***NAHUATL COURSE***

[Mizton]

LESSON 8

Welcome to lesson number 8!
Guess what? Some of my Nahuatl classmates found this online course and have decided they will check it out even tho they are studying the actual course in real life with me haha, that’s very flattering, thank you all. Bienvenidos todos mis compañeros de la clase de náhuatl con el temachtiani Galdino. Como ven estoy editando (quitando, agregando y reacomodando) toda la información que nos da el profe para hacerla más digerible y amena, pero juro que no lo hago a ciegas. Tengo estudios que trato de aplicar aquí lo mejor posible. Ximopanolti y espero que sirva de apoyo.

So let’s talk about the articles. Good news: there is just one article in Nahuatl, for all words, singular or plural: IN. This is because it was not originally an article the way we know it in our indoeuropean languages. But nowadays we can say it is the closest equivalent to what we know as articles. So here we have some examples:

In calli (the house)
In caltin (the houses)
In tlamachtilli (the pupil)
In tlamachtiltin (the pupils)
In metztli ( the moon)
In metztin (the moons)
In telpocatl (the young man)
In telpocameh (the young men)

In the previous lesson we learnt ININ and INON. Sometimes they are also used without the first “IN”, so that leaves us with the short versions IN and ON. Those are the demonstrative pronouns this and that. Unlike the article IN, they do have plurals: ININQUE (these) and INONQUE (those). In some variants you can also hear ninque/ nonque, or inime / inome. Here we have some examples:

Inin piltontli = this boy
Inon cihuaton = this girl
Inon cihuatl = that woman
Inon tlacatl = that man
Ininque cocone = these kids
Inonque ichpocameh = those girls (young women)
Inin xochicualli = this fruit
Inon quema = that one, yes
Inon amo = that one, no/ not that one
Inin amo cuallica = that is not good
Ininque notlamachtilhuan = these are my pupils
Tlen quihtoznequi inin? = what does this mean?
Tlen quihtoznequi on tlahtolli? = what does that word mean?


Now we are finally going to start studying verbs . Verbs are divided into three main groups: transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, and reflexive verbs. Let’s begin with transitive verbs. The conjugation of these verbs will be formed with three elements: conjugation pronoun, object and verb.
As we already saw, the personal pronouns are (depending on the level of speech and variant):

Nehuatl / Nehua / Neh (I)
Tehuatl/ Tehua/ Teh (You)
Yehuatl/ Yehua/ Yeh (He/she/it)
Tehuan/ Tehuantin (We)
Anmehuan/ Anmehuantin (You all)
Yehuan/ Yehuantin (They)

Aquin = who?
Ayac = nobody

With these alone, we can already say things like:
Aquin yehuatl? = Who is he/she?
Yehuatl nocneuh = He/she is my friend
Aquin tehuatl? = Who are you?
Ayac? = Nobody?

Now, just like French, Nahuatl has a second row of pronouns that we will use to conjugate verbs, by adding them to the verb as a prefix:

Ni (for Nehuatl)
Ti (for Tehuatl)
Yehuatl doesn’t have a pronoun for conjugations
Ti (for Tehuan)
An (for Anmehuan)
Yehuan doesn’t have a pronoun for conjugations

That was the first element we need for conjugating transitive verbs. The second one is the object. There are several objects which would be the equivalent to (to) me, (to) you, (to) people, (to) something, (to) oneself, etc. The most neutral object we have is C/QUI, which would mean (to) him/her/it.

The third and final element we need for conjugating transitive verbs is… a conjugated verb. As a general rule, the only modification a verb will have when conjugating it in present tense, is an H ending in the three persons of the plural (we, you, they). So let’s get practical and conjugate the verb Palehuia (to help):

PALEHUIA (to help/ he or she helps)

Nehuatl nicpalehuia = I help him/her/it
Tehuatl ticpalehuia = You help him/her/it
Yehuatl quipalehuia = He or she helps him/her/it
Tehuan ticpalehuiah = We help him/her/it
Anmehuan anquipalehuiah = you (all) help him/her/it
Yehuan quipalehuiah = they help him/her/it

It is not necessary to say the main personal pronoun, because you already have the conjugation pronoun there when conjugating a verb. So you can just say nicpalehuia to mean “I help him”.
The difference of usage between C and QUI as the object “him/her/it”, is mostly phonetic. Most of the time you can’t just put two consonants together and say CPalehuia or ANCPalehuiah.

So, following these same rules, let’s see the verb Nequi (to want):

NEQUI (to want/ he wants)

Nicnequi (I want him/her/it)
Ticnequi (you want him/her/it)
Quinequi (he or she wants him/her/it)
Ticnequih (we want him/her/it)
Anquinequih (you all want him/her/it)
Quinequih (they want him/her/it)

Nahuatl can be a bit redundant, in this sense:
Nicnequi inon = I want that (I want it, that)
Nicnequi on xochicualli = I want that fruit (I want it, that fruit)
Nicnequi yehuatl = I want him/her (I want him, HIM)
Etc.

So, I hope you liked this lesson, see you next Tuesday!

[Mizton]

LESSON 9

Niltze everybody , welcome to lesson number 9!
In this lesson we are going to go on with verbs and their conjugation in present tense. In lesson number 9, we saw how to conjugate transitive verbs like Palehuia and Nequi. Here’s another example:

IHTA (to see/ he or she sees)

Niquihta (I see him/her/it)
Tiquihta (You see him/her/it)
Quihta (He or she sees him/her/it)
Tiquihtah (We see him/her/it)
Anquihtah (You all see him/her/it)
Quihtah (They see him/her/it)

Here we have more transitive verbs for you to memorize and conjugate this way:

Chihua = to do
Cohua = to buy
Tlapaloa = to greet/say hello
I = to drink
Pohua = to count
Amoxpohua/Amapohua = to read
Mati = to know
Cui = to grab
Tlazohtla = to love
Cua = to eat
Pehua = to start

Now we are going to learn how to conjugate intransitive verbs. These are the verbs that usually don’t need an object, like “live” or “sleep”. To conjugate them, we are going to follow the same rules of the transitive verbs, except that we are going to ignore the object (c/qui). So we only have the conjugation pronoun and the verb. Let’s see an example:

NEMI (to live/ he or she lives)

Nehuatl ninemi (I live)
Tehuatl tinemi (you live)
Yehuatl nemi (he or she lives)
Tehuan tinemih (we live)
Anmehuan Annemih (you all live)
Yehuan nemih (they live)

I think this is the easiest kind of verbs. Here we have a few more intransitive verbs:

Cochi = to sleep
Yauh = to go (irregular verb, in the plural the conjugation is “yahui”, so tiyahui, anyahui and yahuih)
Ahci = to arrive
Tequiti = to work
Paqui = to be happy, well
Quiza = to go out

Finally we have the reflexive verbs, those where the action goes on the subject itself. To conjugate these, the only difference with the intransitive verbs is that we are going to change the conjugation pronouns a bit:

Nimo/ Nino (I, to myself)
Timo (you, to yourself)
Mo (he/she, to himself/to herself)
Tito/ Timo (we, to ourselves)
Anmo (you, to yourselves)
Mo (they, to themselves)

As you see, they don’t change dramatically. We are just adding some extra particles to the original pronouns. And these are very important because we are also going to use them when conjugating verbs with respect/courtesy. So, let’s see an example of a conjugated reflexive verb:

ALTIA (to bath/shower)

Nehuatl ninoaltia = I take a bath (I bath myself)
Tehuatl timoaltia = you take a bath (you bath yourself)
Yehuatl moaltia = he or she takes a bath (he baths himself)
Tehuan titoaltiah = we take a bath (we bath ourselves)
Anmehuan anmoaltiah = you all take a bath (you bath yourselves)
Yehuan moaltiah = they take a bath (they bath themselves)

Got the idea? It’s easy, isn’t it? The only problem here, is that as you see, reflexive verbs in Nahuatl are not always reflexive verbs in English or Spanish (although it does share more of these with Spanish (ex: yo me baño), so it’s a good reference). Here we have a few more reflexive verbs:

Mahtequia = to wash one’s hands
Machtia = to study (if conjugated as transitive, it means “to teach”. So when used as a reflexive, you are actually saying “I teach myself”, which would be the Nahuatl equivalent to “to study”)
Cactia = to put shoes on
Teca = to lie down/ go to bed
Cocoa = to get sick

There’s a reflexive verb that helps us ask how to say things: Mihtoa (to be said/ reflexive of “to say”). So:
Quen mihtoa nahuatlahtolpa…? = How do you say in Nahuatl…?
Pa/Pan (depending on the region) = on (used a lot as a suffix, but sometimes alone as well, and in this case, it would be translated as “in”)
When you add suffixes, you have to take out the ending of the main word, in this case you take out the “li” ending of “Nahuatlahtol-li” to form “Nahuatlahtolpa”
The answer would simply be:
Mihtoa… = it is said…

So there you have all the three different kinds of verbs, in present tense. It’s not hard, is it?
Now let’s go back to transitive verbs. Remember we have only seen the object “c/qui” (to him/her/it)? Well, now we are going to see two indefinite objects:

TE – This object refers to “(to) somebody” or “(to) people”, an object you can not completely identify. It’s not him or her, it’s just… “somebody, I don’t know who”. Remember the word “temachtiani”? It means “teacher”, because “machtia” (as seen above) means “to teach”, machtiani “the one who teaches”, and temachtiani “the one who teaches people”. So there’s our “te“ object in action. Let’s conjugate “palehuia” (see lesson 9) with “te”:

PALEHUIA

Nitepalehuia = I help somebody/ I help people
Titepalehuia = you help somebody/ you help people
Tepalehuia = he or she helps somebody/ helps people
Titepalehuiah = we help somebody/ we help people
Antepalehuiah = you all help somebody/ you all help people
Tepalehuiah = they help somebody/ they help people

The second indefinite object is:

TLA – This is the same as “te”, except that it is used for referring to things or objects. So it roughly means “(to) something/ (to) things”. Let’s conjugate “cua” (seen early in this lesson) with “tla”:

CUA

Nitlacua = I eat (something, I just eat)
Titlacua = you eat (something)
Tlacua = he or she eats (something)
Titlacuah = we eat (something)
Antitlacuah = you all eat (something)
Tlacuah = they eat (something)

Later on, we are going to see more objects to be able to say “(to) me”, “(to) you”, “(to) us”, “(to) you all”, “(to) them”, and we already know how to say “(to) him/her/it”. We can also use nouns as objects, and we put them in the same place where the object particles go, forming one single word, like:
Tlaxcalli = tortilla
Niccua = I eat (it)
Nitlaxcalcua = I eat tortilla
Or we can make it a bit more simple but redundant, and say: niccua tlaxcalli (I eat (it), tortilla), which is closer to our Indoeuropean syntaxes. However, my teacher seems to prefer the first option.

Two extra words:
Tlahtoani = leader, governor, “the one who carries the word”
Nacatl = flesh, meat

Thank you all for following, have a nice week !

[Mizton]

Another cultural parenthesis:

Mexico City's railway network (including "metro" and "tren ligero") has 193 stations, and 34 of them have a name in Nahuatl or a name that has its origins in Nahuatl:

El metro y el tren ligero del DF juntos tienen un total de 193 estaciones, y 34 de ellas tienen nombre en náhuatl o que viene del náhuatl:

junacatlán, chapultepec, cuauhtemoc, cuitlahuac, popotla, xola, pantitlan, tezozomoc, azcapotzalco, mixcoac, coyuya, iztacalco, apatlaco, aculco, atlalilco, iztapalapa, tacuba, tacubaya, chilpancingo, mixiuhca, tepalcates, acatitla, nezahualcoyotl, ecatepec, ciudad azteca, xotepingo, nezahualpilli, textitlan, estadio azteca, huipilco, xomalli, tepepan, huichapan, & xochimilco.

Plus, Mexico City is divided into 16 districts (delegaciones), and 10 of them have a name in Nahuatl or a name that comes from Nahuatl:

Además, el DF está dividido en 16 delegaciones, y 10 de ellas tienen nombres en náhuatl o que vienen del náhuatl:

azcapotzalco, coyoacan, cuajimalpa, cuauhtemoc, iztacalco, iztapalapa, milpa alta, tlahuac, tlalpan, & xochimilco

[Shinn]

Oh my, I have SO much to catch up on. Damn my new job
The lessons are excellent as ever, Mizton, keep up the good work.

[Mizton]

Hello there
Thank you Shinn, and thank you everybody for following.

[Mizton]

LESSON 10

Hello 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 TENSE
To 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 TENSE
To 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:

TLACUA

Nitlacuaz (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)

CAQUI

Nicaquiz (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 TENSE
To 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:

TLACUA

Nitlacuaya (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 FORM
As 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:

TLACUA

Nitlacuatica (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!

[Mizton]

LESSON 11

Niltze, welcome to Lesson number 11. This time we’ll see how to ask where are things, and some weather expressions.

In lesson 10, we saw the gerund. So with that CA (meaning “he/she/it is (being)”), we can ask for locations:

Campa = where
Campa ca? = where is…?
Campa ca mecanonotzalli? = where is the phone?
Campa ca inon? = where is that?
Campa ca in axixcalco? = where is the bathroom?

Campa titequiti? = where do you work?
Nitequiti (ompa) cocoxcalli, nitepahtiani = I work in the hospital, I’m a doctor
Ompa = there
Auh tehuatl? (and you?)

Mecanonotzalli = phone (mecatl = rope, cable + notza = to chat)
Amatitlaloyan = post office (amatl = paper, letter)
Tepozcuilli = metro, subway (tepoztli = iron + ocuilli = worm)
Tepoztototl = airplane (tepoztli = iron + tototl = bird)
Cochihualoyan = hotel (cochi = to sleep + huala = to arrive)
Axixcalco/ Axixcalli = bathroom, WC (axixa = to pee + calli = house)
Tlacualoyan = restaurant (tlacualli = food)

WEATHER

Some phrases in English, like “it’s hot”, “it’s cold”, are expressed in Nahuatl with a single verb.

Axcan = today, now
Axcan cehua = today is cold
Axcan tona = today is hot
Axcan tlaceliztica = today is cool (gerund form from last lesson)
Axcan eheca = today is windy (eheca is a verb meaning “the wind blows”, ehecatl is the noun “wind”)
Axcan cenca eheca = today is very windy (so cenca means “very” here)
Axcan cenca tona = today is very hot
Axcan mixtentica = today is cloudy (from “mixtli”, cloud)
Axcan tlachipactica = today (the sky) is clear
Axcan quiahui = today it rains
Axcan quiahuiz = today it will rain (The future tense from last lesson, remember?)
Axcan amoquiahuiz = today it won’t rain
Axcan cenhuetziz = today it will freeze
Axcan tonaz = today it will be hot
Axcan mixayahui = today it’s foggy

Extra vocabulary:

(A)nozo = or
Cocoxcalli/ cocoxcacalco = hospital
Cocoxcapixqui = nurse
Noihqui = also, too

This was a very short lesson See you next time!

[Mizton]

LESSON 12

Hello there, welcome to Lesson number 12
This time we are going to learn mostly vocabulary, and how to express one’s origins and the time.
First we have a list of words:

VOCABULARY

Ohuitic = difficult
Yancuic = new
Tlahca/ teotlac = late

Tlanonotzaliztli = conversation
Tepoztototl/ Tepozpapalotl = airplane
Tepozyoyolli = vehicle, car
Tepozocuilli/ tepozcoatl = metro, subway
Tepolli = penis (I know it’s pretty random for this list, but somehow it was mentioned in the class and I think it’s important to know this word, haha)

Zan = only, just
Occe = other, another
Inazo/azo = maybe (depending on the region, you can also hear “azozan”, “cox”, “zanen”, “tloc”, “amozan”…)
Tlen/ Tlein = what…?
Campa = where…?
Aquin = who…?
Quezquich?/ Quezquin? = how much?

Nanquilia = to answer
(Ten)caqui = to understand
Chia = to wait
Ahci = to arrive
Pehua = to start
Tlaneci = to dawn, to get light
Tlayohua/ tlapoyahui = to get dark
Huitz = to come (very irregular, see conjugation below)
(Mo)cuepa = to return (reflexive verb)
(Mo)hualcuepa = to return (back to the point you are right now)

Tlapopolhuilli! = Sorry!
Xinechtlapopolhui = I’m sorry, excuse me (when talking to one single person)

ORIGIN

HUITZ (to come) (very irregular)

Nehuatl nihuitz (I come)
Tehuatl tihuitz (you come)
Yehuatl huitz (he comes)
Tehuan tihuitze (we come)
Anmehuan anhuitze (you all come)
Yehuan huitze (they come)

So in order to say “where are you from?” we literally say “where do you come?”:
Campa tihuitz?
Another way to ask this is by asking “where is your mother land?”:
Campa motlalnan?
Or just asking “where do you live?” by using the verb “chanti” (to reside) or “nemi” (to live):
Campa tichanti? / Campa tinemi?
Remember that “Tlalli” means earth, and “Nantli” means mother.

We can answer this question by:
Using the verb “to reside”: (Nehuatl) nichanti Mexihco = I live/reside in Mexico
Using the verb “to live/to exist”: Ninemi Mexihco = I live in Mexico
Saying where your home (chantli) is: Nehuatl, nican nochan = (As for me), my home is here
Saying the name for the inhabitants of your region: Nehuatl nimexihca(tl) = I’m Mexican

TIME

Time vocabulary first:

Cahuitl = time
Iman = hour
Axcan = today, now
Moztla = tomorrow
Yalhua = yesterday
Yahuiptla = the day before yesterday
Huiptla = the day after tomorrow
Cualcan/Cualcantica = early/ in the morning
Teotlac/ Teotlahcan = late/in the afternoon
Yohualli/ Yohualtica = in the evening/ at night
Tlahcotonalpa/ tonalnepantla = noon (tlahco = middle / nepantla = center)
Tlacualipa = at lunch (Nahuas use to eat at noon, so it is used as a time expression as well)
Tlahcoyohualli/ yohualnepantla = midnight
Ye/ Yeh / yehca = already (roughly)
Oc = still
Ayemo = not yet
Ye huehcauh = long time ago (already old time)t
Ayamo huehcauh = not long ago
Ye chicome = a week ago, literally “already seven”
Axcan chicome = in a week, literally “(from) now seven”
Xihuitl = year
Ye ce xihuitl = a year ago, literally “already one year”
Zan iman = right away, right after
Zanqueh/ Zanica = as soon as…
Ihcuac = when…

So, as we already learnt, “time” in Nahuatl is “cahuitl”. Well, “hour” is “iman”, and in order to ask the time, we can use any of those two words. When we ask “what time is it now?”, we literally say “what time we are?”:
Tlen iman ticateh?

Remember in lesson number 11 we saw the gerund form, so even we don’t have a verb “to be” in Nahuatl, you can use the gerund endings directly with the conjugation pronouns in order to express “we are” (literally “we are being”, “we are in this state”), in this case. That’s why we say “ticateh”. By now, you should understand the next phrases:

Tlen iman? = at what time?
Tlen iman ticateh? = What time is it?
Telpocatl, tlen iman ticpia? = Young man, what time do you have?
Ticateh chicnahui iman yohualli = it is nine o’clock in the evening
Ye iman = it is time (already)
Ayemo iman = it’s not time yet
Oc cualcan = it is still early
Ticpia cahuitl? = do you have time?
Axcan amonicpia cahuitl = Right now I don’t have time
Tlen iman titlacuazqueh? = At what time are we going to eat?
Ye tlahca, inazo mahcuilli iman = It’s already late, maybe at five o’clock
Niquizaz nahui iman teotlac = I’m going to go out at four o’clock in the afternoon
In tepozocuilli pehua tequiti chicoace iman cualcan = the metro starts working (literally “(he) starts (he) works”) at six o’clock in the morning
In tepoztototl axcan amoquizaz = the airplane is not going to fly (lit. to go out) right now
Ye tlayohua = it is getting dark already
Ye yohualli = it is night already
Zan iman ninohualcuepa(z) = I’ll be right back (Lit. “I return right away”)
So maybe in the chatrooms we could write “ZIN”?

That’s all for today, have a good time, and see you next week

[Mizton]

LESSON 13

Niltze! Welcome to lesson number 13. I was absent for the last two weeks, because they closed all schools in Mexico City (oh and the whole country too) during the epidemic But guess what, I survived and we can go on now.

So this time we are going to see adjectives. As in English, adjectives usually go before the noun they modify. But even when you express that something is some way in a phrase (as in “that car is blue”), you still usually say the adjective first (“blue is that car” ). So first let’s see some adjectives:

Quetzalli/quetzaltic = beautiful
Xococ = sour (bitter?... hehe)
Hueyi = big
Chicahuac = strong
Chipahuac = clean, clear
Totonqui = hot
Iztic = cold
Tzopelic = sweet
Tepiztic = hard
Hueyac = long
Zolli/zoltic = old (for things)
Huehue = old (for people)
Tentic = sharp
Cococ = spicy/hot

Colors (Tlapaltin):
Chichiltic = red
Xiutic = blue (usually turquoise)
Xoxoctic = green
Coztic = yellow
Tlaltic = brown
Nextic = grey
Chilcoztic = orange
Iztac = white
Tliltic = black
Camohtic = purple
Teocuitlatic = golden
Quiltic = light green
Yahuitl = deep blue
Cozauhtic = deep yellow
Tlatlauhtic = deep red

Let’s see some examples with the adjectives (remember that the article is not that important in Nahuatl, because it’s not even exactly the same as our articles, so I sometimes randomly use it):

In xococ xocolatl = the sour chocolate
In hueyi cuahuitl = the big tree
Totonqui atl = (the) hot water
Tzopelic xalxocotl = sweet guava
Hueyac coatl = long snake
Zoltic oztotl = old cave
Zoltic tlaquemitl = old clothing
In xiutic ilhuicatl = the blue sky
Tliltic mochichi = your dog is black
Chipahuac inin atzintli = this (honorable) water is clean/clear
Coztic mohuipil = your blouse is yellow

Finally, let’s see some extra vocabulary and a few more simple phrases (nothing we haven’t covered grammatically):
Tlapalli = color
Tlapalcoatl/ cozamalotl = rainbow
Itztli = obsidian
Huipilli = blouse
Cehpayahuitl = snow
Cehpayahui =to snow
Izhuatl/ixhuatl = leaf
Amaizhuatl = sheet of paper
Teconalli = pencil
Tlacuilolhuaztli = pencil, pen, crayon, etc. (literally “tool for writing”)
Elehuia = to wish
Totoltetl = egg (bird’s)
Octli = wine (iztaoctli = white wine, tlapaloctli = red wine)
Teixhuinotl/ Pozoncachichic = beer
Chichihualatl = milk
Capolchichic = coffee (This is how they say It in my teacher’s town, but in the dictionary I also found the loan word from Spanish: “café/cafetzin”)
Xomatli = spoon (traditional clay one… I found “neloani” for modern spoons in the dictionary)
Chilmolli = chilli sauce

Axcan cehpayahuiz = it will snow today
Ticpia tletl? = have you got a light? (lit. “do you have fire?”)
Nicnequi yei totolteme = I want three eggs
Nic-elehuia/niquelehuia cente calli = I wish a house
Ticnequi octli? = do you want wine?
Amo, nicnequi pozoncachichic = no, I want a beer
Yehuatl quinequi chichihualatl = she wants milk

So this time we took it easy I hope you liked it, have a nice week!!

[Mizton]

MAJOR CHANGE

Hello people
I have some news. I just edited this WHOLE thread, that's the Nahuatl course. Now it should make more sense from the first lesson I especially edited the first 5 lessons, which were a mess. The 5th lesson disappeared, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lessons became shorter, a couple of other lessons became a bit bigger, remade some audio files, etc. So I hope this makes it easier to understand and digest, for everyone.

Now, I don't know if you had noticed that all the links to the audiofiles and songs didn't work anymore. Well I put all the audiofiles in one single link (http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=c082 ... f6e8ebb871) which is also written at the beginning of this thread.

Finally, I moved the songs to a new thread only for music. Please, everything you have to say/ask, etc. about music in Nahuatl, do it in that new thread. There are new songs by the way
And that's pretty much it. Thank you all for following, and see you around.

[Mizton]

LESSON 14

Hello, welcome to lesson number 14 . Today we are going to learn about agglutination, conditional form, “want to + verb”, and a detail on the article IN. Then some more vocabulary, and finally we will analyze a small paragraph.

AGGLUTINATIONS
As you know, Nahuatl is a very agglutinating language, just like German, Chinese, etc. We can make words by joining two nouns together, or a noun and an adjective, or a noun and a verb, etc. Note for Spanish speakers: para nosotros, el significado de todas las palabras compuestas se van a interpretar de derecha a izquierda, igual que en inglés.
When the noun is at the beginning of the word, it loses its ending (tl, tli, li) to get joined to the other word:
Citlaltepetl (citlalli + tepetl) = star mountain (“the mountain of the star”, that’s the name of a mountain in Mexico City, I can see it from my window haha)
Xochicalli (xochitl + calli) = house of flowers
Tochtlalli (tochtli + tlalli) = land of rabbits

Adjectives don’t lose any ending when they are in that same position though:
Chichiltictepetl = red mountain
Coztictlalli = yellow earth/ land
However, when the final letter of the adjective is the same as the first letter of the next word, one of them is lost:
Chichilticalli (chichiltic + calli) = red house
Tlilticuauhtli (tliltic + cuauhtli) = black eagle
Yancuicuetlachtli (yancuic + cuetlachtli) = new wolf

Verbs can also be added to nouns, and they usually don’t lose any endings, but sometimes they do:
Nahuatlapitzalli [nahua (to sound good) + tlapitzalli] = flute that sounds (good)
Tlazohyolohtli (tlazohtla + yolohtli) = loving/loved heart
You can also form verbs by adding nouns before them, especially with verbs like CHIHUA (to do/make):
Nitlacualchihua (tlacualli + chihua) = I make lunch
Ticalchihuaz (calli + chihua) = You’ll make (build) your house

CONDITIONAL
Now we are going to see the conditional. Good news, it works just as in English, we just have to learn the word for IF, which is INTLA, or INTLACAMO for IF + NOT. Example:
Intla titequiti, ticpiaz tomin = if you work, you’ll have money
Intlacamo titequiti, amoticpiaz tomin = if you don’t work, you won’t have money

WANT TO + VERB
Nahuatl uses a special syntax to express this, but it’s very similar to what we just saw in Agglutinations. We already know the verb “nequi”, to want. Well, when we have another verb after it instead of a noun, the syntax will change into: second verb in future tense + nequi. And for the three persons of the plural, we will add the H at the end of “nequi”. The outcome is written as one single word. Examples:
Nitlacuaznequi (tlacua + nequi) = I want to eat (something)
Titlacuaznequih = we want to eat (something)
Chocaznequi = he wants to cry
Ancochiznequih = you people want to sleep
Chocaznequih = they want to cry

Nowadays, some people respect this syntax, which is the one Aztecs used in Classical Nahuatl, but some others changed it into something a bit closer to Spanish: “nicnequi nitlacuaz” = I want to eat something (lit. “I want I will eat something”). Students are usually encouraged to keep using the first option.

ARTICLE “IN”
We already saw this word that can be used as an article, no matter if it is for a noun in singular or in plural, and sometimes, in poetry for example, it is even used a bit randomly to fill some spaces and make it all sound better. Well, sometimes we are going to find nouns (e.g. in the dictionary) that have an “in” ending instead of one of the regular endings (tl, tli, li). These are not completely irregular nouns. What happens is that sometimes, nouns ending with “tli” and “li” can use the “in” article before the word or as an ending (and then their usual ending disappears). And some words just happened to historically keep that article at the end of the word. For example:
Quimichtli = mouse.
In quimichtli / quimichin = the mouse (nowadays “quimichin” is more often used for “mouse”)
Michtli = fish
In michtli / michin = the fish (nowadays “michin” is more often used for “fish”)
And so on, with words like:
Olli / Olin = movement
Chapulli / Chapulin = grasshopper

VOCABULARY
Ahcihualoyan = station (bus, train, etc.)
Amoxnamacoyan = library
Ana = to take
Caltzalantli = street
Cauhpohualli = clock, watch (also “Tonalmachiotl” in some places)
Cohua = to buy
Cui = to grab
Cuicatl = chant, song
Huehuetl = drum
Huilotl = dove
Icnopilli = orphan
Ipan = on
Namaca = to sell
Nepacopa = on the other side (also “Nepa ohtli”)
Otonxocotl = orange (fruit) (and also “Ayoxocotl” in some places)
Patio = expensive
Temoa = to search
Tlamatini = wise man, sage
Tlen = that (for relative clauses)
Xochitlan = garden
Yancuic = new
Yaoyotl = war

Finally, let’s see this small paragraph. You should already understand it or most of it by now :

Nepacopa tepozcuilahcihualoyan Insurgentes, ipan caltzalantli Orizaba mahtlactli ihuan yei, ca ce amoxnamacoyan tlen quipia cuacualli amoxtin ihuan amopatio. Intla ticcohuaznequi ce amoxtli, xiyauh ompa. Totazqueh nocneuh!

On the other side of the metro station Insurgentes, at Orizaba street 13 (thirteen), there is a/one library that has very good and inexpensive books. If you want to buy a book, go there. See you, my friend!

So that was all for today, see you next week!

[Sean of the Dead]

I think Basque has renewed my interest in Nahuatl. I don't know why, but now i want to try learning it again, and now that there are a lot of lessons, I won't have to wait for a while. xP

[Mizton]

Haha, Basque? interesting.... welcome then

[Mizton]

LESSON 15

Hi, welcome to Lesson number 15 . This lesson is about vocabulary, vocabulary, and more vocabulary. I tried to give it some sort of order.

NOUNS
Tzacualli = (Pre-Hispanic) pyramid
Tetlaniliztli = question
Atoyatl = river
Tlecehuiani = fireman
Ahuiyaliztli = smell
Huelicayotl = flavor
Macehualli = plebeian, the people
Macehualtlahtolli = colloquial language
Calani = “knock” sound, as a door, or a metal hitting with something
Chachalaca(ni) = chatterbox, somebody who can’t stop talking, to the point of being annoying
Tianquiztli/ tianquizco = market
Omitl = bone
Calchihuani = builder
Teyaotlani/ teyaochihuani = warrior

ADJECTIVES
Ohuitic = difficult
Amo ohuitic = easy (lit. “not difficult”)
Ahuiyac = aromatic
Huelic = delicious
Ihyac = stinky
Tzopelic = sweet
Chichic = bitter
Xococ = sour
Iztayo = salty (also said “poyec” in some regions)
Cococ = spicy, hot
(Tla)cuechahuac =humid/damp/moist

VERBS
Tlatlauhtia = to beg
Tempohua/ tenehua = to pronounce, to spell
Chia = to wait
Cehuia = turn off/ put out
Tlaocoya = to be sad (tlaocoyaliztli = sadness)
Tlatzihui = to feel lazy
Yolcocoa = to be distressed (with possessive prefix: noyolcocoa = I feel distressed)
Tequipachoa = to worry (reflexive verb)
Yolnonotza = to think about something, to consider (reflexive verb)
Motlaloa = to run (also “to hurry”)
Tlatlachia = to wake up
Tlatotonia = tona (see Lesson 11)
Cotaloa = to snore
Cuacualaqui = to boil

ADVERBS & OTHER GRAMMATIC ELEMENTS
In campa = where…
Tlehca = why?
Cenca = very
Cualli = to be allowed (literally “good”. “Cualli tiyazqueh moztla? = Can we go tomorrow?”)
Ocpa = double (twice)
Nican = here
Ompa = there
Huehca = far away
Amo huehca / nahuac = close (to)
Ihtic = inside
Tlacpac/acopa = up, above
Tzintlan/tlani = down
Itlac/itloc = next to
Nochipa/mochipa = always
Aic = never
Queman = when?

EXPRESSIONS & PHRASES
Huel miac nitlazohcamati = Thank you very much (I am very grateful)
Cencualli monemilitzin = you are so kind (expression literally meaning “your honorable life is precious”)
Tlen huelicayotl ticnequi? = what flavor do you want?
Amo cehua amo tona = it’s not cold, nor hot (it’s a nice weather)

Have fun see you next week!

[Sean of the Dead]

Keep them coming! I've recently become fascinated in languages of South America, as you can see in my signature (although I've wanted to try learning Quechua for almost a year now. )

And good job! I've gone through the lessons and they all look good, but I don't want to start any languages right now, unless I were to stop Basque.

[Sean of the Dead]

I have a couple pronunciation questions:

When is <c> pronounced /k/ and when is it /s/?
What's the difference between <quV> and <cuV> (where <V> means any vowel)?
What's the pronunciation of <ll>?
How does stress work?
And why do none of these words have macrons, yet many do on the Nahuatl Wikipedia?

Also, do you know where I could read Nahuatl texts online? Preferably (short) stories.

[Mizton]

Hello Sean of the Dead
Ok, first, I want to clarify that Nahuatl is more a language from North America and a bit of Central America, than a South American language But I know, I might sound a bit too meticulous.

- "C" is pronounced /s/ before E & I. In any other case, it should be /k/.
- In "QUE" & "QUI", you ignore the U. So you pronounce it /ke/ & /ki/, always.
These two rules are the same in Spanish by the way.

- "ll" is supposed to be a strong or larger "L", but many people don't even make or notice the difference between LL and L.
stress usually goes on the second to last (or penultimate) syllable: temachtiani, tochtli, always remembering that the "tl" ending is never a syllable by itself: nacatl.
Some verbs, usually the ones that end with "ia", have the stress on the "i": pactia, machtia, etc.

- Nowadays, there are two main script models for Nahuatl, althought there is no official one: The one taken from the classical Nahuatl, with a few small changes for the modern version (the one I am using in this course), and the modern alternative, developed quite recently. This is an example of a phrase in both systems:
Classical: Nehuatl nimitztlazohtla, ihuan ayecmo amoniyazequi.
Modern: Newatl nimitstlazojtla, iwan/iuan ayekmo amoniyasneki.
The modern one is often used in the states of Morelos, Guerrero, and I think also in El Salvador... and the classical one is often used in the states of Mexico, Puebla, Hidalgo, the Federal District (Mexico City)...
Linguist and writers tend to prefer the classical one because grammar rules are more logical with this script, and some of this logic gets lost when we use the modern script (Again, what we are using here is the classical one). Although you will often find the modern one too, just like in the Nahuatl version of the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights (http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Lang ... LangID=nhn)
Now, the people behind the Huiquipedia (Nahuatl Wiki) decided to use the classical Nahuatl script, but also added all those macrons that indicate the difference between large vowels and short vowels, which in modern speech is slowly disappearing, so nowadays most people wouldn't write with macrons. I have several small books in Nahuatl, and all of them use one of the two versions I just described, none of them uses macrons as they do in Huiquipedia. Still, there is no official writting system yet (but they are emphazising the importance of keeping the classical one).

[Sean of the Dead]

Same thing. I always think of Mexico as part of South America though.

One problem, what the heck does the "strong" in that mean? I don't know what things in my mouth I'd have to change to make a consonant stronger. And seeing as you speak many languages and are a translator, I'd expect you to know IPA.

Ok, I think the classical script looks a lot better, so I'll use that one.
So, I don't need to worry about making a distinction between long and short vowels in speech? If I do, I don't know where I'd find that out. :/

And I don't know if you saw what I just added in my previous post, so I'll repost it.

Do you know where I could read Nahuatl texts online? Preferably (short) stories.

And for fun, what would "Sean of the Dead" be in Nahuatl?

[Mizton]

I know, most Americans (and people around the world) think of Mexico as part of South America.

"ll" is just the "L" sound, and some people double it, that is, they make it last longer But that, along with the large and short vowels, is not important in modern Nahuatl, so don't worry.

Sadly, I haven't found many places online where you can read texts in Nahuatl, Huiquipedia is maybe the best yet. I have like 4 books written in Nahuatl, but I don't see any of them online, and two of them use the modern script. I'll look for texts online and tell you all when I find something good.

"Sean of the Dead" huh.... Sean is your name, right? So I guess that would be "In-Sean Miquime"
"Son of the Dead" would be "Inconeuh Miquime"

[Sean of the Dead]

I have no idea what the pronunciation difference between "l" and "L" is, since in X-Sampa /L/ is the Spanish <ll> (like /l/ and /j/ together).

Also, it'd be cool if you made exercises for people to do, they help me remember words and learn grammar a lot more than just reading. Mush better than just reading a list of words and trying to memorize them.