Aztec Language: Nahuatl

It is an aglutinant language. Words and phrases are constructed by joining prefixes, root words and sufixes to form an idea.

It is a flexive language. The morphology of words may change (flex) according to their function in a phrase.

It uses mostly reverential forms of speech that gives a respectful frame to human relations.

Pronunciation

Vocals
- a - ah, e - eh, i - ee, o - Oh, u - oo.
- Vocals are always pronounced.


Consonants
- ch as in chain
- j like the h in Hard
- x like the sh in she
- z like s
- qu before e or i sounds like K
- c sounds like S before e or i, like K everywhere else.
- h sounds like a soft h, more a pause than a sound.
- duplicated consonants are pronounced twice: calli is pronounced cah-l-lee.

All words have emphasis in the previous-to-last syllable.

Nouns
 

Nouns, in general, are identified by the sufixes -tl, -tli, -li, -in after the root word.
Note: The '-' is used here for clarity, it is not normally used.


Animated nouns
tecuh-tli - the lord (gentleman)
te-tecuh-tin - the lords
cihua-tecuh-tli - the lady
te-tecu-tine - Gentlemen!
no-tecuh-tzin - my respectable sir


Inanimated nouns
cal-li - the house
cal-pa - from the house
cal-co - at the house
cal-pan - on the house (on top of)
cal-tica - with the house
cal-tzintli - the venerable house (reverential)
cal-zolli - the petty house (despective)

There is no general rule as to which sufix to use on each word, that comes only with practice:
Tecuhtli: lord; nacatl: meat, flesh; Colli: grandfather; ocuilin: worm.


There are two kinds of nouns: the primitive nouns, like the ones above, that use the basic form of the root word; and the derivated nouns, which are formed in any of the following ways:
- Two or more primitive nouns: cuicacalli - from cuicatl, singing and calli, house; a place where people sing.
- From a verb: Temactiani - from the prefix te, to someone else; the verb machtia, to teach and the participle sufix ni; Teacher.
- From an adjective: Cuallotl - from cualli, good and the abstraction sufix -otl; Goodness.

Gender in the Nahuatl nouns.
In Nahuatl, nouns are mostly genderless. For example, a rabbit and a deer would be tochtli and mazatl, respectively. If you need to specify a gender for them, you would use the prefixes:

oquich- male
cihua- female

So you would say oquichtochtli for a male rabbit or cihuamazatl for a female deer.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. Some words are assumed to be male:
Pilli; prince, knight, gentleman. You use Cihuapilli for princess.
Tecuhtli; lord. You use Cihuatecuhtli for lady.
Some words, like in english, are specific for a gender:
colli; - grandfather
cihtli; - grandmother (reminder: pronounced see-h-tlee)
tlahtli; - uncle
ahuitl; - aunt

Plural in Nahuatl Nouns
The noun sufix presented above (-tli, -tl, -li, -in) aresingular form. To turn them into plural form is one of the complex aspects of the nahuatl language. There are two general rules:


Nouns that end with -tli, -li and -in will change the suffix for -tin:
nantli, mother - nantin, mothers
colli, grandfather - coltin, grandfathers
ocuilin, worm - ocuiltin, worms

Nouns that end with -tl will change the sufix for -me: azcatl, ant - azcame, ants

Now, for the fun part, here are the exceptions to the rules:

The words for man and woman:
tlacatl, man - tlacah, men
cihuatl, woman - cihuah, women

Words that reffer to nationality or regionality:
mexicatl, mexican - mexicah, mexicans

Names that refer to professions or craftsmen:
pochtecatl, merchant - pochtecah, merchants
amantecatl, artisan - amantecah, artisans

The following nouns of the first rule, besides changing the sufix to -tin, duplicate the first sillable:
citlalin, star - cicitlaltin, stars
cihtli, hare - cicihtin, hares
pilli, prince - pipiltin, princes
tecuhtli, lord - tetecuhtin, lords
tochtli, rabbit - totochtin, rabbits

The words for young man and young woman duplicate the middle syllable:
telpochtli, young man - telpopochtin, young men
ichpochtli, young woman - ichpopochtin, young women

The following words ended in -tl duplicate the first syllable and use h instead of the sufix -me:
teotl, god (!) - teteoh, gods (!!!) *
conetl, child - coconeh, children
colotl, scorpion - cocoloh, scorpions
coatl, snake - cocoah, snakes
cueyatl, frog - cuecueyah, frogs
mazatl, deer - mamazah, deers
tecolotl, owl - tetecoloh, owls
ticitl, medic - titicih, medics
tlacatecolotl, devil - tlatlacatecoloh, devils
* Teotl meant wonderful, marvelous and sometimes terrifying, among other meanings, not god. The spanish took it as the greek Theos - god at their convenience. It has bbecome the assumed meaning since then, and today's nahuatl Teotl does mean god.

The above rules apply to animated things (yes, including stars). To pluralize the name of an inanimated thing (yes, including trees. Isn't it fun?) you use the following rule:
cuahuitl, tree - cuacuahuitl, forest - miec cuahuitl, many trees
calli, house - cacallan, town - miec calli, many houses
tetl, stone - tetellan, rubble - miec tetl, many stones
In general you can use 'miec whatever' to pluralize.... well, whatever.

Verbs
We'll use for this example the root word tlacua - eat.

ni-tlacua - I eat
ti-tlacua-zque - we will eat
xi-tlacua-can - eat! (pronoun can vary and must be used: YOU eat!)
ti-tlacua-tica - you are eating (singular form)
tlacua-tiuh - is going to eat
tlacua-quiuh - comes to eat
tlacua-lo - is eaten

More detailed use of verbs will be updated soon, including transitive verbs and object prefixes.

Pronouns


Ordinary form
nehuatl, nehua, ne - I, me
tehuatl, tehua, te - you (singular)
yehuatl, yehua, ye - he, she, it
tehuantin, tehuan - we
amehuantin, amehuan - you (plural)
yehuantin, yehuan - they


Reverential form. The polite, educated way to address someone.
tehuatzin - you (singular)
yehuatzin - he, she
amehuantzitzin - you (plural)
yehuantzitzin - they


Pronoun prefixes
ni- I, me
ti- you (singular)
ti- we (plural is indicated as a sufix, see below)
an- you (plural)


For example, from 'cochi', sleep:
nicochi - I sleep
ticochi - you sleep (singular)
cochi - he/she/it sleeps
ticochih - we sleep
ancochih - you sleep (plural)
cochih - they sleep


Note also that when using pronoun prefixes the verb 'to be' may be implicit. Ex:
- From 'cualli', good nicualli - I am good
ticualli - you are good (singular)
cualli - he/she/it is good (reminder: pronounced coo-al-lee)
ticualtin - we are good
ancualtin - you are good (plural)
cualtin - they are good

Possessive Pronouns
The possesive pronouns in Nahuatl are indicated by the following prefixes:

no- my
mo- your (singular, belongs to only one)
i- his/her/its
to- our
amo- your (plural, belongs to more than one of you)
in- their

te- someone's, somebody's (indefinite person)

Besides the above prefix, the noun affected will be modified by the following rules:

Nouns that end with the sufixes -tli, -li or -in will simply lose their sufix. From nantli - mother:
nonan, my mother
monan, your mother (singular)
inan, his/her/its mother
tonan, our mother
amonan, your mother (plural)
innan, their mother (reminder: pronounced een-nahn)
tenan, someone's mother

Nouns that end with -tl will change their suffix for -uh. From conetl - child:
noconeuh, my child
moconeuh, your child (singular: belongs to just one)
iconeuh, his/her child (reminder: pronounced ee-coh-neh-oo-h)
toconeuh, our child
amoconeuh, your child (plural: belongs to more than one of you)
inconeuh, their child
teconeuh, someone's child

Nahuatl Adjectives

Other Nahuatl Pronouns

THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION....

Vocabulary


A Nahuatl-English dictionary is available here.

A Nahuatl-Spanish dictionary is here.

Back to the Home Page.