes they make meatballs.”
Here are two verbs conjugated with all subjects in the present tense.
• Ninehnemi (ni-nehnemi-Ø). “I am walking”.
• Tinehnemi (ti-nehnemi-Ø). “You are walking”.
• Nehnemi (Ø-nehnemi-Ø). “He/she/it is walking”.
• Tinehnemih (ti-nehnemi-h). “We are walking”.
• Innehnemih (in-nehnemi-h). “Y’all are walking”.
• Nehnemih (Ø-nehnemi-h). “They are walking”.
• Niixhuetzca (ni-ixhuetzca-Ø). “I am smiling”.
• Tiixhuetzca (ti-ixhuetzca-Ø). “You are smiling”.
• Ixhuetzca (Ø-ixhuetzca-Ø). “He/she/it is smiling”.
• Tiixhuetzcah (ti-ixhuetzca-h). “We are smiling”.
• Inixhuetzcah (in-ixhuetzca-h). “Y’all are smiling”.
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• Ixhuetzcah (Ø-ixhuetzca-h). “They are smiling”.
The present tense verb
ni nech
ti mitz Ø
incor-
m(o) porated
noun
in mech h
Ø quin
Tlen nicchihua mohmoztlah (Delfina de la Cruz)

Nochi tonatiuh nimehua cualcan pampa Jacqueline ihza niman. Quemman ya ihza niman na
nouhquiya nimehua para nictzinpatla huan nictlamaca. Huan nouhquiya nicmana atl para
nimochihchihuilia ce cafen. De nopayoh pehua nitlatzehtzeloa pan notlapech. Tlami nicchihua
nopa, huacca niyauh nimixxamia huan nimocamapahpaca. Teipan nimoxilhuia huan
nimocuailpia. Tlami nicchihua nopa, huacca pehua nicchihchihua tecciztli para Manuel,
Jacqueline huan na. Zampa pehua nicpahpaca nopa polatoh, tazah huan zarten tlen pan
nitlacualchihchihua. De nopayo nimoteca ce tlatoctzin pampa pehua nechcocoa notzontecon
huan nochi notlacayo. Teipan pehua nitlachpana zampampa axcanah nitlatrapearoa. Pan nopa
tlatoctzin ahcico Urbano. Quemman ahci quitlatia boiler para ma totoniya atl. Quemman totoniya
atl pehuah timaltiah Jacqueline huan na. Huan tlatepotzco maltia Urbano. Zampa de nopayoh
timochihchihuiliah ce cafen huan tlami ticonih. Huacca ticochihya.
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Chapter 13. The preterite tense.

Regular Nahua verbs are divided into four classes according to the four ways that verbs change
from the present to the preterite tense.
Class 1. The preterite root is identical to the present tense root. A -c is added for singular
subjects and -queh is added for plural subjects.
• Niihza. “I wake up.” > Niihzac. “I woke up.”
• Tichocah. “We cry” > Tichocaqueh. “We cried.”
Class 2. The present tense root loses its final vowel when changing to the preterite. -Qui is added
for singular subjects and -queh for plural subjects.
• Tiquiza. “You leave.” > Tiquizqui. “You left.”
• Intocah. “Y’all plant corn.” > Intocqueh. “Ya’ll planted corn.”
A consonant is always left at the end of the root when the final vowel of the present tense form is
eliminated. The following consonants will change form when this happens.
• hu > uh Ixpolihui. “It disappears.” > Ixpoliuhqui. “It disappeared.”
• cu > uc Quitzacuah. “They close it.” > Quitzaucqueh. “They closed it.”
• y>x Atiya. “It melts” > Atixqui. “It melted.”
• qu > c Miqui. “He dies” > Micqui. “He died.”
• c>z Titicih. “We grind corn.” > Titizqueh. “We ground corn.”
• m>n Tinehnemi. “You walk.” > Tinehnenqui. “You walked.”
Class 3. Presente tense roots that end in -ia or -oa belong to Class 3. When changing to the
preterite tense, they lose the final a of the root and an h is added. For singular subjects, -qui can
optionally be added; -queh is added for plural subjects.
• -ia Maltia. “She bathes.” > Maltih~Maltihqui. “She bathed.”
• -ia Tepahtiah. “They practice medicine.” > Tepahtihqueh. “They practiced medicine.”
• -oa Ticholoa. “You flee.” > Ticholoh~Ticholohqui. “You fled.”
• -oa Inahcuexoah. “Ya’ll sneeze.” > Inahcuexohqueh. “Ya’ll sneezed.”
Class 4. An h is added to the present tense root, then-qui is added for singular subjects and -queh
is added for plural ones.
• Tlacua. “It eats.” > Tlacuahqui, “It ate.”
• Naman moixpah. “They put on makeup today.” > Yalhuaya moixpahqueh. “They put
makeup yesterday.”
The preterite tense: verb root and suffixes
present preterite singular plural

root root suffix suffix
Class 1 itta itta -c
Class 2 huitoni huiton -qui
-queh
maltia > maltih
Class 3 -Ø ~ -qui
choloa choloh
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Class 4 cua cuah -qui
How to tell what class a verb belongs to.

Class 1:
a). All monosyllabic verbs except cua and pa.
b). Most, though not all verbs ending in -ca.
c). All verbs ending in consonant-consonant-vowel.
d). All verbs ending in -tla.
e). All verbs ending in -o.
Class 2: Most, but not all verbs ending in vowel-consonant-vowel.
Class 3: All verbs ending in -ia or -oa.
Clase 4: Only pa, cua, mama, nahua and some of their derived forms.
Tlen nicchiuhqui yalhuaya (Delfina de la Cruz)

Ni tonatiuh nimeuhqui cualcantzin pampa Jacqueline ihzac niman, huan como ihzacca niman
huahca na nouhquiya nimeuhqui para nictzinpatlaz huan nictlamacaz. Huan nouhquiya
nicmanqui atl para nimochihchihuiliz ce cafen. De nopayo peuhqui nitlatzehtzeloa pan
notlapech. Tlanqui nicchihua nopa, huahca niyahqui nimixxamito huan nimocamapahpacato.
Teipan nimoxilhuih huan nimocuailpih. Tlanqui nicchihua nopa, huacca peuhqui nicchihchihua
ce tecciztli para na huan para Manuel huan Jacqueline. Titlacuahqueh, zampa peuhqui
niquinpahpaca nopa polatoz, tazaz huan sarten tlen pan nitlacualchihchiuhqui. De nopayo
nimotecqui ce tlatoctzin pampa peuhqui nechcocoa notzontecon huan nochi notlacayo. Zampa ce
tlatoctzin peuhqui nitlachpana, pero axcanah nitlatrapearoh. Zampa ce tlatoctzin ahzicoya
Urbano. Quemman ahzico quitlatih boiler para ma totoniya atl. Quemman totonixqui atl peuhqui
timaltiah na huanya Jacqueline. Huan tlatepotzco maltih Urbano. Zampa de nopayo
timochihchihuilqueh ce cafen huan tlanqui ticonih. Huahca ticochqueh.
The preterite tense
ni nech
ti mitz 1 itta > itta c
Ø c, qu(i) incor- 2 piya > pix qui
on te
m(o) porated 3 celia > celih -Ø ~ -qui queh
ti tech hual tla
noun 3 poloa > poloh -Ø ~ -qui
in mech 4 cua > cuah -qui
Ø quin
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Chapter 14. The future tense

The future tense is formed by attaching -z to the present tense verb root. Class 3 verbs —those
ending in -ia or -oa— drop the final a before adding the -z. Then a zero suffix (-Ø) is added for
singular subjects and -ceh for plural subjects. The use of the future tense corresponds to that of
English:
• Quitequiz. “She will cut it. ~ She’s going to cut it.”
• Tiahquiz. You will swim. ~ You’re going to swim.”
• Inihzazceh. “Y’all will wake up. ~ Y’all are going to wake up.”
• Axticpolozceh. “We won’t lose it. ~ We aren’t going to lose it.”
Here are examples of complete conjugations with three verbs: cua, “to eat s.t.”; celia, “to
receive s.t.; and poloa, “to lose s.t.” Remember that the last two are Class 3 verbs and lose the
final a of their stem before adding the future suffix.
• Niccuaz. “I’ll eat it.”
• Ticcuaz. “You’ll eat it.”
• Quicuaz. “He/she will eat it.”
• Ticcuazceh. “We’ll eat it.”
• Inquicuazceh. “Y’all will eat it.”
• Quicuazceh. “They’ll eat it.”
• Nicceliz. “I’ll receive it.”

• Ticceliz. “You’ll receive it.”
• Quiceliz. “He/she will receive it.”
• Ticcelizceh. “We’ll receive it.”
• Inquicelizceh. “Y’all will receive it.”
• Quicelizceh. “They’ll receive it.”
• Nicpoloz. “I’ll lose it.”

• Ticpoloz. “You’ll lose it.”
• Quipoloz. “He/she will lose it.”
• Ticpolozceh. “We’ll lose it.”
• Inquipolozceh. “Y’all will lose it.”
• Quipolozceh. “They’ll lose it.”
The future tense
ni nech
1 itta > itta
ti mitz Ø
incor- 2 piya > piya
Ø c/qu/qui on te
mo porated 3 celia > celi z
ti tech hual tla
noun 3 poloa > polo
in mech ceh
4 cua > cua
Ø quin
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Chapter 15. The imperfect tense

In general, the imperfect tense is formed by attaching -yaya to the verb stem. Class 3 verbs —
those ending in -ia or -oa— lose the final a before adding -yaya. Then a zero suffix (-Ø) us
added for singular subjects and -h for plural subjects. There are two special cases that effect
conjugation, and these will be treated below. The use of the imperfect tense is similar to that of
Spanish and has two meanings:
1. “used to do s.t.”. The imperfect tense indicates an action that did or did not happen
customarily in the past.
• Eliazar axquemman tlamehuayaya imillah. “Eliazar never used to weed his field.”
• Huahcauhquiya tiihzayayah cualcan. “In the past we used to wake up early.”
2. “was/were doing s.t.” The imperfect tense can also focus on the process of an action while it
was happening in the past. This perspective frequently serves as the backdrop for another action
that is expressed in the preterite tense or the past purposive construction.
• Nictlatiyaya totomochtli quemman huetzico atl. “I was burning dry corn husks when it
began to rain.”
• Quemman ahcico Delfina nitlacuayaya. “When Delfina arrived, I was eating.”
We have said that class 3 verbs (those ending in -ia or -oa) undergo stem reduction (the loss
of their final a) before adding yaya; however, verbs ending in -oa may optionally keep the final
a. Also, verbs ending in -ya may form the imperfect tense by adding a single ya instead of the
normal double yaya. Here are conjugations of four verbs in the imperfect tense: cua, “to eat s.t.,”
celia, “to recieve s.t. or s.o.,” mococoa, “to be sick,” and piya, “to have s.t.”
• Niccuayaya. “I used to eat it. ~ I was eating it.”
• Ticcuayaya. “You used to eat it. ~ You were eating it.”
• Quicuayaya. “He/she/it used to eat it. ~ He/she/it was eating it.”
• Ticcuayayah. “We used to eat it. ~ We were eating it.”
• Inquicuayayah. “Y’all used to eat it. ~ Y’all were eating it.”
• Quicuayayah. “They used to eat it. ~ They were eating it.”
• Nicceliyaya. “I used to receive it. ~ I was receiving it.”

• Ticceliyaya. “You used to receive it. ~ You were receiving it.”
• Quiceliyaya. “He/she/it used to receive it. ~ He/she/it was receiving it.”
• Ticceliyayah. “We used to receive it. ~ We were receiving it.”
• Inquiceliyayah. “Y’all used to receive it. ~ Y’all were receiving it.”
• Quiceliyayah. “They used to receive it. ~ They were receiving it.”
• Nimotlaloyaya. ~ Nimotlaloayaya . “I used to run. ~ I was running.”

• Timotlaloyaya. ~ Timotlaloayaya. “You used to run. ~ You were running.”
• Motlaloyaya. ~ Motlaloayaya. “He/she/it used to run. ~ He/she/it was running.”
• Timotlaloyayah. ~ Timotlaloayayah. “We used to run. ~ We were running.”
• Inmotlaloyayah. ~ Inmotlaloayayah. “Y’all used to run. ~ Y’all were running.”
• Motlaloyayah. ~ Motlaloayayah. “They used to run. ~ They were running.”
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• Nicpiyaya. “I used to have it. ”

• Ticpiyaya. “You used to have it.”
• Quipiyaya. “He/she/it used to have it.”
• Ticpiyayah. “We used to have it.”
• Inquipiyayah. “Y’all used to have it.”
• Quipiyayah. “They used to have it.”
The imperfect tense
ni nech
1 itta > itta
ti mitz Ø
Ø c/qu/qui on te
mo porated 3 celia > celi yaya
ti tech hual tla
noun 3 poloa > polo
in mech h
4 cua > cua
Ø quin
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Chapter 16. The conditional mode

The conditional mode is formed by attaching -zquia to the verb stem. Class 3 verbs —those
ending in -ia or -oa— lose the final a before adding -zquia. Then a zero suffix (-Ø) is added for
singular subjects and -ceh is added for plural subjects. The conditional mode has three uses:
1. “would do s.t.” The conditional mode expresses an action that would occur if a certain
condition were met. The conditional suffix is applied to both the verb naming the action that
would occur and to the verb naming the condition.
• Nitequitizquia momillah tlan nimoahxilizquia. “I would work in your field if I had time.”
• Titlacuazquiah tlan timayanazquiah. “We would eat if we were hungry.”
2. “should do s.t.” The conditional mode expresses what s.o. should do, or what should be done.
• Tlanqui tlacualli, tiyazquiah tianquiz. “There is no more food, we should go to the
market.”
• Nichuicazquia ni piltototzin nochan. “I should take this little bird home.”
3. “was about to do s.t.; was about to happen.” The most important use of the conditional mode
expresses an action that was planned or contemplated but did not actually happen for one reason
or another.
• Tihuetzizquia, zampampa nimitzitzquih. “You were about to fall, but I grabbed you.”
• Nimitzittazquia nauhyopaya. “I was going to see you four day ago [but something
happened and I couldnʻt].
• Yalhuaya nimococozquia pampa nimoxolonih miac quemman tlaahuetzqui. “Yesterday I
almost got sick because I got very wet when it rained.”
Here are conjugations of three verbs in the conditional mode: cua, “to eat s.t.”; celia, “to receive
s.t.”; and poloa, “to lose s.t.” Remember that class 3 verbs (those ending in -ia or -oa) lose their
final vowel before taking the conditional suffix.
• Niccuazquia. “I would ~ should ~ was about to eat it.”
• Ticcuazquia. “You would ~ should ~ were about to eat it.”
• Quicuazquia. “He ~ she would ~ should ~ was about to eat it.”
• Ticcuazquiah. “We would ~ should ~ were about to eat it.”
• Inquicuazquiah. “Y’all would ~ should ~ were about to eat it.”
• Quicuazquiah. “They would ~ should ~ were about to eat it.”
• Niccelizquia. “I would ~ should ~ was about to receive it.”

• Ticcelizquia. “You would ~ should ~ were about to receive it.”
• Quicelizquia. “He ~ she would ~ should ~ was about to receive it.”
• Ticcelizquiah. “We would ~ should ~ were about to receive it.”
• Inquicelizquiah. “Y’all would ~ should ~ were about to receive it.”
• Quicelizquiah. “They would ~ should ~ were about to receive it.”
• Nicpolozquia. “I would ~ should ~ was about to lose it.”

• Ticpolozquia. “You would ~ should ~ were about to lose it.”
• Quipolozquia. “He ~ she would ~ should ~ was about to lose it.”
• Ticpolozquiah. “We would ~ should ~ were about to lose it.”
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• Inquipolozquiah. “Y’all would ~ should ~ were about to lose it.”

• Quipolozquiah. “They would ~ should ~ were about to lose it.”
The conditional mode
ni nech
1 itta > itta
ti mitz Ø
Ø c/qu/qui on te
mo porated 3 celia > celi zquia
ti tech hual tla
noun 3 poloa > polo
in mech h
4 cua > cua
Ø quin
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Chapter 17. The imperative mode

The imperative mode is formed by adding a zero suffix (-Ø) for singular subjects and -can for
plural subjects to the verb stem. Class 3 verbs roots —those ending in -ia or -oa— lose their final
a. For direct commands, xi- replaces the ti- (you) and in- (y’all) subject prefixes. For indirect
commands, the regular suject prefixes, ni-, “I”; Ø-, “he, she, it, they”; and ti-, “we”, are used, but
the word ma is also placed inmediately before the verb.
The imperative is used both for direct and indirect commands:
• Ximocehui! “Sit down!”
• Ma timocehuican! “Letʻs sit down!”
• Ma mocehui Ana! “Ana should sit down!”
It is also used to express the object of verbs of imposition, preference and necessity.
• Rebeca nechillih ma nimochiya. “Rebeca told me to wait.”
• Nicnequi xiquiza. “I want you to leave.”
• Monequi ma timomachtican. “Itʻs necessary for us to study.”
The imperative mode
ma ni nech
1 itta > itta
xi mitz Ø
ma Ø c/qu/qui on te
mo porated 3 celia > celi
ma ti tech hual tla
noun 3 poloa > polo
xi mech can
4 cua > cua
ma Ø quin
Here are three full conjugations of command forms, using tlacua, “to eat,” maltia, “to bathe,”
and choloa, “to flee.”
• Ma nitlacua. “I should eat!”
• Xitlacua. “Eat!”
• Ma tlacua Maria. “Maria should eat!”
• Ma titlacuacan. “Letʻs eat!”
• Xitlacuacan. “Eat, y’all!”
• Ma tlacuacan. “They should eat!”
• Ma nimalti. “I should bathe!”

• Ximalti. “Bathe!”
• Ma malti Pablo. “Pablo should bathe!”
• Ma timaltican. “Letʻs bathe!”
• Ximaltican. “Bathe, y’all!”
• Ma maltican moconehuan. “Your children should bathe!”
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• Ma nicholo. “I should flee!”

• Xicholo. “Flee!
• Ma cholo momimi. “Your elder brother should flee!”
• Ma ticholocan. “Weʻd better flee!”
• Xicholocan. “Flee, yʻall!”
• Ma cholocan moteixmatcahuan. “Your relatives should flee!”
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Chapter 18. The purposive

The purposive is a verbal construction that expresses the idea, “to go or come someplace for the
purpose of doing s.t.” It is formed by adding -co, -qui, -to, or -ti to the verb stem. Class 3 verbs
roots —those ending in -ia or -oa— lose their final a. Then a zero suffix (-Ø) is added for
singular subjects and -h is added for plural subjects.
1. -co, “Someone came (past inbound action) to do s.t.”
• Victoriano tlachpanaco icaltech Eliazar. “Victoriano came to sweep next to Eliazarʻs
house.”
• Noahuihuan ahcicoh nochan quemman axacayaya noma. “My aunts came to my house to
grind corn when my mother wasnʻt home.”
2. -qui, “Someone will come (future inbound action) to do s.t.”
• Angel quinequi huallaz momachtiqui Zacatecas. “Angel wants to come to Zacatecas to
study.”
• Inihhuantin pixcaquih nomillan moztla. “Theyʻre going to come tomorrow to harvest my
field.”
3. -qui, “Come (command inbound action) to do s.t.”
• Teresa, xiquilli motatah, ma atlacuiqui. "Teresa, tell your father to come and fetch water
from the well.
• Xitlacuaquih. “Come and eat, yʻall.”
4. -to, “Someone went (past outbound action) to do s.t.”
• Notonanan cochito ichan nopipi. “My grandmother went to my elder sisterʻs house to
sleep.”
• Timaltitoh atlauhco. “We went to the river to bathe.”
5. -ti, “Someone will go (future outbound action) to do s.t.”
• Nicuatlehcoti pan nopa cuahuitl. “Iʻm going to go and climb up that tree.”
• Laura huan imimi maltitih atlauhco. “Laura and her elder brother are going to go to the
river to bathe.”
6. -ti, “Go (command outbound action) to do s.t.”
• Xinechtlacahcahuiliti Tecomate. “Go and leave my things in Tecomate.”
• Nitlanahuatih ma quiittatih hueyi tlanahuatihquetl. “I ordered them to go see the boss.”
The directional prefixes -on and -hual can express customary purposive action with the
presente tense.
• Benito hualtlanamaca mohmoztla ni Tepecxitla. “Benito comes to Tepecxitla everyday to
sell things.”
• Quemmantica tionmaltiah atlauhco. “Sometimes we come to the river to bathe.”
The purposive construction
past customary present future/imperative

to COME in order to do s.t. verb-co(h) hual-verb núcleo-qui(h)
to GO in order to do s.t. verb-to(h) on-verb núcleo-ti(h)
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The purposive construction: inbound and outbound, past and future
ni nech
ti mitz 1 itta > itta Ø
co
Ø c/qu/qui on te qui
ti tech hual tla to
noun 3 poloa > polo
in mech ti h
4 cua > cua
Ø quin
The purposive construction: inbound and outbound, imperative
ma ni nech
1 itta > itta
xi mitz Ø
ma Ø c/qu/qui on te qui
ma ti tech hual tla ti
noun 3 poloa > polo
xi mech h
4 cua > cua
ma Ø quin
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Chapter 19. Irregular verbs

This chapter provides complete conjugations of the irregular verbs, as well as short explanations
when necessary.
• ya/yauh/yohui, “to go”
• ihhuiya, “to go” (pluperfect tense)
• hualla/ huallauh/huallohui, “to come”
• eli, “to be, to become, or to grow (hair, feathers or agricultural products), to do s.t. after
all”
• itztoc, “to be in a certain place or state” (human and animal subjects)
• eltoc, “to be in a certain place or state” (plant and inanimate subjects)
• oncah, “there is (are)...”
• yatoc, “to be resting in a seated or crouched position”
• ihcatoc, “to be in a standing or upright position”
• mantoc, “for water to be contained; for a pot or griddle to be on the fire”
1. ya/yauh/yohui, “to go”
• Na yalhuaya niyahqui huanya nochichi millah titlapehuatoh. “Yesterday I went to the corn
field with my dog to hunt.”
• Quemman ne telpocameh yohuiyayah ontlaixpiyah nochipa quinequiyayah tlahuilanazceh.
“When those young men used to to go to dances they always wanted to get in fights.”
• Ne cihuatl yohui campa tequiti huan nochipa mocuapa ichan nelcualcan. “That woman
goes to work and always returns home very early.”
• Moztla niyaz niccuiti ce tetomitl cuaxilotl millah. “Tomorrow Iʻm going to go to the field
to get a bunch of bananas.”
• Niyazquia millah tlan nicpiyazquia notzonecahuil. “I would go to the field if I had my hat.”
• Ne pipilmeh quinequih ma tiyacan millah pampa quinequih quicuitih alaxox. “Those
children want us to go to the field because they want to go and pick oranges.”
Niyahqui. “I went.” Tiyahqueh. “We went.”

Tiyahqui. “You went.” Inyahqueh. “Yʻall went.”
preterite
Yahqui. “He/she/it went.” Yahqueh. “They went.”
Niyohuiyaya. “I was going.” Tiyohuiyayah. “We were going.”

Tiyohuiyaya. “You were going.” Inyohuiyayah. “Yʻall were going.”
imperfect
Yohuiyaya. “He/she/it was going.” Yohuiyayah. “They were going.”
Niyauh. “I go.” Tiyohuih. “We go.”

Tiyauh. “You go.” Inyohuih. “Yʻall go.”
present
Yohui. “He/she/it goes.” Yohuih. “They go.”
Niyaz. “I will go.” Tiyazceh. “We will go.”

Tiyaz. “You will go.” Inyazceh. “Yʻall will go.”
future
Yaz. “He/she/it will go.” Yazceh. “They will go.”
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Niyazquia. “I would go.” Yiyazquiah. “We would go.”

Tiyazquia. “You would go.” Inyazquiah. “Yʻall would go.”
conditional
Yazquia. “He/she/it would go.” Yazquiah. “They would go.”
Ma niyauh. “I should go!” Ma tiyacan, “Letʻs go!”

Xiyauh. “Go!” Xiyacan, “Go, yʻall!”
imperative
Ma yohui. “He/she/it should go!” Ma yacan, “They should go!”
2. ihhuiya, “to go” (pluperfect tense)

• Ce xihuihtla ihhuiya nochocho Matamoros huan nimantzin mocuapqui. “A year ago my
younger sibling went to Matamoros, and he returned immediately.”
• Yalhuaya niihhuiya nimomachtito huan quemman nimocuapqui nechtlanquechih ce chichi.
“Yesterday I had gone to study and when I returned a dog bit me.”
Niihhuia. “I had gone.” Tiihhuiah. “We had gone.”

Tiihhuia. “You had gone.” Inihhuiah. “Yʻall had gone.”
pluperfect
Ihhuia. “He/she/it had gone.” Ihhuiah. “He/she/it had gone.”
3. hualla/huallauh/huallohui, “to come”

• Tohhuantin tihuallahqueh nican Zacatecas timomachticoh. “We came here to Zacatecas to
study.”
• Martin huan Delia ipan huallohuih ni Mexco. “Martin and Delfian always come here to
Mexico City.”
• Momachtianih mohmoztlah huallohuih hualmomachtiah pan IDIEZ. “Everyday students
come to IDIEZ to study.”
• Noicniuh huallaz ni Zacatecas pampa quinequi tequitiz. “My sibling is going to come to
Zacatecas because he want to work.”
• Huallazquia nonanan nechhualpaxaloa zampampa axhuelqui. “My mother was going to
come and visit me but she couldnʻt.”
• Anna nechillih ma nihuallauh ichan pampa quinequiyaya zaniloz huanya na. “Anna told
me to come to her house because she wanted to talk to me.”
Nihuallahqui. “I came.” Tihuallahqueh, “We came.”

Tihuallahqui. “You came.” Inhuallahqueh, “Yʻall came.”
preterite
Huallahqui. “He/she/it came.” Huallahqueh. “They came.”
Nihuallayaya. “I was coming.” Tihuallayayah. “We were coming.”

Tihuallayaya. “You were coming.” Inhuallayayah. “Yʻall were coming.”
imperfect
Huallayaya. “He/she/it was coming.” Huallayayah. “They were coming.”
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Nihuallauh. “I come.” Tihuallohuih. “We come.”

Tihuallauh. “You come.” Inhuallohuih. “Yʻall come.”
present
Huallauh. “He/she/it comes.” Huallohuih. “They come.”
Nihuallaz. “I will come.” Tihuallazceh. “We will come.”

Tihuallaz. “You will come.” Inhuallazceh. “Yʻall will come.”
future
Huallaz. “He/she/it will come.” Huallazceh. “They will come.”
Nihuallazquia. “I would come.” Tihuallazquiah. “We would come.”

Tihuallazquia. “You would come.” Inhuallazquiah. “Yʻall would come.”
conditional
Huallazquia. “He/she/it would come.” Huallazquiah. “They would come.”
Ma nihuallauh. “I should come!” Ma tihuallacan, “Letʻs come!”

Xihuallauh. “Come!” Xihuallacan. “Come, yʻall!”
imperative
Ma huallauh. “He/she/it should come!” Ma huallacan. “They should come!”
4. eli, “to be, to become, for s.t. to grow (hair, feathers or an agricultural products), to do s.t. after
all”
Eli is used in four ways:
a). When eli means “for s.t. to grow (hair, feathers, agricultural products” it can be conjugated in
all tenses and modes, but only in the singular, because its subject is inanimate.
• Nican Tepecxitlan eli miac cintli. “A lot of corn grows here in Tepecxitla.”
• Nican Tepecxitlan eliyaya miac cintli. “Corn used to grow a lot here in Tepecxitla.,” etc.
b). eli also functions as the copulative verb “to be” in all tenses and modes except the present
tense. Remember that in Nahuatl a copulative sentence consists simply of a subject prefix and a
noun root. For example: Nicihuatl. “I am a woman.”
• Inelqueh intepahtianih. “Yʻall were doctors.”
• Ineliyaya intepahtianih. “Yʻall used to be doctors.”
• Intepahtianih. “Yʻall are doctores.”
• Inelizceh intepahtianih. “Yʻall will be doctors.”
• Inelizquiah intepahtianih. “Yʻall would be doctors.”
c). eli can also mean “to become”
• Sandra iyoyon eli iztaltic pampa quipatlahua tonalixco. “Sandraʻs clothing becomes
bleached because she spreads it out to dry in the sun.”
d) eli is used with other verbs in expressions meaning “to do s.t. after all.” In this case it is not
conjugated.
• Maria eli quicochtecqui ipilconeuh mehcatzan axtlahuel cochmiquiyaya. “Maria lulled her
baby to sleep even though she wasnʻt very sleepy.”
The following conjugations are for the copulative function of eli.
Nieliyaya. “I used to be...” Tieliyayah. “We used to be...”

imperfect
Tieliyaya. “You used to be...” Ineliyayah. “Yʻall used to be...”
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Eliyaya. “He/she/it used to be...” Eliyayah. “They used to be...”
Nielqui. “I was...” Tielqueh. “We were...”

Tielqui. “You were...” Inelqueh. “Yʻall were...”
preterite
Elqui. “He/she/it was...” Elqueh. “They were...”
Nieliz. “I will be...” Tielizceh. “We will be...”

Tieliz. “You will be...” Inelizceh. “Yʻall will be...”
future
Eliz. “He/she/it will be...” Elizceh. “They will be...”
Nielizquia. “I would be...” Tielizquiah. “We would be...”

Tielizquia. “You would be...” Inelizquiah. “Yʻall would be...”
conditional
Elizquia. “He/she/it would be...” Elizquiah. “They would be...”
Ma nieli. “I should be...!” Ma tielican. “Letʻs be...!”

Xieli. “Be...!” Xielican. “Yaʻll be...!”
imperative
Ma eli. “He/she/it should be...!” Ma elican. “They should be...!”
5. itztoc, “to be in a certain place or state” (human and animal subjects)

Itztoc is used with adverbs and relational words of place.
• Canin tiitztoc? “Where are you?”
• Nican niitztoc. “Here I am.”
• Niitztoc moican. “Iʻm in back of you.”
It is also used to ask s.o. how they are.
• ʻQueniuhqui tiitztoc?ʻ ʻNiyolpactoc.ʻ “ʻHow are you?ʻ ʻIʻm happy.ʻ”
Niitztoya. “I am...” Tiitztoyah. “We were...”

Tiitztoya. “You are...” Initztoyah. “Yʻall were...”
past
Itztoya. “He/she/it...” Itztoyah. “They were...”
Niitztoc. “I am...” Tiitztoqueh. “We are...”

Tiitztoc. “You are...” Initztoqueh. “Yʻall are...”
present
Itztoc. “He/she/it is...” Itztoqueh. “They are...”
Niitztoz. “I will be...” Tiitztozceh. “We will be...”

Iiitztoz. “You will be...” Initztozceh. “Yʻall will be...”
future
Itztoz. “He/she/it will be...” Itztozceh. “They will be...”
Niitztozquia. “I would be...” Tiitztozquiah. “We would be...”

Tiitztozquia. “You would be...” Initztozquiah. “Yʻall would be...”
conditional
Itztozquia. “He/she/it would be...” Itztozquiah. “They would be...”
Ma niitzto. “I should be...” Ma tiitztocan. “Letʻs be...!”

Xiitzto. “Be...!” Xiitztocan. “Yʻall be...!”
imperative
Ma itzto. “He/she/it should be...!” Ma itztocan. “They should be...!”
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6. eltoc, “to be in a certain place or state” (plant and inanimate subjects)

Eltoc is used with adverbs and relational words of place.
• Canin eltoc noamox? “Where is my book?”
• Nican eltoc. “Here it is.”
• Eltoc moican. “Iʻs in back of you.”
past Eltoya. “It was...”

present Eltoc. “It is...”
future Eltoz. “It will be...”
conditional Eltozquia. “It would be...”
imperative Ma elto. “It should be...”
7. oncah, “there is (are)...”

• Pan nopilaltepeuh oncayaya miac alaxoxcuahuitl; naman tlanqui quintzontequih. “In my
village there used to be a lot of orange trees; now people have cut them all down.”
• Ce xihuihtla oncac miac momachtianih pan caltlamachtihquetl. “A year ago there was
many students at school.”
• Ni Zacatecas oncah miac momachtianih tlen huallohuih cehcoyoc tlalli. “Here in Zacatecas
there are many students that come from other lands.”
• Moztla oncaz miac tlacualli ichan Anna pampa tlaixpiyaz. “Tomorrow there will be a lot of
food at Annaʻs house because she will have a dance.”
• Tlan oncazquia miac alaxox ni Zacatecas axcanah quinamacazquiah patiyoh. “If there were
a lot of oranges (growing) here in Zacatecas they wouldnʻt be sold so expensive.”
• Tohhuantin nochipa tiquintlahtlaniliah huehhueyi tequitinih ma oncah miac tequitl zan
campahueli para axcanah tlaihyohuizceh macehualmeh. “We always ask ask the big
politicians for (there to be) more jobs everywhere so that people wonʻt suffer.”
imperfect Oncayaya. “There used to be...”

pretérite Oncac. “There was...”
present Oncah. “There is...”
future Oncaz. “There will be...”
conditional Oncazquia. “There would be...”
imperative Ma oncah. “There should be...”
8. yatoc, “to be resting in a seated or crouched position”

• Campa Cecilia yatoya oncayaya miac axcanelimeh huan quicuahqueh. “There were lots of
ants where Cecilia was sitting and they bit her.”
• Tohhuantin zan tiyatoqueh pampa iuhquinon techillihqueh ma tiitztocan. “We are just
sitting here because thatʻs what they told us to do.”
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• ʻBertha, axica xiyauh; nican tiyatoz campa nimitzcauhtehua para axcanah nimitzcuapoloz.ʻ
“ʻBerta, donʻt go anywhere; sit here where Iʻm leaving you so that I donʻt lose you.ʻ”
• Tiyatozquiah pan ni cuaciyah tlan axcanah tetzincocozquia. “We would be sitting in these
chairs if they didnʻt hurt our behind.”
• Nonanan nochipa nechillia, ʻNican xiyato campa nimitzcauhtehua.ʻ “My mother always
tells me, ʻStay seated here where Iʻm leaving you.ʻ”
Niyatoya. “I was...” Tiyatoyah. “We were...”

Tiyatoya. “You were...” Inyatoyah. “Yʻall were...”
past
Yatoya. “He/she/it was...” Yatoyah. “They were...”
Niyatoc. “I am...” Tiyatoqueh. “We are...”

Tiyatoc. “You are...” Inyatoqueh. “Yʻall are...”
present
Yatoc. “He/she/it is...” Yatoqueh. “They are...”
Niyatoz. “I will be...” Tiyatozceh. “We will be...”

Tiyatoz. “You will be...” Inyatozceh. “Yʻall will be...”
future
Yatoz. “He/she/it will be...” Yatozceh. “They will be...”
Niyatozquia. “I would be...” Tiyatozquiah. “We would be...”

Tiyatozquia. “You would be...” Inyatozquiah. “Yʻall would be...”
conditional
Yatozquia. “He/she/it would be...” Yatozquiah. “They would be...”
Ma niyato. “I should be...!” Ma tiyatocan. “Letʻs be...!”

Xiyato. “Be...!” Xiyatocan. “Yʻall be...!”
imperative
Ma yato. “He/she/it should be...!” Ma yatocan. “They should be...!”
9. ihcatoc, “to be in a standing or upright position”

• Nechca nochan ihcatoyah miac cuatinih; naman ayoconcah pampa quintzontecqueh.
“Close to my house there were many trees standing; now there arenʻt any more because
they were cut down.”
• Inechca Martin ihcatoqueh omeh ichpocameh, zampampa axnicmati acquiya inihhuantin.
“There are two young women standing next to Martin, but I donʻt know who they are.”
• ʻDelia, nican tiihcatoz para mitzittaz motatah pampa na niconcohuati pantzin.ʻ “ʻDelia,
stand here so that your father will (be able to) see you because Iʻm going to go buy
bread.ʻ”
• Nican tiihcatozquiah tlan elizquia cuatzalan. “We would be standing here if there were
shade.”
• Na niquinillih noconehuan, ʻAxica xiyacan; nican zan xiihcatocan.ʻ “I told me children,
ʻDonʻt go anywhere; just stand here.ʻ”
Niihcatoya. “I was...” Tiihcatoyah. “We were...”

Tiihcatoya. “You were...” Inihcatoyah. “Yʻall were...”
past
Ihcatoya. “He/she/it was...” Ihcatoyah. “They were...”
present Niihcatoc. “I am...” Tiihcatoqueh. “We are...”
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Tiihcatoc. “You are...” Inihcatoqueh. “Yʻall are...”

Ihcatoc. “He/she/it is...” Ihcatoqueh. “They are...”
Niihcatoz. “I will be...” Tiihcatozceh. “We will be...”

Tiihcatoz. “You will be...” Inihcatozceh. “Yʻall will be...”
future
Ihcatoz. “He/she/it will be...” Ihcatozceh. “They will be...”
Niihcatozquia. “I would be...” Tiihcatozquiah. “We would be...”

Tiihcatozquia. “You would be...” Inihcatozquiah. “Yʻall would be...”
conditional
Ihcatozquia. “He/she/it would be...” Ihcatozquiah. “They would be...”
Ma niihcato. “I should be...!” Ma tiihcatocan. “Letʻs be...!”

Xiihcato. “Be...!” Xiihcatocan. “Yʻall be...!”
imperative
Ma ihcato. “He/she/it should be...!” Ma ihcatocan. “They should be...!”
10. mantoc, “for water to be or be contained; for a pot or griddle to be on the fire”
• Pan ne tlixictli mantoya achi cafentzin pan ne chachapalli huan naman hueliz xocoxquiya.
“A bowl of coffee has been sitting on the fire and now it has probably already become
bitter.”
• Nonanan huanya na ticcuitih atl ne apan pampa ne mantoc neltzalantic. “My mother and I
went to the well to fetch water because its very clean there.”
• Huiptlaya nelchicachuac huetzqui atl; namantzin quena nelmiac mantoz atl pan amelli.
“The day before yesterday it rained very hard; now thereʻs going to be a lot of water
coming out of the spring.”
• Ihcatzan nelhuetztozquia pilatzin, axcanah mantozquia pampa ne amelli tlahuel quiza huan
axcanah tlen quitzacuilia atl. “Even if it rained very hard, there wouldnʻt be any water in
that spring because it all runs out and thereʻs nothing to stop it.”
• ʻMa, naman quena ma manto nopa mopileuh pampa tiotlac quena titlacuaquih nican
huanya noicnihuan.ʻ “ʻMom, go ahead and have the beans cooking now because this
afternoon itʻs a sure thing that my siblings and I will come here to eat.”
past Mantoya. “It was...”

present Mantoc. “It is...”
future Mantoz. “It will be...”
conditional Mantozquia. “It would be...”
imperative Ma manto. “It should be...”
mahmantoc, “to be standing (plural subject)”

• Ne cuahuitl tlen xolonqui zan mahmantoyah pan ne aquich huan naman zampa acuahquiya.
“That firewood that got wet has just been leaning against the Huacima tree, and now it
has become soaked again.”
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• ʻTocomaleh, ne mochichapalhuan axcanah nochi tiquintecohuia pampa niquitta zan ne

tlamahmantoc; cualli tinechmacazquia cetzin.ʻ ʻ”Maʻam, you donʻt use all those bowls of
yours because I see that theyʻre just standing there; you should give me one.ʻ”
• Ne totlayimeh tlen mocentiltoyah naman zan ne mahmantozceh pampa quichiyah ma
quinmacacan ce achi pilhuinohtzin. “Those men who are gathered together are just going
to be standing there because they are waiting to be given a little bit of liquor.”
• Mahmantozquiah calmahcayan nochi ohtlatl, zampampa axicatiqueh huan naman nochi
xolonqueh. “All the bamboo sticks should have been standing under the eaves, but they
didnʻt fit and now theyʻve gotten all wet.”
• ʻNopeyoh ximahmantocan huan pan ce tlatoctzin nimechcuiqui para tiyazceh ticonitih ce
tzopelic.ʻ ʻ”Stand over there, and in a moment Iʻll come for yʻall and weʻll go get a
softdrink.ʻ”
Nimahmantoya. “I was...” Timahmantoyah. “We were...”

Timahmantoya. “You were...” Inmahmantoyah. “Yʻall were...”
past
Mahmantoya. “He/she/it was...” Mahmantoyah. “They were...”
Nimahmantoc. “I am...” Timahmantoqueh. “We are...”

Timahmantoc. “You are...” Inmahmantoqueh. “Yʻall are...”
present
Mahmantoc. “He/she/it is...” Mahmantoqueh. “They are...”
Nimahmantoz. “I will be...” Timahmantozceh. “We will be...”

Timahmantoz. “You will be...” Inmahmantozceh. “Yʻall will be...”
future
Mahmantoz. “He/she/it will be...” Mahmantozceh. “They will be...”
Nimahmantozquia. “I would be...” Timahmantozquiah. “We would be...”

Timahmantozquia. “You would be...” Inmahmantozquiah. “Yʻall would be...”
conditional
Mahmantozquia. “He/she/it would be...” Mahmantozquiah. “They would be...”
Ma nimahmanto. “I should be...!” Ma timahmantocan. “Letʻs be...!”

Ximahmanto. “Be...!” Ximahmantocan. “Yʻall be...!”
imperative
Ma mahmanto. “He/she/it should be...!” Ma mahmantocan. “They should be...!”
59

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www.macehualli.

a, c, ch, cu/uc, e, h, hu/uh, i, l, m, n, o, p, qu, t, tl, tz, x, y, z.

E. Special characteristics of some letters

• tequihuia or tecohuia, “to use s.t.”

• ci- Inquiticih (in-qui-ti-cih). “You (pl) grind it.”

• Chichimeh. “Theyʻre dogs.”

• Quitzontequi. “He/she cuts it with a machete.”

Chapter 2. The absolutive noun

• Ce tetl. “Itʻs one rock.” Ome tetl. “Theyʻre two rocks.”

Chapter 3. The possessed noun

The possessed noun

Chapter 4. The diminutive/reverential

The diminutive can also be used:

d). to show reverence

Chapter 5. The intransitive verb

• The intransitive verb in present tense

• Inihcihuih (in-ihcihui-h). “Y’all hurry up. / Y’all are hurrying up.”

Chapter 6. The specific object prefixes

• Niquehua (ni-qu-ehua-Ø). “I lift it.”

Chapter 7. The directional prefixes.

quemman ta ticnequiz.’ “Yesterday Moises spoke to me on the telephone. I asked him,

The directional prefixes.

Chapter 8. The reflexive object prefix

Active voice Passive voice

• Melpotza (Ø-melpotza-Ø). ”I burp.”

The reflexive prefix.

Chapter 9. The indefinite object prefixes

The indefinite or non-specific prefixes.

Chapter 10. The incorporated noun

The incorporated noun.

Chapter 11. The relational word

B. Specific relational words

• Nitlatzontequi ca machete. “Iʻm cutting bushes with a machete.”

• Niccua tlaxcalli huan etl. “Iʻm eating tortillas and beans.”

• inmoixpan, “in front of yʻall”

-Pan is used in the formation of complex relational words,

22. -tzalan, “underneath or in between s.t. or s.o.”

The relational words.

Chapter 12. The present tense

• Ixhuetzcah (Ø-ixhuetzca-h). “They are smiling”.

The present tense verb

Tlen nicchihua mohmoztlah (Delfina de la Cruz)

Chapter 13. The preterite tense.

The preterite tense: verb root and suffixes

present preterite singular plural

Class 4 cua cuah -qui

How to tell what class a verb belongs to.

Tlen nicchiuhqui yalhuaya (Delfina de la Cruz)

The preterite tense

Chapter 14. The future tense

• Nicceliz. “I’ll receive it.”

• Nicpoloz. “I’ll lose it.”

The future tense

Chapter 15. The imperfect tense

• Nicceliyaya. “I used to receive it. ~ I was receiving it.”

• Nimotlaloyaya. ~ Nimotlaloayaya . “I used to run. ~ I was running.”

• Nicpiyaya. “I used to have it. ”

The imperfect tense

Chapter 16. The conditional mode