A Grammar of the Yucatecan Mayan Language
by David & Alejandra Bolles

VERBS

Reflexive Verbs

106.  As was noted in the chapter on pronouns in Section 38, the reflexive pronouns are the suffixes -inba (myself), -aba (yourself), -uba (himself / herself / itself), etc. or alternatively -inbah (myself), -abah (yourself), -ubah (himself / herself / itself), etc. The colonial sources generally use the first set, while some writers of this century have used the second. These suffixes are tacked onto the finished form of the transitive verb tenses.

Translation: I will kill myself, you will kill yourself, etc.

Translation: I am ruining myself, you are ruining yourself, etc.

Infinitives

107.  Infinitives do not exist in the Mayan language in the same sense that they do exist in English. That is, there is no verb form which is preceded by a preposition, the value of which is "to", such as there is in English ("to be", "to go", "to want", etc.). For the transitive and intransitive conjugations there are ways of putting two or more verbs together, as will be shown in the following sections. The passive conjugation is not dealt with here because of limited examples of passive "infinitives" aside from those given in the passive conjugation time sequence (Section 92).

108.  Transitive infinitives: the transitive infinitive is formed by putting the acting verb in the intransitive conjugation with whatever tense and person needed and then adding on what would be the infinitive in English. This "infinitive" appears as the fourth form of the transitive conjugation preceded by a Set A pronoun which agrees in person with the person of the acting verb.

Yan in hokol in caxte in uooch.    "I have to go out to gather my food."

Yan in hokol is the acting verb and is the obligated future tense of the intransitive conjugation. The "infinitive" verb caxte is the fourth form of the transitive conjugation preceded by in which agrees with the person in the acting verb.

Remember from Section 77 that -Vb is a fourth form transitive verb suffix given in the colonial dictionaries and texts which was used with verb roots which did not take consonants or particles. In the first three examples below both forms of the fourth form transitive can be seen as transitive infinitives in parallel sentences. The fourth and fifth examples are parallel examples of the fourth form, but fourth example is unusual in that it uses both -Vb and -te. The final example showa the fourth form transitive with the suffix -cunte, although in this example the -e has been contracted off.

Uatal in caah in chucub hunac Ah Chibal.
Uatal in caah in colpayte u kan.
Uatal in caah in paab bla u kax can, ix hun pedz kin can.
Ca emi u chekebte u pach Itzam Cab Ain.
Ca tali u chekeb u pach Chac Xib Chac te Chi Cħeen.
Ocol tun bacin in caah in zizcunt a uol.

109.  Intransitive infinitives: the intransitive infinitive is formed by putting the acting verb in the intransitive conjugation with whatever tense and person needed and then adding on what would be the infinitive in English. This "infinitive" appears as the general form of the intransitive conjugation. No personal pronoun accompanies it.

Yan in hokol okot.    "I have to go out to dance."

Yan in hokol is the acting verb and is the obligated future tense of the intransitive conjugation. The "infinitive" verb okot is the general form of the intransitive conjugation.

110.  The conditional future of both the transitive and intransitive conjugations can be used somewhat like infinitives:

Tin ualah ti ca u bet u col.    "I told him to make his garden."

Tin ualah ti ca hokoc.    "I told him to come out."

Defective and Irregular Verbs

111.  Verbs can be defective for one or more of the following reasons:
not having a complete set of tenses,
not having more than the third person singular per tense,
not having any person at all.

112.  There are some particles which in translation would appear to be verbs, but since they have neither person nor tense maybe they should be considered to be adverbs.

Bin (it is said, they say)

Bey bin.    "So they say."

Yan bin …    "There was, it is said, …" This is equivalent to the English "Once upon a time …".

This bin seems not to be related in any way to the verb bin (to go).

Mi (I think)

Mi ma tin bin zamal.    "I think I will not go tomorrow."

Uchic, uchci (it happened, it came to pass): used mostly in colonial times.

Uchic tu cuch haab Uacax Ahau Katun.    "It happened in the year bearer of Eight Ahau Katun."

Uchci u meyah tulacal.    "It came to pass that everything works."

The words uchic and uchci are derived from the verb root uch, the conjugation of which is also defective as will be noted below in Section 114.

113.  The following verbs can be said to have no tense at all since the time during which the action of the verbs take place is determined only by the circumstance and/or the time adverb associated with the verbs. Each of these verbs has only one paradigm.

Kat (to wish, to want)

Examples:

Baax a kati?    "What do you want?"

In kat bin Ho caachi.    "I wanted to go to Mérida." Here caachi (a while ago) modifies the verb.

Incidently, there are three ways of saying the verb "to want, to desire" in Mayan. Aside from kat there is the auxiliary verb tense indicator tac and the complete verb oltic, oltah, oltmah, olt. Often these three ways can be used interchangeably. The verb oltic is used when some particular tense needs to be expressed.

Caah (to be good for, to only be good for)

Examples:

Baax a caah?    "What are you good for?"
Mixbaal u caah.    "He is good for nothing."

Cacah yetel (to take care of, to be responsible for)

Example:

In cacah yetel in X-Chich.    "I am responsible for my grandmother."

Ohel (to know): the intransitive conjugation of this verb is limited to one paradigm but is complete in both the transitive (oheltic, oheltah, ohelmah, ohelte) and passive conjugations (oheltabal, oheltabi, oheltabaan, oheltabac).

Examples:

A uohel tuux yan in uooch?    "Do you know where my food is?"

Ma ix yoheltahoob u kaba.    "They didn't know his name."

Uchebal yoheltabal tumen himac yolah yoheltah u xocol Katun lae.    "It will happen to be known by whomever wished to know the count of the Katun."

Ppec (to dislike, to get tired of): the intransitive conjugation of this verb is limited to one paradigm but is complete in both the transitive (ppectic, ppectah, ppectmah, ppect) and passive conjugations (ppectaal, ppectabi, ppectahaan, ppectaac).

Examples:

In ppec in bin ich col.    "I hate to go to the garden."

Dzoc in ppectic le hanalo.    "I have gotten tired of that food."

Ppectabi le otzil xibpalo tumen le macobo.    "That poor boy was disliked by those men."

C- (to say, to tell): this verb is limited in usage to the east and south of the peninsula of Yucatan, and is rarely heard in the Northwest. It is unusual also in that unlike the preceding examples in this group which take the Set A pronouns this verb takes the Set B pronouns, a function of the fact that this is a past tense verb.

Example:

Ten cen ti….     "I told him…."

114.  There is a group of verbs which is defective in the intransitive conjugation and appear in the third person singular in each tense only.

Kah (to remember), Tub (to forget): these two verbs are followed by the dative case of the noun or pronoun which would be the subject in English. These verbs have standard transitive and passive conjugations.

Kah (to remember)

kahal, kahi, kahaan, kahac

Dzoc u kahal ti le maco yan u tazic tech le zio.    "That man just remembered he has to bring you the firewood."

Kahaan tech ua?    "Do you remember?"

The transitive and passive conjugations of kah are:

kahzic, kahzah, kazmah, kahze
kahzaal, kahzabi, kahzahaan, kahzabac

Tub (to forget)

tubul, tubi, tubaan, tubuc

Dzu tubul tech a tazic ten in zi?    "Did you forget to bring me my firewood?"

Ma tubaan ten; chen ma tin tazic.    "I didn't forget; just I am not bringing it."

The transitive and passive conjugations for tub are:

tubzic, tubzah, tubzmah, tubze
tubzabal, tubzabi, tubzabaan, tubzabac

Uch (to happen): this verb is also followed by a dative case noun or pronoun. Here however the English translation is equivalent to the Mayan.

uchul, uchi, uchaan, uchuc

Baax cu yuchul tech?    "What is happening to you?"

Bey uchaan ti le uchben maco.    "That's what happened to the old man."

Hopp (to begin), Pat (to be able): these two verb are followed by a Set A pronoun which is the subject of the infinitive clause and then by the general form of a transitive or intransitive verb.

Hopp (to begin)

hoppol, hoppi, hoppaan, hoppoc

Bey cu hoppol in ualic tech.    "That is what I am beginning to tell you."

Ti hoppi in dzibtic u haabil katunoob.    "Then I began to write (about) the years of the katuns."

Ca hoppoc a dzaic yokol le yah chupil.    "Then you should begin to place it on the swollen sore."

However, this is true for the verb hopp only when it is the first verb in a infinitive clause. As a free standing verb it is regular.

Pat (to be able)

patal, pati, pataan, patac

Ma tu patal in meyah behlae.    "I am not able to work today."

Mi zamal cu patal u betic u col le maco.    "I think tomorrow that man will be able to make his garden"

115.  Four of the auxiliary verb tense indicators, dzoc, zuc, yan, and kabet, also are conjugated in varying degrees of completeness and regularity.

Dzoc (to finish) has a complete set of regular conjugations.

dzoczic, dzoczah, dzoczmah, dzocz (to finish something)
dzocol, dzoci, dzocaan, dzococ (to finish)
dzoczaal, dzoczabi, dzoczaan, dzoczaac (to be finished)

The auxiliary verb tense indicators zuc, yan, and kabet are similar in that they become intransitive verbs by the addition of the suffix -tal.

zuctal, zucchahi, zucchahaan, zucchahac (to accustom)

kabettal, kabetchahi, kabetchahaan, kabetchahac (to need)

yantal, anchahi, anchahaan, anchahac ("to have" in the sense of "to bear" or "to become")

Kabet and yan, besides being used as auxiliary verb tense indicators as described in the conjugations and being verb roots as noted above can also be followed by a dative case noun or pronoun which functions like the subject in English.

Yan ten uah.    "I have tortillas."
Kabet ten uah.    "I need tortillas."

116.  Note that there is a difference in the sense of "to have" between yan and yantal. Furthermore yan itself has two different meanings depending on the type of pronoun attached to it. When the meaning of yan is "to have" then the dative case of the personal pronouns (ten, tech, ti, toon, teex, tiob) are used. When yan has the meaning "to be" or "to exist" then the verbal pronoun set Set B is used.

yan, anhi, anahaan, anac  ("to have" in the sense of "to possess" when conjugated with dative case pronouns)

yan  ("to have" in the sense of "to be", "to exist" when conjugated with Set B pronouns. The verb appears only in the present tense and thus the conjugation is defective.)

Examples which show the differences in meaning:

Baax yan tech?    "What do you have?"

Tuux yanech?    "Where are you?"

Ua yan ten takin behlae minaanen uaye.    "If I had money I would not be here today."

There is a rather unusual construction using yan in the sense of "to be", in which the suffix -il is appended to the root an. This tense appears to be defective, there being no intances of either the first person singular of plural coming to our attention:

Examples of usage:

More often this question is phrased as:

The negation of the verb yan is minaan / minaam and shares the same attributes as yan. In the colonial texts the first form is more frequently given as manaan, and the colonial dictionaries give manaan exclusively.

minaan, ma anhi, ma anahaan, ma anac

Ma anhi ten takin utial in manic in ppoc.    "I did not have any money to buy my hat."

Minaanen ca talechi.    "I was not in when you came."

117.  The use of the Set B pronoun set as shown above with the verb yan (to be, to exist) as the present tense intransitive pronoun set is unusual. However, as was seen in Section 26, this pronoun set is also used to verbalize certain nouns. There are in fact several nouns and adjectives which describe the state of being of a person or thing which can be verbalized by appending the Set B pronouns.

Strictly speaking, these verbs which are formed by suffixing the Set B pronouns are tenseless, with the tense being determined by the time adverbs or the context in which this verb appears.

Tuux yanech?    "Where are you?"

Tuux yanech holace?    "Where were you yesterday?"

In the first instance the tense is assumed to be the immediate present tense for the lack of any other indication. However in the second instance the tense is assumed to be the past perfect tense because of the adverb holace.

Most of these words which take the Set B pronouns also become intransitive verbs by the addition of the intransitive verb suffix complex -tal, -hal, -chahal as shown in Section 100.

Four of the more common words to which the Set B pronouns are appended are yan (to be, to exist), ceel (cold), uiih (hunger), and uinic (man / humanity).

Yan (to have, to be, to exist)

yantal, anchahi, anchahaan, anchahac   ("to have" in the sense of "to bear" or "to become")

Paradigm of yan with Set B pronouns (to be, to exist)

Ceel (to feel cold)

ceeltal, ceelchahi, ceelchahaan, ceelchahac    ("to become cold")

Paradigm of ceel with Set B pronouns (to be cold)

Uiih (to hunger)

uiihtal, uiihchahi, uiihchahaan, uiihchahac    ("to become hungry")

Paradigm of uiih with Set B pronouns (to be hungry)

Uinic (to be a man)

uinichal, uinicchahi, uinicchahaan, uinicchahac   ("to become a man") (Note: uinichal is pronounced uinic-hal)

Paradigm of uinic with Set B pronouns (to be a man)

Examples of other words which can take both the Set B pronouns and the intransitive verb suffixes -tal, -hal, -chahal, are:

There are also those words which normally take only the Set B pronouns:

118.  Nouns with the gentilous suffix -il (see Section 26) are verbalized by the addition of the Set B pronouns.

Ho (Mérida)

Hoil (a person from Mérida)

Paradigm with Set B pronouns (to be from Mérida)

Uaye (here)

uayil (a person from here)

Paradigm with Set B pronouns (to be from here)

119.  Two common verbs, bin (to go) and tal (to come), are irregular in their limited way:

Bin (to go)

bin, bini, bihaan / binaan, xic

In colonial times the first form was more frequently given as binel or benel. The third form bihaan is modern usage whereas binaan is colonial and formal usage. The fourth form, xic, is irregular.

The imperative of bin is also irregular:

xen, xeneex

The collective sense of going expressed in English as "Let's go" is also irregular:

coox, coneex

Coox is also used as an auxiliary verb tense indicator whose meaning is "Let's" or "Let's go":

Coox ilic ua ma tu yuchul le baax ca ualic.   "Let's see if that which you are saying doesn't happen."

Coox hanal.    "Let's go eat."

Tal (to come)

tal, tali, talaan, talac / tac

In colonial times the first form was more frequently given as talel.

The imperative is irregular:

coten, coteneex

120.  The verb roots biz (to take) and taz (to bring) are derived from the verb roots bin and tal. The transitive and passive forms of these verbs have the causative marker -z- or -ez- in earlier colonial works. Through the years the consonants n of bin and l of tal have been dropped leaving the verb roots biz and taz.

121.  Bin is the root verb in the transitive and passive verb "to take / to be taken". The sense of the verb is actually "cause to go". In the colonial times the relationship was apparent, but today the n in bin has been dropped making the modern transitive verb "to take" seem like a different verb.

binezic, binezah, binezmah, binez    older, uncommon conjugation of "to take"

binzic, binzah, binzmah, binez    standard colonial conjugation of "to take"

bizic, bizah, bizmah, biz    standard modern conjugation of "to take"

The passive verb "to be taken" has gone through the same transformation:

binzabal, binzabi, binzabaan, binzabac    standard colonial conjugation of "to be taken"

bizaal, bizabi, bizaan, bizaac    modern conjugation of "to be taken"

122.  Tal is the root verb in the transitive and passive verb "to bring / to be brought". The sense of the verb is actually "cause to come". In the colonial times the relationship was apparent, but today the l in tal has been dropped making the modern transitive verb "to bring" seem like a different verb.

talezic, talezah, talezmah, talez    older, uncommon conjugation of "to bring"

talzic, talzah, talzmah, talez    standard colonial conjugation of "to bring"

tazic, tazah, tazmah, taz    standard modern conjugation of "to bring"

The passive verb "to be brought" has gone through the same transformation:

talzabal, talzabi, talzabaan, talzabac    standard colonial conjugation of "to be brought"

tazaal, tazabi, tazaan, tazaac    modern conjugation of "to be brought"

123.  Another way that contraction has affected certain verb roots of the type CV is to be seen in transitive conjugations of the verb roots dza (to give) and cħa (to take).

cħaic, cħaah, cħamah, cħae    standard conjugation of "to take"

cħic, cħa, cħamah, cħae    contracted conjugation of "to take"

dzaic, dzaah, dzamah, dzae    standard conjugation of "to give"

dzic, dza, dzamah, dzae    contracted conjugation of "to give"

In the contracted conjugations in each case the vowel of the verb root has been dropped in the first form, and the verb suffix has been assimilated in the second form. Both the contracted and standard conjugations are to be found throughout the Mayan colonial literature, and both are in use today. Needless to say, the contracted conjugations are used much more frequently than the standard conjugations at this present time.

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