Combined Dictionary-Concordance of the Yucatecan Mayan Language

OTHER SUFFIXES

29. There are various suffixes which indicate that a certain class of noun is being talked about.

-bil, -tzil: these two suffixes connotate a reverence towards the person or object which is modified by them.

colel (woman) colelbil

mehen (child) mehenbil

mehen (child) mehentzil

mama (mother) mamatzil

yum (father) yumtzil

yum (father) yumbil

Both colelbil and yumtzil are used in rituals by modern day H-Menoob. Colelbil could be translated as "lady" and yumtzil should really be translated as "lord".

-Vb: the suffix -Vb is sometimes called an instrumental suffix. It is tacked onto a verb root and could be translated as "that which". -eb is the principal form in which this suffix appears, but there are examples of -ib and -ub also.

chul (to play a flute) chuleb (that which plays a

flute; a bird called a

"comendador" or a "charretero"

in Spanish)

chhuy (to lift) chhuyub (that which lifts; a

hanger)

cuc (to revolve) cuceb (that which revolves;

squirrel)

cul (to sit) culeb (that which sits;

raccoon)

hal (to dig out) haleb (that which digs out;

paca or agouti)

kul (to adore a god) kuleb (that which adores; an

alternative pronunciation for

raccoon)

miz (to sweep) mizib (that which sweeps; a

broom)

xot (to cut) xoteb (that which cuts; knife)

Although many of the words resulting from the addition of -Vb are animal names, this is not always the case as can be seen from chhuyub, mizib, and xoteb.

-nal: the suffix -nal transforms the object to which it is attached into the person who is connected with that object, either as owner or as worker. This suffix is confined mostly to colonial usage.

bel (road) belnal (customs officer)

cab (honey) cabnal (bee keeper)

otoch (house) otochnal (owner of the house

and by extension citizen of the

town)

-um: the suffix -um signifies that the object it is attached to is a bird.

chhuh (to sacrifice) /

chhah (to drip) chhuhum, chhahum (woodpecker)

chhuy (to lift) chhuyum (lifting bird; hawk)

dzun (happy, joyful) dzunum (happy bird; humming

bird)

kuk (feather) kukum (feather bird; quetzal)

pichh (thrush) pichhum (thrush)

uc (?), uk (louse) ucum (louse bird?; pigeon)

ul (to return) ulum (returning bird?; turkey)

(mottled snail) (mottled bird?)

uix (to urinate) uixum (urinating bird; English

equivalent unknown)

yax (green) yaxum (green bird; Cotinga

amabilis)

U (moon) yuyum (moon bird; oriole)

PRONOUNS

30. There are two major points about the pronouns in the Mayan language which sets them apart from the English pronouns. First and most important, there are two sets of personal pronouns in Mayan. Second, as already mention in other places, there is no differentiation in gender for the third person pronouns. The simplicity of the second point is more than made up for by the complexity of the first. We will try to lay out the rules which govern which of the two sets is to be used in any given situation with the hope that the reader will get a good feel of when each of the two sets should be employed. Some of these rules will be given in this chapter on pronouns. Others will be given in the chapter on verbs.

The two sets of personal pronouns are:

Set A

singular plural

1st in c'

2nd a a (verb)eex

3rd u u (verb)oob

Set B

singular plural

1st (verb)en (verb)oon

2nd (verb)ech (verb)eex

3rd (verb)i, (verb)e (verb)oob

31. Set A is used with certain verb tenses, prefixed sometimes by the time indicators c' or t'. The set is also used as possessive adjectives as already noted in the chapter on nouns. As personal pronouns this set is only used as the subject of a verb.

The first person plural c' and the time indicators c' and t' can be pronounced in three ways depending on custom and the word both preceding it and following it. It can be either tacked onto one of the words on either side of it in which case it is pronounced as a consonant belonging to that word or it can be pronounced by itself. If it pronounced by itself then it is pronounced with a clipped vowel, the value of which is a.

As mentioned in Section 4 in the paragraph about the consonants u and y, when Set A is used with a certain class of words which begin with vowels, then Set A uses the consonant u for the first and second person singular and second person plural, and the consonant y for the third person singular and plural:

Altenative Set A

singular plural

1st in u- c'

2nd a u- a u(word)eex

3rd u y- u y(word)oob

The colonial grammars give this alternative Set A as follows:

Colonial Version of Alternative Set A

singular plural

1st u- c'

2nd a u- a u(word)eex

3rd y- y(word)oob

However, it is not clear from the colonial Mayan texts such the Books of Chilam Balam that this was a standard rendering of this set, and in particular in the case of the first person singular, it seems to be unusual that the pronoun in should not be part of the construction. Perhaps though, due to contractions which seem to come into vogue and then go out of vogue again, there could have been a time, at the period when the Spanish friars were first writing Mayan Grammars, i.e. in the late 1500's, that this contraction of Set A was in vogue, but from comments by Fr. Pedro Beltran who wrote a grammar in the mid 1700's, this contraction seems no longer have been in use.

Below is an example of the use of Set A with the intransitive immediate present verb tense of the verb hokol (to come out). The translation of this tense is, "I am coming out" / "you are coming out" / etc.:

singular plural

1st tan in hokol tan'c hokol

2nd tan a hokol tan a hokoleex

3rd tan u hokol tan u hokoloob

In this case the first person plural personal pronoun c' is appended to the auxiliary verb tan.

Set A as possessive adjectives, modifying "hanal" (food):

in hanal (my food) c' hanal (our food)

a hanal (your food) a hanaleex (your food)

u hanal (his/her/its food) u hanaloob (their food)

Here the first person plural pronoun c' is pronounced ca, with a clipped a.

Next is an example of the use of the alternative Set A given with the same tense in front of a verb beginning with a vowel, in this case the verb okol (to cry). The translation of this tense is, "I am crying" / "you are crying" / etc.:

singular plural

1st tan in uokol tan'c okol

2nd tan a uokol tan a uokoleex

3rd tan u yokol tan u yokoloob

Alternative Set A as possessive adjectives, modifying ich (face, eye):

singular plural

1st in uich (my face) c' uich (our faces)

2nd a uich (your face) a uicheex (your faces)

3rd u yich (his/her/its face) u yichoob (their faces)

Again, the first person plural pronoun c' is pronounced ca, with a clipped a. Note that there is nothing to indicate that "face" is plural in the plural paradigm, but from the context it would have to be plural.

In the colonial grammars the alternative Set A would be given as follows:

singular plural

1st tan uokol tan c'okol

2nd tan a uokol tan a uokoleex

3rd tan yokol tan yokoloob

singular plural

1st uich c'ich

2nd a uich a uicheex

3rd yich yichoob

Here c' is appended directly to the following word as the consonant "c".

32. The use of the time indicators c' and t' will be looked at more fully in the chapter on verbs. Generally c' is used for the habitual action tenses and t' for the past perfect tenses and the negation of the habitual action tenses. These time indicators are combined with Set A as follows:

With c'

singular plural

1st cin c'

2nd ca ca (verb)eex

3rd cu cu (verb)oob

With t'

singular plural

1st tin t'

2nd ta ta (verb)eex

3rd tu tu (verb)oob

An example of the use of the time indicator c' with Set A in the transitive habitual action verb tense for the verb betic (make, do). This tense is translated as, "I make" / "you make" / etc.:

singular plural

1st cin betic c' betic

2nd ca betic ca beticeex

3rd cu betic cu beticoob

Note that for the second and third person plural the contracted forms ca betceex and cu betcoob would be normally used in common speech.

Actually, the time indicator c' is derived from the contraction of the auxiliary verb lic / licil which has the meaning more or less of "now, at this moment". Its use is presently rarely heard, but it is used from time to time to add emphasis. For example, in the sentence:

Ma bey lic in ualic tech!

"Isn't that what I am telling you!"

the word lic adds emphasis to the phrase. Unemphasized the sentence is:

Ma bey cin ualic tech?

"Isn't that what I am telling you?"

The use of the words lic / licil is quite common in colonial texts, but the use of the contracted form is also quite common.

33. Set B is used with verbal forms both as the subject or the object of the verb to which it is affixed. If the verb is either intransitive or passive then the pronoun is the subject, since of course there can be no direct objects for these verbs. If the verb is transitive then the pronoun is the object, either direct or indirect depending on total makeup of the sentence.

Hanen. "I ate." (The -en is the

subject.)

Ma in uohel max u kat "I don't understand who

u betcen lob. wants to harm me." (lit.

"do me evil". The indirect

object -en is here appended

to the verb betic. Actually

the verb and indirect

object should be betic ten,

but the i in the verb and

the t in ten have been

contracted out.)

Ma a hadzcen. "Don't you hit me." (The

-en is the direct object.)

For the third person singular the -i is usually a subject and the -e the object:

Lubi. "It fell."

Dzoc in betice. "I just did it."

34. Set B is transformed into personal pronouns as follows:

singular plural

1st ten toon

2nd tech teex

3rd leti / ti letiob / tiob

For the third person singular and plural there are two pronouns each. Leti and letiob are generally used as subjects and direct objects and ti and tiob are used as indirect objects.

In colonial times Set B was also transformed into personal pronouns as follows:

singular plural

1st cen coon

2nd cech ceex

3rd ti tiob

Some examples of the various types of pronoun usages in sentences:

Ten cin yacunticech tumen tech ca yacunticen.

"I love you because you love me." Ten and tech are emphatic

subjects and are not obligatory. That is, the sentence

can get along without them. Cin and ca are obligatory

subjects. -en and -ech are direct objects of the

transitive verbs.

Ten cin dzic tech uah utial ca a uanten.

"I give you tortillas so that you help me." Ten is again an emphatic

subject. Cin is the obligatory subject. Tech is the

indirect object. Note that for some verbs the object is

suffixed to the verb and for others, as in this case, it

is a separate entity. The clause utial ca means here "so that": the individual parts utial and ca both have several meanings.

Letiob cu ppazticenoob. "They are making fun of me."

Letiob is again an emphatic subject. The sentence could

stand by itself as: Cu ppazticenoob. In this sentence

-en is the direct object. When an object is suffixed to

the verb then the plural markers -eex and "-oob" are

suffixed to the object as is done here.

Dzoc in ualic ti yan u betic tiob u hanal.

"I have already told him/her that he/she has to make them their food." The use of the dative case pronouns ti and tiobis shown.

35. Set A is transformed into possessive pronouns by adding the suffix -tial:

singular plural

1st intial (mine) c'tial (ours)

2nd atial (yours) atialeex (yours)

3rd utial (his/hers/its) utialoob (theirs)

36. Set A combines with other particles to form special clauses. The following are the most common:

With etel (with) giving "with me" / "with you" / etc.:

singular plural

1st tin uetel yetel toon

2nd ta uetel ta ueteleex

3rd tu yetel tu yeletoob

Colonial sources, in particular the Motul dictionary, give this set as follows:

singular plural

1st uetel c'etel

2nd a uetel a ueteleex

3rd yetel yeletoob

With olal (because of) giving "because of me" / "because of you" / etc.:

singular plural

1st tin uolal tu olal toon

2nd ta uolal ta uolaleex

3rd tu yolal tu yolaloob

Also possible:

singular plural

1st tin olal tu olal toon

2nd ta olal ta olaleex

3rd tu olal tu olaloob

The colonial sources give this set as follows:

singular plural

1st uoklal c'oklal

2nd a uoklal a uoklaleex

3rd yoklal yoklaloob

With men (because of) giving "because of me" / "because of you" / etc.:

singular plural

1st tumen ten tumen toon

2nd tumen tech tumen teex

3rd tumen tumenoob

In the colonial texts this is given as:

singular plural

1st tin men tac men

2nd ta men ta meneex

3rd tu men tu menoob

With icnal (beside, with) giving "beside me" or "with me" / "beside you" or "with you" / etc.:

singular plural

1st tin uicnal icnaloon

2nd ta uicnal ta uicnaleex

3rd tu yicnal tu yicnaloob

The colonial sources give this set as follows:

singular plural

1st uicnal c'icnal

2nd a uicnal a uicnaleex

3rd yicnal yicnaloob

37. There is some variation in the Set A pronouns when they are combined with the various auxiliary verb tense indicators. Therefore these tense indicators are listed here with the personal pronouns. The use of these tense indicators will be seen in the chapter on verbs.

With dzoc (just); immediate past perfect:

singular plural

1st dzoc in dzoc'

2nd dzoc a dzoc a (verb)eex

3rd dzoc u dzoc u (verb)oob

Contracted:

singular plural

1st dzin dzoc'

2nd dza dza (verb)eex

3rd dzu dzu (verb)oob

Contracted dropping the dz:

singular plural

1st oc in oc'

2nd oc a oc a (verb)eex

3rd oc u oc u (verb)oob

With tan ("to be" as an auxiliary verb); immediate present:

singular plural

1st tan in tan'c

2nd tan a tan a (verb)eex

3rd tan u tan u (verb)oob

Contracted:

singular plural

1st tin tan'c

2nd ta ta (verb)eex

3rd tu tu (verb)oob

Note that the contracted form of tan is with the exception of the first person plural the same as Set A with the time indicator t'.

With zuc (accustom); accustomed habitual:

singular plural

1st zuc in zuc'

2nd zuc a zuc a (verb)eex

3rd zuc u zuc u (verb)oob

With n- caah; immediate future:

singular plural

1st nin caah in caah'c

2nd na caah a na caah a (verb)eex

3rd nu caah u nu caah u (verb)oob

Note that nin caah, na caah, etc. are contractions of bin in caah / bin a caah / etc. Nin caah can stand by itself and means "I am going." It is used when a person is ready to leave or in the act of leaving. The full form bin in caah / bin a caah / etc. is rarely used today and seems to be found mainly in formal speech. The colonial form binel in caah / binel a caah / etc. is quite common and the contracted form is not encountered, but then one could presume that written colonial Mayan is a reflection of formal speech. The personal pronoun in / a / u /etc. is used only with the transitive verbs; not with the intransitive and passive verbs. Thus:

Nin caah in bet in col. "I am going to make my garden."

The pronoun is retained.

Nin caah hanal. "I am going to eat." The

pronoun is lost.

With tac (want); desired future:

singular plural

1st tac in tac'

2nd tac a tac a (verb)eex

3rd tac u tac u (verb)oob

With kabet (need); necessitated future:

singular plural

1st kabet in kabet c'

2nd kabet a kabet a (verb)eex

3rd kabet u kabet u (verb)oob

With yan ("to have" as an auxiliary verb); obligated future:

singular plural

1st yan in yan'c

2nd yan a yan a (verb)eex

3rd yan u yan u (verb)oob

With he (will (predicate) if); conditional future:

singular plural

1st he in he'c

2nd he a he a (verb)eex

3rd he u he u (verb)oob

Contracted:

singular plural

1st hin he'c

2nd ha ha (verb)eex

3rd hu hu (verb)oob

With bin ("to go" as an auxiliary verb); definite future:

singular plural

1st bin in bin'c

2nd bin a bin a (verb)eex

3rd bin u bin u (verb)oob

With bin, but as an interrogative definite future:

singular plural

1st cin bin in c' bin'c

2nd ca bin a ca bin a (verb)eex

3rd cu bin u cu bin u (verb)oob

Normally this form is contracted in regular speech:

singular plural

1st cin in cen'c

2nd can a can a (verb)eex

3rd cun u cun u (verb)oob

With bin but as a negated definite future:

singular plural

1st ma tin bin in ma t' bin'c

2nd ma ta bin a ma ta bin a (verb)eex

3rd ma tu bin u ma tu bin u (verb)oob

Frequently this form is contracted in regular speech:

singular plural

1st ma tin in ma ten'c

2nd ma tan a ma tan a (verb)eex

3rd ma tun u ma tun u (verb)oob

With ma (not) for those tenses where an auxiliary verb or a time indicator is not used the declension of Set A is as follows:

singular plural

1st ma in ma't

2nd ma a ma a (verb)eex

3rd ma u ma u (verb)oob

Contracted:

singular plural

1st min ma't

2nd ma ma (verb)eex

3rd mu mu (verb)oob

With ma (not) for those tenses in which the time indicators c' and t' are used:

singular plural

1st ma tin ma't

2nd ma ta ma ta (verb)eex

3rd ma tu ma tu (verb)oob

With ma (not) for the contracted form of the immediate present tense:

singular plural

1st ma tin ma tan'c

2nd ma ta ma ta (verb)eex

3rd ma tu ma tu (verb)oob

Notice that in the last two paradigms only the 1st person plural is different.

38. Set A combines with the reflexive suffix -ba (sometimes written -bah by modern authors) to form the reflexive pronouns "myself" / "yourself" / etc.:

singular plural

1st (verb)inba (verb)c'ba

2nd (verb)aba (verb)abaex

3rd (verb)uba (verb)ubaob

Alternatively:

singular plural

1st (verb)inbah (verb)c'bah

2nd (verb)abah (verb)abaheex

3rd (verb)ubah (verb)ubahoob

However, in our estimation, this alternative spelling is incorrect, because the h in -abaheex and -ubahoob is not, in our experience, pronounced.

Examples:

Tzelabaex! "Make way!" (Literally: "One-side yourselves!")

Tin cantitzcinba uaye. "I cross myself here."

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

AND RELATED PARTS OF SPEECH

39. Demonstrative pronouns are directly related to demonstrative adjectives which were introduced in the chapter on nouns. The basis of both the demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives, which we will call here Set C, is as follows:

singular plural

-a (this) -oba (these)

-o (that) -obo (those)

-e (that over there) -obe (those over there)

40. The demonstrative adjective is built from the above set by placing the particle le before the word or clause which is being modified:

singular plural

le (word/clause)a le (word/clause)oba

le (word/clause)o le (word/clause)obo

le (word/clause)e le (word/clause)obe

Examples:

le kino "that day"

le yax kino "that blue day" (= dry season)

le macoba "these men"

le nucuch macoba "these big men"

41. The demonstrative pronouns are formed from Set C as follows:

singular plural

lela (this) leloba (these)

lelo (that) lelobo (those)

lele (that over there) lelobe (those over there)

42. There are two sets of locative pronouns which are formed from Set C by prefixing it with the particles te- and he-. The particle te- is used generally and the particle he- emphatically. The resulting pronoun set is defective, lacking both the third form (-e) and the plural forms:

tela (here) hela (here)

telo (there) helo (there)

An alternative for telo (there) is tolo (there).

The locative pronouns tela and telo can be expanded by inserting an adverb or adjective into these words. The resulting adverbial clause makes the position of the object much more precise:

te caanalo up there

te caanala up here

te cabalo down there

te cabala down here

te pachilo back there

te ichila in here

te nachilo far over there

43. The demonstrative pronoun set can be combined with te- and he- to form a demonstrative locative pronoun set:

singular plural

le tela (this one here) le teloba (these here)

le telo (that one there) le telobo (those there)

le tele (the one over there) le telobe (the ones over

there.)

singular plural

le hela (this one here) le heloba (these here)

le helo (that one there) le helobo (those there)

le hele (the one over there) le helobe (the ones over

there.)

44. Set C is also combined with bey- (like, as). The resulting set is defective:

beya (like this)

beyo (like that)

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS AND ADVERBS

45. Interrogative pronouns and adverbs in Mayan function much like their counterparts in English and differ mainly in idiomatic usage. We treat these interrogative words here together since their function is similar.

Baax? Baan? (What?)

Baax a kati? "What do you want?"

Baan ta betah? "What did you do?"

Bahux? (How much? (that is, "What is the price?"))

Bahux le hanalo? "How much is that food?"

Bikix? (When?)

Bikix ca ulech? "When did you return?"

Bix? (How?)

Bixi? "How's that?"

Bix a kaba? "How's (what's) your name?"

Bucaah? (How much?, How many?, What quantity?)

Bucaah a kati? "How much do you want?"

Maax? (Who?)

Maax cu bin telo? "Who goes there?"

Macalmac? (Which?, Which one?)

Macalmac a kati? "Which one do you want?"

Tuux? (Where?)

Tuux ca bin? "Where are you going?"

The words baax (what?), maax (who?), and tuux (where?) tend to shift their glottal-stopped vowels in standard conversation to regular, elongated, or glided vowels.

The words baax (what) and maax (who) are combined with various suffixes to make other interrogative pronouns:

With -tial (here meaning "for"):

Baaxtial? (Why? For what?)

Baaxtial binech Ho? "Why did you go to Mérida?"

Baaxtial le hao? "What is the water for?"

Maaxtial? (For whom?)

Maaxtial le hao? "Who is the water for?"

With kin (day):

Baaxkin? (When?)

Baaxkin ulech? "When did you return?"

With -ten (origin not certain):

Baaxten? Baanten? (Why?, For what reason?)

Baaxten talech holace? "Why did you come yesterday?"

Baanten ta betic beyo? "Why are you doing it like that?"

Notice that in some of the examples given in the interrogative sentences above that sometimes the sentence ends with the suffix -i or more rarely with -e. These suffixes seem to serve the purpose of marking the sentence as an interrogative sentence. However they are used only with certain verbs and not with others and we can not discern any rule which would help the reader in making a decision about when to use them.

Baaxtial binech? "Why did you go?"

Baaxtial binechi? "Why did you go?"

The suffix -i is optional.

Baaxtial binech Ho? "Why did you go to Mérida?"

The suffix -i can not be used.

Only with the verb kat (want, desire), as long as the verb is the last word in the sentence, does the suffix -i seem to be obligatory.

Baax a kati? "What do you want?"

Baax a kat a hante? "What do you want to eat?"

Many of the interrogative words, when the suffix -i is affixed to them, can stand by themselves:

Baaxi? "What's that?"

Bixi? "How's that?"

Maaxi? "Who?"

Tuuxi? "Where?"

The suffixes -i and -e are also used for negation bracketing and will be looked at in Section 59 on negation.

For some of the above interrogative pronouns there are standard answering formulae just as in English:

Baaxten?, Baanten? (Why?) Tumen, Tiolal (Because.)

Baaxtial? (Why? For what?) Utial (So that)

Maaxtial? (For whom?) Utial ("For", or one of

the possessive pronouns.)

Q: Baaxten binech Ho? "Why did you go to Mérida?"

A: Tumen yan in kaxtic meyah.

"Because I have to find work."

Q: Baaxtial talech uaye? "Why did you come here?"

A: Utial in uilic in cic. "So that I can see my sister."

Q: Maaxtial le hao? "For whom is the water?"

A: Utial in uicham. "For my husband."

The conditional particle he when used before an interrogative pronoun or adverb has the meaning of the suffix "-ever" in English. This formula is used as in English in an answer to a question in which the answerer is giving the questioner the option. Often the interrogative pronoun/adverb can be followed by the particle -ac:

he baaxac whatever

he macalmac whichever

he maax, he maaxac whoever

he bix, he bixac however

he tuux, he tuuxac wherever

Q: Baaxkin c' bin Ho? "When are we going to Mérida?"

A: He baaxac kin a kati. "Whatever day you want."

Q: Bix cin in takancunze a he? "How shall I cook your egg?"

A: He bix a kati. "However you want to."

Q: Tuux cin in cultal? "Where shall I sit?"

A: He tuux a kati. "Wherever you want to."

By suffixing the particle -e to the particle -ac, resulting in the suffix -ace, an independent answering phrase is formed:

He baaxace. "Whatever."

He bixace. "However."

He maaxace. "Whoever."

He tuuxace. "Wherever."

In older colonial writing balx was the word for "what?", bahunx was the word for "how many?", bicx was the word for "how?", bikinx was the word for "when?", macx was the word for "who?", and tabx was the word for "where?", etc. The word bal or today baal means "thing" and the word mac means "man" or "one" (person). The word bic in this context shows up only in colonial usage as the word for "how?". The meaning of tab is uncertain as used in this context, but there is a companion word tub which seems not to have been used in an interrogative context which means "where". It seems that the true form for some of these interrogative words should be baal ix, bic ix, and mac ix, etc., the particle ix here being an interrogative marker. In any case the final consonant in these cases has been dropped resulting in the modern words baax, bix, and maax, etc. It is evident that the same process is true for tabx / tub, resulting in tuux, but the line is not quite as direct. Exactly when this change took place is hard to determine, but even in material originally written in 1628 (U Zuyua Than yetel Naat) we see both the old and the modern forms in the same text. Of course we only have copies of that material so it may well be that the modern forms were introduced at the time the copies were made.

One could also conjecture that the word bucaah, and its declarative companion bencaah, are derived from the phrase bahun u caah, meaning "what size or what quantity is he/she/it?", and that just as was shown above in Section 37 with bin in caah resulting in nin caah in modern speech, so too bahun u caah has been abbreviated to bucaah.

46. The negative particle mix, an alternative word for ma (no) and derived from the colonial form ma ix, can be prefixed to some of the interrogative pronouns and adverbs to form the negation of these pronouns and adverbs. In some instances the final consonant suffers a change which shows something about the original nature of these interrogative words.

mixbaal nothing

mixbikin never

mixmac no one

mixtuux nowhere

The colonial forms for the words formed with maix are:

maix bal nothing

maix mac no one

maix tab nowhere

In these cases to derive the modern form mix instead of the i of ix being dropped as happened with bal ix, mac ix, bic ix, and tab ix the a of ma has been contracted out.

47. When the question "How many?" is related to a particular object then the interrogative particle hay- is combined with the number classifier which is used for that object. In Section 71 we will look at the importance of number classifiers and the objects which are classified by them. The three most commonly used number classifiers are -ppel (inanimate objects generally), -tul (animate objects), and -ten (times an action is done).

Hayppel? "How many inanimate objects?"

Hayppel kaan yan tech? "How many hammocks do you have?"

Haytul? "How many animate objects?"

Haytul tzo yan ti?

"How many tom turkeys does he have?"

Hayten? "How many times?"

Hayten binech Ho?

"How many times have you gone to Mérida?"

MODIFYING WORDS AND PARTICLES

48. Modifying words and particles are divided into two parts of speech: adjectives and adverbs. Before looking at each of these parts of speech mention should be made of methods which intensify or diminish the quality of words in both of these parts of speech.

The quality of a modifier can be intensified or diminished by placing one of various adverbial particles before the modifier:

hach, zen, zeten, heten, don: (very); some of the

intensifiers.

kaz (not very, a little); a diminisher.

Examples:

With adjectives:

Hach nohoch in col. "My garden is very big."

Zen malob le hanalo. "That food is very good."

Zeten altacoob le tunichobo. "Those rocks are very heavy."

Don x-cichpam le x-chhupalo. "That girl is very pretty."

Kaz kohaan in pal. "My child is a little sick."

With adverbs:

Hach chanbeli cu meyah le maco.

"That man works very slowly."

Zen malob cu pakachtic le uaho le xunano.

"That woman makes tortillas very well."

Some modifiers can be intensified by reduplicating the beginning consonant and vowel of the first syllable of the modifier:

chac (red) chachac (deep red)

chan (little) chichan (very little)

(note shift from a to i)

chanbel (slowly) chachanbel (very slowly)

ci (good) cici (very good)

lob (bad, badly) lolob (very bad, very badly)

kaz (bad, badly) kakaz (evil, very badly)

yax (green) yayax (very green)

zac (white) zazac (very white)

The vowel of the first syllable of the reduplicated prefix is often, depending on the speaker, pronounced as a clipped vowel. There is another example of the reduplication of the first syllable to be found in Section 57. This principal of pronouncing the prefixed syllable's vowel clipped is followed there as well.

Examples:

zazac u bochh yetel u kaxi;

"very white her shawl and her hair ribbon"

kakaz ikoob; "evil winds"

Chachanbel cu tal le palo.

"That child is coming very slowly."

Some modifiers can be intensified by reduplicating the root word around the particle -Vn-. The preferred vowel in this particle is e, but all vowels are possible:

chhuy (to hang) chhuyenchhuy (densely hanging)

muchh (bunch) muchhenmuchh (bunch after bunch)

pec (flat) pecenpec (pile on pile)

zac (white) zacanzac (very white)

Examples:

Chhuyenchhuy u kaan am ti le bucil na.

"The spider webs are densely hanging from the ceiling."

Pecenpec le cheobo.

"The trees are (lying down) in piles upon piles."

Zacanzac a nok ix zuhuy.

"Your clothes are brilliant white virgin girl." (from "Cantares de Dzitbalche")

A somewhat similar reduplicating device is achieved by placing -Vl- in the middle of the reduplicated root:

pet (round) petelpet (very round)

ppit (to jump) ppitilppit (jumping up and down)

thul (narrow) thululthul (very narrow)

zut (to return) zutulzut (round and round)

Examples:

Petelpet u le. "Its leaf is very round."

Thululthul u le. "Its leaf is very narrow."

Zutulzut tu bin le palobo.

"The children are going round and round."

Colors have suffixes which alter or intensify the quality of the color to which these suffixes are attached. These suffixes are generally marked by the trailing suffix -en. Some of the more common of the suffixes are:

bizen bithen boxen budzen buyen

culen chalen dzuyen hadzen hochhen

homen hopen malen methen naen

olen pazen pachen pozen ppochen

ppoxen ppulen tzuyen vayen

For some of these suffixes, there is an obvious quality which is imparted by the root word from which they are derived:

boxen from box (black)

budzen from budz (smoke)

chalen from chal (clear)

pozen from poz (pallid)

Examples of usage:

chacboxen ich "face dark red with anger"

Ekbizen ca luken Cumkal.

"It was pitch-black when I left Conkal."

zacchalen ha "clear water"

zacmalen ich / zacpozen ich "white eyed, from sickness or fear"

There is also an isolated example of this method of intensifying the quality of an adjective with a non-color adjective:

cochbaben from coch (wide)

Example of usage:

cochbaben be "wide road"

ADJECTIVES

49. The adjective in the Mayan language behaves like its counterpart in English; that is, it goes before the noun it modifies:

tumben na new house

malob hanal good food

50. The following are common pairs of adjectives:

malob (not bad), utz (good) lob, kaz (bad)

hadzutz, cichpam (beautiful) kaz (ugly)

nohoch, nuc, nucuch (big) chan, chichan, mehen

(little)

chouac (long) coom (short)

cooch (wide) nuuth (narrow, tight)

naach (far) nadz (near)

poloc (fat) bekech (thin), dzoyan

(very thin)

pim (thick) hay (thin; flat objects)

tumben (new) uchben (old, ancient)

lab (old, rotten)

yax (first, also "green") dzocil, xul (last)

al (heavy) zal (light)

chhuhuc (sweet) zudz (sour), kaah (bitter)

pah (sour from being old)

51. The plural of adjectives can be formed by adding one of the following suffixes:

-oob

-tac

-tacoob

However the adjective usually remains singular in appearance when it directly precedes the plural noun which it modifies. When the adjective is for any reason put in some other position then it usually takes on its plural form:

le mehen chhichhobo those little birds

Mehentacoob le chhichhobo Those birds are little.

Note: for sentences which in English are of the variety "(subject) (verb "to be") (predicate adjective)" as in "Those birds are little." in Mayan the word order is generally "(predicate adjective) (subject)" with the verb "to be" being omitted. Other examples of this word order:

Hadzutztacoob a xanaboob. "You shoes are beautiful."

Nuctac u yocoob. "Their legs are tall."

In at least one instance the word changes for the plural. There are four words for "big": noh, nuc, nohoch, and nucuch. Of these, nucuch seems generally to be used with plural nouns.

le nohoch chhichho "that big bird"

le nucuch chhichhobo "those big birds"

Notice that there are various adjectives which have the suffix -Vch. Some of these can appear without the suffix and other can not:

--- bekech thin

--- cilich holy

hah halach real, true

noh nohoch big

nuc nucuch big, old

--- ppelech exactly, just right

yaab yaabach much, many

--- zacach much, many, a lot

Examples:

Zen bekech le zumo. "That rope is very thin."

Hach yaabach dios botic tech. "Thank you very much."

(Literally: "God pays you very much."

Teche chen zacach than ca betic. "All you do is talk a lot."

COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE ADJECTIVES

52. The comparative of an adjective is formed the same way it is in English with the Spanish word mas being the equivalent of "more" and ti equivalent to "than":

Mas nohoch a col ti intial.

"Your garden is bigger than mine."

U yatan Don Sil mas hadzutz ti u yatan Don Lau.

"Sil's wife is more beautiful than Lau's wife."

Alternative sentence structure:

Mas hadzutz u yatan Don Sil ti u yatan Don Lau.

53. When the comparison is qualified in some way then sometimes just the qualifier is used in place of mas and the particle -il is suffixed to the adjective:

Humppit nuuthil u hol in chheen ti atial.

"The mouth of my well is a little bit smaller than yours."

54. The superlative is formed by preceding the adjective with u mas and affixing the suffix -il to the adjective:

Dza ten u mas nohochil. "Give me the biggest."

Le x-chhupalo u mas x-cichpamil uaye.

"That girl is the most beautiful here."

Needless to say, the Spanish word mas is a relatively recent addition to the language. From the colonial dictionaries it seems that paynum is the word which mas has taken the place of.

paynum yokol tulacal "more than everything"

paynum nohil yokol "bigger than"

However from the limited quantity of use which paynum shows in the colonial texts it seems that the Mayan language got along most of the time without a word which is equivalent to "more". Even today it would be possible to say:

Dza ten u nohochil. "Give me the biggest."

in which the construction u (adjective)il surrounds the adjective. This seems to be true not only of the superlative but also the comparative where the construction was probably u (adjective)il ti. While there are some examples of the superlative in colonial literature unfortunately we haven't come across any clear examples of the comparative:

Ti u yuchul hichh cali tu nucil uinicoob.

"Then will happen the hanging of the oldest men."

u nucili ti maya uinicoob "the oldest of the Mayan men"

ten u kazil u palaloob "I the worst of his children"

ADJECTIVES FROM OTHER PARTS OF SPEECH

55. Adjectives can be formed from nouns, as noted in Section 25, by tacking a vowel which agrees with last vowel in the noun onto the noun and ending the word with -l ( (noun)-Vl ).

caan (sky) caanal (high, tall)

cab (earth) cabal (low, short)

chac (red) chacal (red)

hah (truth) hahal (true)

ek (black) ekel (black)

pet (circle) petel (round)

pib (roast) pibil (roasted)

xib (male) xibil (male)

boc (stench) bocol (stinking)

chhup (female) chhupul (female)

kuk (feather) kukul (feathered)

Examples of usage:

Hach chichan le chhupul kekeno.

"The female pig is very small."

u than hahal ku "the word of the true god" (A frequent

phrase used in the Books of Chilam Balam. Its equally

frequent modern day version: u than hahal dios)

Zen utz tin than pibil nal.

"I really like roasted corn." (Literally: "Very good to my tongue roasted corn.")

Kukul Can "Feathered snake", a Mayan deity still known

today and called by its Nahuatl equivalent Quetzalcoatl

by non-Mayan speakers.

It is not certain whether pibil is derived from the noun pib (roast) or the verb root pib (to roast) as shown in Section 56.

Some words, especially the colors, can be used without the -Vl suffix:

chac pol chhom "red headed vulture"

chacal haaz "red mamey"

zac nicte "white Plumeria flower"

zacal Ix Chel "white Ix Chel", a female Mayan deity

which is represented today by virgin Mary.

56. There are various suffixes which when appended to verb roots form adjectives.

-aan: The third form of the passive verb can be used as an adjectival participle. The third form suffix is -aan, and when used as an adjectival participle is somewhat equivalent to the English past participle suffix complex "-en" / "-ed" or in some cases to the present participle suffix "-ing". See Sections 83 and 91 for more detail on this suffix:

chil (to recline) chilaan (reclining)

lab (to rot) labaan (rotten)

lub (to fall) lubaan (fallen)

tak (to cook) kaz takaan (half cooked)

Examples of usage:

labaan che rotten tree

lubaan tunich fallen rock

kaz takaan uech half cooked armadillo

-bil: The passive suffix -bil is appended to the verb root to form what would be considered a participle in English. In the case where the verb root ends in -b only the suffix -il is added:

bok (to beat liquids) bokbil (beaten, blended)

cach (to break) cachbil (broken)

chac (to boil) chacbil (boiled)

hoch (to harvest) hochbil (harvested)

muc (to bury) mucbil (buried)

pib (to roast) pibil (roasted)

tzah (to fry) tzahbil (fried)

Examples of usage:

Hach ci tin chi pibil nal.

"I like roasted corn very much." (Literally: "Very delicious to my mouth roasted corn.")

Dza ten tzahbil he. "Give me fried eggs."

See Section 91 on passive verbs for information on the suffixes -aan and -bil.

In Section 91 on passive verbs we will see the form "(verb root)bil" joined by a past tense indicator -ac to form some of the past perfect tenses.

Hantbilac in col. "My garden was eaten."

-Vcnac / -lac: The suffixes -Vcnac / -lac are appended to the verb root to form what would be considered a participle in English. The vowel V in -Vcnac agrees with the vowel in the last syllable of the verb root. -Vcnac is the singular form and -lac is the plural.

Examples:

ak (to moisten) akacnac, aklac (moist, greasy)

ay (to make juicy) ayacnac, aylac (juicy, sticky)

ban (to pile) banacnac, banlac (piled)

pot (to drill) potocnac, potlac (full of holes)

thon (to humiliate) thonocnac, thonlac (humiliated)

yap (to put on makeup) yapacnac, yaplac (groomed)

yib (to soak in) yibicnac, yiblac (soaked)

yip (to overflow) yipicnac, yiplac (overflowing)

Examples of usage:

akacnac luum "moist earth"

Potocnac in cum. "My pot is full of holes."

Yapacnac u pol chhuplal. "The girl's hair is groomed."

-Vcbal: The suffix -Vcbal is appended to the verb root to form what would be considered a participle in English. The vowel V agrees with the vowel in the last syllable of the verb root. Unlike the adjectives derived by appending the previous suffixes, it seems that the adjectival participle resulting from the use of this suffix cannot be used directly tied to the noun it is modifying, but rather is used as part of a modifying participial phrase.

chil (to recline) chilicbal (reclining)

nic (to pile) nicicbal (piled up)

noc (to turn over) nococbal (turned over)

thuch (to squat) thuchucbal (squatting)

ual (to stand) ualacbal (standing)

uak (to explode) uakacbal (exploding)

Examples of usage:

le mac, chilicbal tu kaano "the man, laying in his hammock"

le buul, nicicbal te moyo "the beans, piled up in the corner"

57. Adjectives can be formed from other parts of speech by reduplicating the first consonant and vowel of that word and suffixing -ci onto the resulting word. The equivalent for -ci in English is "-able" or "-y".

Examples:

cach (to break) cacachci (breakable)

kiix (thorn) kikiixci (thorny)

kux (to chew) kukuxci (chewy)

hol (to slip) hoholci (slippery)

mach (to grab) mamachci (grabable)

moch (to twist) momochci (twistable)

puz (to dust) pupuzci (powdery)

tak (to stick) tatakci (sticky)

toch (stiff) totochci (stiff)

These adjectives are usually not joined to the nouns they modify but rather are part of a predicate in a sentence which describes a noun. In the Mayan language in sentences with predicate adjectives the predicate normally comes first and is followed by the subject:

Hoholci le tunicho. "That rock is slippery."

Kikiixci le cheo. "That tree is thorny."

Some of the above particles, as well as several others, form adjectives by appending the suffix -ben:

kux (to chew) kuxben (chewy)

mach (to grab) machben (grabable)

ppiz (to measure) ppizben (measurable)

tumul (new) tumben (new)

uch (long ago) uchben (old, ancient)

These adjectives, unlike the ones just above, can be place either in front of or behind the word which they modify:

Talezeex tulacal baal tumben; puleex tulacal baal uchben.

"Bring all the new things; throw out all the old things."

Tene cin betic in col yokol le uchben muulobo.

"I make my garden on the ancient mounds."

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