LESSON 10Hello people, welcome to lesson number 10.
So this time we are going to cover a lot
We already saw the present tense, remember? Well, now we are going to see the past tense, the future tense, the imperfect tense, and the gerund form of the verbs. But don’t be afraid, most of it is rather simple.
PAST TENSETo form the past tense, we basically add an
O prefix to the conjugation pronouns (in some variants It’s “yo”), and then a
C ending to the verb for the three persons in singular, and
QUEH for the three persons in plural. Let’s see some examples:
TLACUA (To eat something)
(Nehuatl) onitlacuac (I ate)
(Tehuatl) otitlacuac (you ate)
(Yehuatl) otlacuac (he/she ate)
(Tehuan) otitlacuaqueh (we ate)
(Anmehuan) oantlacuaqueh (you all ate)
(Yehuan) otlacuaqueh (they ate)
TZACUA (to close)
Onitzacuac (I closed)
Otitzacuac (you closed)
Otzacuac (he/she closed)
Otitzacuaqueh (we closed)
Oantzacuaqueh (you all closed)
Otzacuaqueh (they closed)
Some verbs lose one or two of their last letters, just for phonetic reasons:
CAQUI (to hear)
Onicac (I heard)
Oticac (you heard)
Ocac (he/she heard)
Oticaqueh (we heard)
Oancaqueh (you all heard)
Ocaqueh (they heard)
TLAHTOA (to speak)
Onitlahtoc
Otitlahtoc
Otlahtoc
Otitlahtoqueh
Oantlahtoqueh
Otlahtoqueh
There are a few irregular verbs where you add
X and
XQUEH endings instead of C/QUEH:
TLACHIA (To look)
Onitlachix
Otitlachix
Otlachix
Otitlachixqueh
Oantlachixqueh
Otlachixqueh
Note: Even though the X is usually pronounced as an English “sh”, in this case my teacher clearly pronounces it as an “S”.
Don’t worry, the past tense was the most complicated of the ones we are studying in this lesson.
FUTURE TENSETo form the future tense, we just add a
Z ending to the persons in singular and a
ZQUEH ending to the plurals, for all the verbs. Examples:
TLACUANitlacuaz (I will eat)
Titlacuaz (you will eat)
Tlacuaz (he/she will eat)
Titlacuazqueh (we will eat)
Antlacuazqueh (you all will eat)
Tlacuazqueh (they will eat)
CAQUINicaquiz (I will hear)
Ticaquiz (you will hear)
Caquiz (he/she will hear)
Ticaquizqueh (we will hear)
Ancaquizqueh (you all will hear)
Caquizqueh (they will hear)
IMPERFECT TENSETo form the imperfect tense, we just add a
YA ending to the persons in singular and a
YAH ending to the plurals (para los que hablan español, esto equivale a nuestras terminaciones “ía” y “aba”). Examples:
TLACUANitlacuaya (I was eating/ I used to eat/) (if you know Spanish, “yo comía” is exactly what it is
)
Titlacuaya (you were eating/ you used to eat)
Tlacuaya (he or she was eating/ he or she used to eat)
Titlacuayah (we were eating/ we used to eat)
Antlacuayah (you all were eating/ you all used to eat)
Tlacuayah (they were eating/ they used to eat)
In some regions, they also add the same
O prefix of the past tense. Example: onitlacuaya.
GERUND FORMAs you know, this form corresponds to an action that is in process at the present time (“ing” ending in English, terminaciones “ando/iendo” en español ). The good news is that in most cases you can just use the present tense instead of the gerund form.
Well, in Classical Nahuatl, which nowadays we really only find in texts, there were two kinds of gerund. One of them had the endings TICA (singular) and TICATEH (plural), which expressed that the person is doing something while standing; and the other one had the ending TOC, which expressed that the person is doing something while seating or lying somewhere. HOWEVER, in modern Nahuatl these two gerund forms split, and now some regions/variants use the first one, and others use the second one, no matter if the person is standing or lying or floating or whatever. Well, in our variant (Mexico City/ most towns in the State of Mexico) they are using the first form: TICA and TICATEH endings (which I prefer as well, because TOC doesn’t seem to have a plural form to distinguish “you” and “we” conjugations).
Having said all that, to form the gerund, we just add the endings
TICA (for singular) and
TICATEH (for plural), and verbs usually lose the same last letters they lose in the past tense, when they lose letters at all.
Examples:
TLACUANitlacuatica (I am eating)
Titlacuatica (you are eating)
Tlacuatica (he/she is eating)
Titlacuaticateh (we are eating)
Antlacuaticateh (you all are eating)
Tlacuaticateh (they are eating)
CHIHUA (to do)
Nicchihuatica (I am doing (it))
Ticchihuatica (you are doing)
Quichihuatica (he is doing)
Ticchuhuaticateh (we are doing)
Anquichihuaticateh (you all are doing)
Quichihuaticateh (they are doing)
Tlen ticchihuatica? (gerund) / Tlen ticchihua? (plain present tense) = what are you doing?
COCHI (to sleep)
Nicochtica (I am sleeping)
Ticochtica (you are sleeping)
Cochtica (he/she is sleeping)
Ticochticateh (we are sleeping)
Ancochticateh (you all are sleeping)
Cochticateh (they are sleeping)
CHOCA (to cry)
Nichocatica (I am crying)
Tichocatica (you are crying)
Chocatica (he/she is crying)
Tichocaticateh (we are crying)
Anchocaticateh (you all are crying)
Chocaticateh (they are crying)
Remember that in many cases you can also just use the present tense instead, like “nichoca” (I cry/I’m crying).
Finally, let’s see a very important (transitive) verb:
PIA (to have)
Nicpia (I have)
Ticpia (you have)
Quipia (he/she has)
Ticpiah (we have)
Anquipiah (you all have)
Quipiah (they have)
Ticpia cahuitl? = do you have time?
Nicpia tomin = I have money
Ticpia mamox? = do you have your book?
Ticpia tlapopotzalli/ tlachinolli? = do you have a cigarette?
Cahuitl = time
Tomin = money
Tlacuacua = to graze
Chichina = to suck
Tlapopotzalli/ tlachinolli = cigarette
Lots of new stuff to study huh, titohtazqueh annocnehuan!
Si la vida te da la espalda, agárrale las nalgas.