Postby Rikita » 2006-08-17, 21:51
Ñawpaq ñeqen yachay - lesson one
(I am in part using "Quechua en 40 lecciones" by Mario Mejía Huamán for this lesson. He uses, however, the pentavocalica, and since I prefer the trivocalica I change it to that, except in names. Since his book seems more geared at a class room situation where a teacher can directly answer questions, I try to add some more dialogues, and vocabulary and explanations.)
1. Rimakuy:
Napaykunakuy:
Jorge: Imaynallan? Allillanchu?
Pedro: Allillanmi. Qanri?
Jorge: Nuqapas allillanmi, wayna.
Rosa: Imaynallan kashanki?
Carmen: Allillanmi. Qanri?
Rosa: Nuqapas allillanmi, sipas.
Tayta Juan: Allillanchu?
Jorge: Allillanmi, wiraqucha. Allillanchu?
Tayta Juan: Allillanmi.
2. Musuq simikuna (new words):
napa - greeting, the action of greeting
napaykuy - to greet, to show respect
napaykunakuy - to greet each other
ima - what?
imayna - how?
imaynalla - and how?
imaynallan? - how are you?
imaynallan kashanki? - how are you?
alli - good
allillan - exactly good, just good, just fine
allillanmi - just good, just fine (in an answer)
allillanchu? - is it good? (how are you?)
The part above is, as you can see, about greetings - and this is in my opinion already one of the more complicated parts when it comes to Quechua courses, because greetings have a lot to do with conventions that can vary according to region, time, and social situation... My quechua teacher in Berlin (who is from Ayacucho) told us, that the "good" word for greeting someone would be "Awmaryay", meaning something like "Hello, good day". I never heard that word used, at least not in the Cusco region. In fact, I never heard anyone at all say any equivalent for Hello in Quechua. If at all, the Spanish forms "Buenos dias", "Buenas tardes" seemed to be used. What seemed more common was greeting someone with how are you - even those taht speak Spanish in that reagion seemed to greet more often by saying "Como estas".
Now the next thing is how to say "How are you". Most books I have seen seem to suggest "Imaynallan", "Imaynallan kashanki", but the most common form I have heard is "Allillanchu" - though I have heard the other forms as well.
wiraqucha - mister (polite), Sir, title of respect
quya - missus (polite), Ma'am, Queen
wayna - young man, boy
sipas - young woman, girl
To these forms I would want to add "Tayta" - Mr. and "Mama" - Mrs. According to the Lonely Planet Phrasebook of Quechua, tayta or taytay, and mama or mamay followed by the name are the safest form of address to use to a Quechua speaker. They can, according to the phrase book, only be used with the name (tayta Juan, mama Marsilina), while wiraqucha can be used without one - the phrase book doesn't list quya, and I have never heard the form used, but again, it might depend on region or circumstances. I am however pretty sure that I have heard "Taytay" and "Mamay" used without name, for example at the end of phrases.
qan - you
qanri? - and you?
nuqa - I
nuqapas - me too
When someone asked you how you are, the logical reply seems to be "Good, and you?" but I was told that the "and you?" ("qanri?") part is in fact considered rude, if you don't know someone well. Appearantly you shouldn't just call anyone "qan". People had difficulties to suggest ways out of it though, I suppose the most secure thing is to just say the whole question again (I.e. "allillanchu" or "imaynallan kashanki") until you are sure you can use "qanri".
Ayllunchispa runakuna - the people of the family:
qusa - husband
warmi - wife, woman
churi - son (of a man)
ususi - daughter (of a man)
wawa - child (of a woman)
qhari wawa - male child
warmi wawa - female child
wayqi - brother of a man
pana - sister of a man
tura - brother of a woman
ñaña - sister of a woman
tayta, tata, papa - father
mama, manta - mother
The first thing to notice here, is that traditionally men refer to their children as their son (churi) or daughter (ususi), while women refer to them as their child (wawa) and if necessary specify the gender of the child by adding the word for man (qhari) or woman (warmi).
Also, men use a different word for their brother (wayqi) and sister (pana) than women (tura, ñaña). Especially the word "wayqi" seems quite common not only for real siblings, but just as a way of creating familiarity with someone, so you could call your (male) friends "wayqi" (if you are male yourself, of course)...
As for the words for mother and father, they seem to vary by region - the word "manta" is not one I found in books, but in "my" village near Cusco it seemed the most commonly used one.
3. Gramatika yachay (Grammar):
a) Runa simi or Quechua has the following word order: Subject, Object, Verb (SOV)...
Nuqa yachaq kani - I student am (I am a student)
Nuqa runasimi yachaqmi kani - I quechua student am
b) Okay, here the book gives one of those amusing explanations that are quite similar to the way my quechua teacher at university talked, I will put it here in Spanish for those that understand - now imagine your teacher talking like this all the time, leaving out any real information while doing so, hehe... - "El runasimi, es un idioma rico, bello y muy delicado en sus expresiones; para ello, utiliza un sin numero de posposiciones, las mismas que reciben el nombre de enfáticas o aseverativas."
Well anyway, here the first two of these suffixes:
-n/-mi and -qa
-n is in fact a variation of -mi: -n is used after vowels, -mi after consonants (runasimitan - yachaqmi). It indicates a statement of something you know from personal experiences, or emphasizes the answer. It is very commonly used in answer to questions with "-chu". Btw, in Ayacucho the suffix would be -m/-mi.
-qa is a topic marker
More suffixes already used in the text, that aren't in the grammar section of Mejía Huamán's book yet, though, are -pas (a variation is -pis), meaning "also, too, as well", -chu - marking in this case a question, and -ri - which can roughly be translated into "and ...?"
c) Personal pronouns
nuqa - I
qan - you
pay - he, she, it
nuqanchis - we (inclusive)
nuqayku - we (exclusive)
qankuna - you (plural)
paykuna - they
As you can see, there are two forms for "we" - the inclusive form includes the people that are being spoken to, while the exclusive form excludes them. Thus, I could say "Nuqanchis runasimita yachashanchis." - "Me and you, we are learning Quechua." but "Nuqayku Berlinpi kayku." - "Me and (my brother/my friends/whoever), we are in Berlin, but not you."
For interest, in Ayacucho the pronouns would be:
ñuqa, qan, pay, ñuqanchik, ñuqayku, qankuna, paykuna
4. Exercises
a) Write several short dialogues in which Manuel, Tayta Victor, María and Mama Luisa ask each other how they are.
b) The following words are written in Trivocalica writing. If you would use Pentavocalica writing, how would you write them (with other words, where would you pronounce I and U like E and O)?
Qusqu, qhari, qispi, isqun, kawsay, khipu, lluq'i, lulukuq, machasqa, huq