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Lesson 4: Verbs

A Nahuatl verb takes a prefix showing the subject, even if the subject is also expressed by a noun or pronoun.

Subject Prefixes for Verbs
n(i)- = I	t(i)- -h = we
t(i)- = you (s)	am-/an- -h = you (p)
- = s/he	- h = they
x(i)- = you (imperative)	x(i)- -h = you (imperative);

The prefix in the third row is the "null" prefix, which means he/she/it/somebody.
When the subject is plural, the verb also takes a final -h.
The vowels in parentheses in the table are omitted when the verb begins with a vowel.
The prefix t(i)- means both "you" and "we"; the difference is shown by the final -h suffix on "we," since it is plural and the absence of -h on "you," since it is singular. (Remember that this was a sound that the arriving Spanish often could not hear and therefore did not write. For writers who left out that -h or modern authors or editors who omit it, you just have to guess.)

Examples & Exercises

All the verbs in this lesson are in the present tense, and are all translated here with the simplest available English present form, such as "I sing" rather than "I am singing" or "I do sing." There are some other affixes to show verb forms other than the present. We will worry about them later, since in this lesson we are concerned only with the subject prefixes.

cuïca = sing

ti.cuïca

ti.cuïca.h

cuïca.h

ti.cuïca.h

ancuïcah

cuïca

cuïca.h

ticuïcah

ahci = arrive

n.ahci

t.ahci.h

am.ahcih

ahci

tahci

nahci

ahcih

päqui = to be happy

päqui

ti.päqui.h

ampäquih

tipäqui

päquih

ixmähui = to be afraid

am.ixmähui.h

nixmähui

tixmähuih

ixmähui

ayac (plural: -queh) = to be no-one, to be absent

t.ayac

am.ayaqu.eh

ayaqueh

nayac

When a verb prefix is added to a noun root, it means "to be." E.g., tlaca.tl = person ; ni.tlaca.tl = "I am a person." Because the third-person verb prefix is null, there is no way except context to know whether the noun stands alone or is a sentence. E.g., tlac.tl = "person" OR "he is a person."

The final -h drops off in the plural verb forms after any plural-marking suffix on the noun. In the following exercises this deletion is shown using strikeout type for the deleted extra -h.

tlacatl = person < tlacah

ni.tlaca.tl

tlaca.tl

ti.tlaca.tl

an.tlaca.h(.h)

tlaca.tl

titlacah(h)

tlacah(h)

nantli = mother

nantli

ninantli

ti.nan.tin(.h)

ti.to.nan

an.to.nan.huän(h)

ni.nantli

ti.nantli

titonan

töchtli = rabbit < tötöchtin

ni.töchtli

am.tötöch.tin

am.ï.tötöch.huän

ti.ï.töch*

nimotoch

timotötöchhuän(h)

tötöchtin

töchtli

*-Note: t(i) followed by i should logically become simply ti, but in fact both i's apparently remained and merged together to make a single long vowel: ï.

pilli = child < pïpiltin

ni.pilli

ni.mo.pil

am.pïpiltin(.h)

am.ï.pïpil.huän(.h)

ti.mo.pïpil.huän(.h)

t.amo.pïpil.huän(.h)

pilli = lord, noble, nobleman < pïpiltin
possessed: pillö (often used with honorific and diminutive suffix -tzin.tli)

Note: Both nobility and childhood are conveyed with the suffix -tzin. Tzin is more often honorific than diminutive, but it works both ways. Pilli originally referred to a child, but the the notion of a "noble child" as a term for nobility led to a double meaning. When referring to nobles, pilli is usually male. Noble women were called cihuäpilli. The possessed form pillö seems limited to the sense of a nobleman, not a child.

ni.pilli

ti.pïpil.tin

ti.pïpil.tzin.tin

mopillö

annopïpilhuän

annopïpiltzinhuän

tipiltzintli

tinopiltzin

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Challenge: In the last example (forms of pilli), where should the dots be placed to show the parts of the last four items?

annopïpilhuän (Answer: an.no.pï.pil.huän)
annopïpiltzinhuän
tipiltzintli
tinopiltzin

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