Classical Nahuatl

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Classical Nahuatl

• Pronouns (Part 1)

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Emphatic Pronouns

• Besides pronoun prefixes, Nahuatl also has
  isolated pronouns called Emphatic Pronouns.
• These types of pronouns have two types, both
  short and long forms
• Both the long and short forms of the pronouns are
  equivalent in meaning, and the long forms are the
  most common

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Using the Emphatic Pronouns

• Fundamentally, emphatic pronouns mark a type of
  emphatic identification.
• Like names, they are employed in a predicate to
  signify

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• Cuix Tehuatl? Is it you
• Quema, ca nehuatl Yes, It is I
• Other examples
• Ca nehuatl in nitzatzi It is I who screams
• Cuix tehuatl in tiPedro? Is it you, Pedro?
• Ca yehuatl in cochi It is he/she/it who sleeps
• Ca yehuantin in mexica It is they who are
  Mexicans
• Ca yehuatl in nicnequi That is what I want

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• To say, It is Pedro who is a Lord in Nahuatl
  you would say
• Ca teuctli in Pedro
• In Pedro ca teuctli
• In order to state Pedro is the Lord
• In Pedro ca yehuatl in teuctli
• Pedro, he is the Lord.

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Thematic Pronouncs

• Sometimes these emphatic pronouns are used as
  subjects of sentences.
• In nehuatl, ca nicochi As for me, I sleep
• In tehuatl, ca nimitzitta As for you, I see you
• In yehuatl, ca mexicatl As for him/her/it,
  he/she/it is Mexican

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Questioning WHO?

• The interrogative pronoun in Nahuatl is
• Ac
• Ac tehuatl? Who are you?
• Nehuatl ni Pedro I, I am Pedro
• Ac amehuantin? Who are you all?
• Tehuantin timexica We, We are Mexican

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• Sometimes the simple form Ac is not enough, and
  Nahuatl adds a suffix -in.
• A longer form, aquin is also used
• Aquin choca? Who cries
• Ca nehuatl It is I
• Aquin tzatzi? Who screams?
• Ca yehuatl in pilli It is him, the child
• When the speaker anticipates a plural answer to
  the question, in Nahuatl you use Aquique

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Demonstrative Pronouns

• There are two types of demonstrative pronouns in
  Nahuatl
• In which means something or someone close.
  (Here)
• On which means something or someone far away.
  (There)

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• Ca tetl in That over here is a stone(s)
• Ca calli on That over there is a house
• Aquin in? Who is this here?
• Ca pilli in This here is a child/noble
• Ca yehuatl in This one is

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• Ca amo tetl in, ca tetl on
• This one here is not a stone, that one there is
  a stone
• Aquique on? Who are those people?
• Ca pipiltin in
• These ones are several children

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• These demonstrative pronouns also combine with
  the article in to give the forms of inin, and
  inon.
• Inin, ca niccua
• This here, it is what I eat
• Inon, ca amo niccua
• That there, it is not what I eat

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• Cuix ticmati inin tlacatl?
• Do you know the man who is here?
• Amo nicnequi inon michin
• I do not want that fish over there
• There is also a plural form, inique in, and
  inique on

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• Inique in ca cuicah
• These here, they sing
• Cuix tiquimmati inique on cihuah?
• Do you know those women over there?
• Cuix tiquimmati inon cihuah?
• Do you know those women over there?

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• In and On can also be placed after a name or
  noun. As adjectives then, they and the name or
  noun are preceded by the article in.
• Niccui in tetl in I take it, this stone
• or I take this stone
• Niquinnotza in pipiltin on I call them, those
  children or I call those children

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• Ac yehuatl in? Who is this?
• Ca yehuatl on nicnequi
• It is that, over there, that I want