Classical Nahuatl/Printable version


Classical Nahuatl

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Introduction

Nahuatl (pronounced in two syllables, NA-watl ['na.watɬ]) is a term applied to some members of the Aztecan or Nahuan sub-branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. The languages called "Nahuatl" are all Native American languages indigenous to central Mexico.

 
A reproduction of the original page 13 of the Codex Borbonicus, showing elements of an almanac associated with the 13th trecena of the tonalpohualli, the Aztec version of the Mesoamerican calendar. An example of a largely semasiological text, that holds meaning and can be read, but which does not represent phonemes of the actual spoken language.

The term "Nahuatl" is often used specifically with reference to the Classical Nahuatl language, which was the language of the Aztec Empire, and, according to Aztec historiography, the earlier Toltec Empire, and was used as a lingua franca in much of Mesoamerica during the 7th century AD through the late 16th century, at which time its prominence and influence was interrupted by the Spanish conquest of the New World. It should be pointed out that Nahuatl influence increased slightly for some time before decreasing, as the Spaniards used Nahuatl to strengthen their influence over the conquered territories and to spread Christianity; it was even used in places it had not previously been spoken. This was also done (although not to the same extent) for the Quechua in South America. When the Spanish colonies began to gain independence, the Spanish-speaking leaders (mainly "criollos") made Spanish the predominant language.

The term "Nahuatl" also serves to identify a number of modern Nahuatl dialects (linguistic variants, some of them mutually unintelligible) that are still spoken by at least 1.5 million people in what is now Mexico, as well as small populations in El Salvador and the United States of America. All of these dialects show influence from the Spanish language to some degree, although the extent of this influence varies. No modern dialects are identical to Classical Nahuatl, but those spoken in and around the Valley of Mexico are generally more closely related to Classical Nahuatl than peripheral ones. Modern variants of Nahuatl are still the most widely spoken group of Native American languages in Mexico, although most Nahuatl speakers also speak Spanish as a second language.

Nahuatl was originally written with a pictographic script which was not a full writing system but instead served as a mnemonic to remind readers of texts they had learnt orally. The script appeared in inscriptions carved in stone and in picture books, many of which the Spanish destroyed. The Spanish introduced the Latin alphabet to write Nahuatl, and a large amount of prose and poetry was subsequently written. There has been considerable debate about how to spell Nahuatl in Latin script, as many of the sounds present in Nahuatl are not present in the Romance languages Latin was developed to express.



Pronunciation

Aztec or Nahuatl writing is a pictographic and ideographic system the Aztecs used to write Nahuatl. It is not considered to be a true writing system since there were no set of characters that represented specific words, but rather ideas. Nahuatl today is written in Roman characters used by the Spaniards when they began annotating the language.

The spelling rules are largely based on then-Spanish orthography, rather than phonemic rules and therefore have not perfect grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence.

Vowels edit

Nahuatl has four short vowels: a, e, i, and o. The vowels a, e and i sound similar to Spanish, while o can sound like either a Spanish o or a u. Unlike in English, where cuter and cutter have different vowels, the vowels of Nahuatl don't change depending on what follows them.

Each vowel also has a long form, marked by a line or macron over the vowel: ā, ē, ī, ō. They have the same sound as the short vowels, but are simply held longer.

Consonants edit

Nahuatl ch, m, n, p, t, and y are pronounced like English.

As in English, c represents an s-sound when followed by e or i, but a k-sound elsewhere.

Cu is pronounced kw, like in Spanish, or like English qu. Its inverse, uc, is the same sound at the end of a syllable.

Hu is pronounced like English w. Like cu, it is reversed at the end of a syllable, so auh sounds like ow, and iuh sounds like eww.

H alone, when not part of ch, hu or uh, may have represented a glottal stop, as in the Cockney pronunciation of bottle, or it may have been a sound like English h. Unlike English h, it is pronounced at the end of syllables: ah isn't simply a vowel, but a vowel followed by a consonant.

Before a vowel, l is the same as English or Spanish l. Before a consonant or at the end of a word, however, it is neither dark like English l in full, nor clear like Spanish l. It is a voiceless sound, like Welsh ll. This isn't important to understanding, though, and it can be pronounced like an English l without introducing confusion.

Double ll is simply l, held longer. It isn't a palatal sound like in Spanish, or a single l like in English.

Qu is used to represent the k-sound before e and i, like in Spanish. It isn't pronounced "kw" as in English.

X is pronounced like English sh.

Tl is pronounced like t with the tongue held in a position for l

Tz is pronounced like German z, or like English ts except that the t is pronounced even at the start of words — not like tsar or tsunami, where the t may be silent for some speakers.

Z is pronounced like English s.

Stress edit

Stress regularly falls on the second last syllable of a word.

Spelling edit

The spelling used here is a modern standardized system, in order to represent all the sounds of Nahuatl consistently. The spelling used in the original manuscripts did not always represent Nahuatl pronunciation accurately. In particular, vowel length and h were usually omitted.

Spelling & Pronunciation of Classical Nahuatl Words

Because the spelling of Nahuatl was originally based on spelling conventions in Spanish, Nahuatl texts are generally "pronounced like Spanish," with the following exceptions and points to note:

  • Words are stressed on the second-to-the-last vowel (excluding U) regardless of final consonants
  • X is pronounced like English SH.
  • LL is pronounced like a long L (not as in Spanish).
  • TL counts as a single consonant, never as a full syllable.
  • U does not occur as an independent vowel. The only Nahuatl vowels are A, E, I, and O, although each of them can be long or short.
  • CU and UC are both pronounced KW.
  • HU and UH are both pronounced W.
  • H without an adjacent U represents a "silent" glottal stop (as in go_over); in modern Nahuatl it sometimes has a sound similar to an English H and may have had that value in some dialects of Classical Nahuatl as well. (For an English speaker, pronouncing the H like an English H is not really wrong and has the advantage that it helps one remember that it is there.)
  • C before E or I is pronounced like English S. (The letter S is not used in Classical Nahuatl.)
  • Z is pronounced like English S. (The letter S is not used in Classical Nahuatl.)

However over the centuries there has been considerable instability in the spelling of Nahuatl. Some common variations:

  • The letters U and O may be used interchangeably to represent the sound of O.
  • The letter U alone may be used instead of UH or HU to represent the sound of W.
    (At the time of the Conquest, the written letters V and U were usually reversed in Spanish from their modern values, so U indeed had the value of a modern English W.)
  • The letter H representing the glottal stop may or may not be written.
  • Vowel length may or may not be marked.
  • The consonant Y may be written with the letter I.
  • The vowel I may be written with the letter Y.
  • The letter Ç may be used in place of Z to represent the sound of S.

In this century, linguists working with modern Nahuatl have sometimes preferred spellings that look less Spanish and more in accord with IPA usage. Thus:

  • W may be used in place of HU or UH for the sound of W.
  • K may be used in place of QU/C for the sound of K.
  • S may be used in place of Z/C for the sound of S.

For compound letters, single symbols may also be used to match the Americanist orthography found in other writings about North American indigenous languages:

  • ƛ for TL
  • č for CH
  • ¢ for TZ
  • kw for CU/UC

This is done in order to stress that these are single consonants, not compounds. However, these symbols are rare and not found on standard keyboards, so they are not widely adopted.


Grammar

Classical Nahuatl grammar sketch

 
300px Page of the Florentine Codex (ca 1580)showing Nahuatl written with latin script

Phonology edit

Syllable structure edit

Maximal syllable is CVC. Maximal consonant cluster is -CC- medially. Initial and final consonant clusters do not occur. Affixes have two forms, one before/after a vowel, and one before/after a consonant.

Consonant mutations edit

l + tl > ll (cal- "house" + -tli Absolutive suffix = calli "house (Abs.)")
l + y >/ ll (cual- "good thing" + -yōtl abstract suffix = cuallōtl "goodness")
n + p > mp (on "deictic particle" + pa "locative" = ompa "there")
y wordfinally > x (nicchīya "I observed it" + past tense loss of final vowel = nicchīx "I observed it")

Morphology edit

The words of Nahuatl can be divided into three basic functional classes: verbs, nouns and particles. Adjectives exist, but they generally behave like nouns and there are very few adjectives that are not derived from either verbal or nominal roots. The few adverbs that can be said to exist fall into the class of particles.

The Noun edit

Nouns belong to one of two classes: animates or inanimates. Originally the grammatical distinction between these were that inanimate nouns had no plural forms, but in most modern dialects both animate and inanimate nouns are pluralizable. The noun is inflected for two basic contrasting categories: plural and possessedness. Nominal morphology is mostly suffixing. Some irregular formations exist.

In Nahuatl, nouns take a suffix called the "absolutive". This suffix takes the form -tl after vowels (ā-tl, "water") and -tli after consonants, which assimilates to a final /l/ (tōch-tli, "rabbit", but cal-li, "house"). Some nouns have an irregular form in -in (mich-in, fish). These suffixes are dropped in most derived forms: tōch-calli, "rabbit-hole", mich-matlatl, "fishing net".

  • The absolutive singular suffix has three basic forms: -tl/tli, -lin/-in, and some irregular nouns with no suffix.
  • The absolutive plural suffix has three basic forms: -tin, -meh, or just a final glottal stop -h. Some plurals are formed also with reduplication of the noun's first syllable.
  • The possessive singular suffix has two basic forms: -uh (on stems ending in a vowel) or -Ø (on stems ending in a consonant).
  • The possessive plural suffix has the form -huān.

The table below present some common nouns conjugated as examples.

Plural forms edit

Only animate nouns can take a plural form. These include most animate living beings, but also words like tēpetl ("mountain"), citlalli ("star") and some other phenomena. Plurals are formed in several ways:

  • The absolutive suffix is replaced with -h (glottal stop), -tin or -meh
  • Some nouns may have a reduplication of their first consonant and vowel, with the reduplicated vowel long.
Possible plurals combination
-h -tin -meh
With
reduplication
teōtl, tēteōh tōchtli, tōtōchtin Never occurs
Without
reduplication
cīhuatl, cīhuah oquichtli, oquichtin michin, michmeh

The plural isn't totally stable and in many cases several different forms are attested.

Noun Inflection edit

Absolutive singular cīhuatl "woman" oquichtli "man" totōlin "turkey" tlācātl "person (sg.)"
Absolutive Plural cīhuah "women" oquichtin "men" totōlmeh "turkeys" tlatlācah "persons"
Possessed Singular nocīhuauh "my woman" noquich "my man" nototōl "my turkey" notlācauh "my person"
Possessed Plural nocīhuahuān "my women" noquichhuān "my men" nototōlhuān "my turkeys" notlācahuān "my persons"

Possessor prefixes edit

  • 1st Person Singular: no-

nocal "my house"

  • 2nd Person Singular: mo-

mocal "your house"

  • 3rd Person Singular: ī-

īcal "his/her/its house"

  • 1st Person Plural: to- '

'tocal "our house"

  • 2nd Person Plural: anmo-

anmocal "Your house (pl.)"

  • 3rd Person Plural: īn-

īncal "their house"

  • Unknown owner: tē-

tēcal "someone's house"

Some other categories can be inflected on the noun such as:

Honorific formed with the suffix -tzin.
cīhua "woman" + tzin+ tli absolutive = cīhuatzintli "woman (said with respect)"

Derivational Morphology edit

  • -tia derives from noun X a verb with an approximate meaning of "to provide with X " or "to become X".
  • -huia derives from noun X a verb with an approximate meaning of "to use X " or "to provide with X".
  • -yōtl derives from a noun X a noun with an abstract meaning of x-hood or x-ness.
  • -yoh derives from a noun X a noun with a meaning of "thing full of X" or "thing with a lot of X"

The Verb edit

The verb is marked with prefixes in order to agree with the person and number of the subject and the object of the sentence; additionally, verbs inflect for tense and aspect.

Subject prefixes and suffix edit

This set of prefixes are used to express the subject of transitive and intransitive verbs . They can also be prefixed to a noun, X, to make a predicative construction with the meaning "is X".

  • 1st Person Singular: ni-

nitlācatl I am a man", nicochi "I sleep",

  • 2nd Person Singular: ti-

titlācatl "you are a man", ticochi "you sleep"

  • 3rd Person Singular: Ø- (none)

tlācatl "he/she/it is a man", cochi "he/she/it sleeps"

  • 1st Person Plural: ti + plural -h/-queh

titlatlācah "we are men", ticochih"we sleep"

  • 2nd Person Plural: an + plural -h/-queh

antlatlācah "You are men", ancochih "You sleep"

  • 3rd Person Plural: Ø- (none) + plural -h/-queh

tlatlācah "they are men", cochih "they sleep"

Object prefixes edit

This set of prefixes is used to express the direct object of transitive verbs.

  • 1st Person Singular: nēch

nēchitta "he/she/it sees me", tinēchitta "you see me"

  • 2nd Person Singular:mitz

mitzitta "he/she/it sees you", nimitzitta "I see you"

  • 3rd Person Singular: qui

quitta "he/she/it sees him/her/it"

  • 1st Person Plural: tēch

tēchitta "he/she/it sees us"

  • 2ndPerson Plural: amēch

amēchitta "he/she/it sees You (pl.)"

  • 3rd Person Plural: quim

quimitta "he/she/it sees them"

  • unknown animate object:

tēitta "he/she/it sees someone"

  • unknown inanimate object: tla

tlatta "he/she/it sees something"

Temporal and aspectual suffixes edit

  • Present: has no suffix.
  • Perfect: -c/h/?/Ø niquittac "I saw him/her/it (preterit aspect) "
  • Future: -z niquittāz "I will see him/her/it "
  • Imperfect: -ya niquittāya "I saw him/her/it (imperfect aspect) "
  • Irrealis: -zquiya niquittāzquiya "I would have seen him/her/it"

Applicative edit

The applicative construction adds an argument to the verb. The role of the added argument can be benefactive, malefactive, indirect object or similar. It is formed by the suffix -lia.

  • niquittilia "I see it for him"

Causative edit

The causative construction adds an argument to the verb. This argument is an agent causing the object to undertake the action of the verb. It is formed by the suffix -tia.

  • niquittatia "I make him see it/I show it to him"

Unspecified Subject/Passive edit

The construction called "passive" by some grammarians and "unspecified subject construction" by others removes the subject from the valency of the verb, substituting it with a null reference, and promoting the argument marked by object prefixes to subject. The passive or unspecified subject construction uses one of two suffixes: -lo or -hua.

  • quitta "he sees it"+ -lo= quittalo "it is seen (by someone)"
  • miqui "he dies" + hua = micohua "there is dying/people are dying"

Directional Affixes edit

Deixis:

  • -on- "away from the speaker"
  • on+ tlahtoa "to speak" = ontlahtoa "he/she/it speaks towards there"
  • -huāl- " towards the speaker"
  • huāl+ tlahtoa "to speak" = huāllahtoa "he/she/it speaks towards here"

Introvert: Imperfective: -qui "comes towards the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + qui ="quittaqui "he/she/it will come here to see it" Perfective: -co "has come towards the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + co =quittaco "he/she/it has come here to see it"

Extrovert: Imperfective: -tīuh "goes away from the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + tīuh ="quittatīuh "he/she/it will go there to see it" Perfective: -to " has gone away from the speaker in order to X" qui + itta "to see" + to =quittato "he/she/it has gone there to see it"

Derivational edit

A number of different suffixes exist to derive nouns from verbs:

  • -lli used to derive passivized nouns from verbs.

tla "something" + ixca "roast" + l + tli = tlaxcalli "something roasted/ a tortilla"
tla + ihcuiloa "write/draw" + l - tli = tlahcuilolli "scripture/ a drawing"

  • -liztli used to derive abstract nouns from verbs.

miqui "to die" + liztli = miquiliztli "death"
tlahcuiloa "to write something" + liztli = tlahcuiloliztli "the concept of writing or being a scribe"

  • -qui used to derive agentive nouns from verbs.

ichtequi "to steal" + qui = ichtecqui "a thief"
tlahuāna "to become drunk" + qui = tlahuānqui "a drunkard"

  • -ni used to derive habitual nouns from verbs.

miqui "to die" +ni = miquīni "a mortal"
cuacua "to bite" + ni = cuacuāni "someone that is known to be capable of or to habitually bite"

Verbal compounds edit

Two verbs can be compounded with the morpheme -ti-.

Relational Nouns and Locatives edit

Spatial and other relations are expressed with relational nouns. Some locative suffixes also exist.

Noun Incorporation edit

Noun incorporation is productive in Classical Nahuatl and different kinds of material can be incorporated.

  • Body parts
  • Instruments.
  • Objects.

Syntax edit

The particle in is important in Nahuatl syntax and is used as a kind of definite article and also as a subordinating particle and a deictic particle, in addition to having other functions.

Non-configurationality edit

Classical Nahuatl can be classified as a non-configurational language, allowing many different kinds of word orders, even splitting noun phrases.

VSO basic word order edit

The basic word order of Classical Nahuatl is verb initial and often considered to be VSO, although some scholars have argued for it being VOS. However, being non-configurational, all wordorders are allowed and are used to express different kinds of pragmatic relations, such as thematization and focus.

Numeral System edit

Classical nahuatl has a vigesimal numeral system.

Numbers edit

  • cē -1
  • ōme -2
  • yei -3
  • nāhui - 4
  • macuilli -5
  • chicuacēn - 6
  • chicuōme - 7
  • chicueyi - 8
  • chicunāhui - 9
  • matlactli - 10
  • caxtolli 15
  • cēmpōhualli - 20

Colour Terminology edit

The Nahuatl colour system lacks a separate term for blue, and instead uses a single term to cover both blue and green nuances. It has been argued that Nahuatl has no basic colour terms, (in the Berlin & Kay sense of the word) because they are all derived with a -tic suffix from verbs or nouns.

Basic Colour terms edit

  • īstac - white
  • tlīltic - black
  • chichiltic - red
  • costic - yellow
  • xoxoctic- green and blue
  • quiltic - green
  • tlilectic - dark

Kinship Terminology edit

The kinship system of Classical Nahuatl distinguishes older and younger siblings.


Common Words

These are common Nahuatl words.

Common Nahuatl Words
English Nahuatl IPA Location
a/the (single item) seː before the noun
also noː before the noun
which/that tlen t͡ɬen before the noun
the/this (topic marker) in in before the noun
on/in īpan 'iːpan before the noun
also nōzo 'noːso before the noun
and/but auh between
and/with īhuān 'iːwaːn between


Verb List

Here is a list of Nahuatl verbs. To use these verbs in sentences, go back to the previous page and look at the conjugations of the verb "to want" and simply exchange these verbs into every conjugation of that verb.

Verb List
English Nahuatl IPA
believe mati 'mati
write/paint/record cuiloa kʷi'loa
move calpatla kaɬ'pat͡ɬa
respond nānquiliā naːŋ'kiliaː
come to an agreement during a dispute calnōnōtza kalnoː'noːt͡sa
be as it should be ixtlāhui iʃ't͡ɬaːwi
return/translate cuepa 'kʷepa
take by surprise or stealth nāhualahci naːwa'laʔsi
write āmatlahcuiloa aːmat͡ɬaʔkʷi'loa
fix something up yēcchihchīhua jeːktʃiʔ'tʃiːwɑ
make/create yōcoya joː'koja
mean (word) quihtōznequi kiʔtoːs'neki
to fight with an object huilāna wi'laːna
show something nēnēxtiā neːneːʃtiaː
give maca 'maka
add something lacking ahxiltiā aʔ'ʃiɬtiaː
is (location) cah kaʔ
cross panō panoː
to be called (named) ītōcā iːtoːcaː
make tortillas tlaxcalchihua t͡ɬaʃkaɬ't͡ʃiwa
dirty toca 'toka
eat cua kʷa
laugh huetzca 'wet͡ska
to cry choca 't͡ʃoka
leave quiza 'kisa
do chihua 't͡ʃiwa
cut tequi 'teki
live nemi 'nemi
lower/go down temo 'temo
want nequi 'neki
wash paca 'paka
have pia 'pia
count pohua 'powa


Pronouns

These are Nahuatl pronouns. Nahuatl sentences with subject pronouns must also have verbs conjugated with subject-verb agreement. Nahuatl sentences do not need subject pronouns, since the subject is included in the conjugation of the verb.

Pronouns
English Nahuatl IPA English Nahuatl IPA English Nahuatl IPA
Singulars I nehuātl 'newaːt͡ɬ you tehuātl 'tewaːt͡ɬ he or she yehuātl 'jewaːt͡ɬ
Plurals we tehuāntin te'waːntin you (plural) amehuāntin ame'waːntin they yehuāntin je'waːntin


Comparison Words

  • same = zanyenoyehuatl


Question Words

Question Words
English Nahuatl IPA
who/which one āc aːk


Conjunctions

These are Nahuatl conjunctions.

Conjunctions
English Nahuatl IPA position
since/because ca ye ka je ?
and/but auh between


verb: to want

This page covers the verb conjugations of the verb "to want" nequi.

Conjugations of the verb "to want"
Past Tense
English Nahuatl IPA English Nahuatl IPA English Nahuatl IPA
I wanted ōninequi oːni'neki you wanted ōtinequi oːti'neki s/he wanted ōnequi oː'neki
you (plural) wanted annequiqueh anne'kikeʔ we wanted tinequiqueh tine'kikeʔ they wanted nequiqueh ne'kikeʔ
Present Tense
I want ninequi ni'neki you want tinequi ti'neki s/he wants nequi 'neki
you (plural) want annequih an'nekiʔ we want tinequih ti'nekiʔ they want nequih 'nekiʔ
Future Tense
I will want ninequiz ni'nekis you will want tinequiz ti'nekis s/he will want nequiz 'nekis
you (plural) will want annequizqueh anne'kiskeʔ we will want tinequizqueh tine'kiskeʔ they will want nequizqueh ne'kiskeʔ
Imperative (Command)
(singular person) want (something) xinequi ʃi'neki (plural people) want (something) xinequican ʃine'kikan


Example Sentences

Example 1
Object Verb Subject
Nahuatl Anime ītōcā Xapon tlayōlītīliztli.
English (literally) Anime is called Japanese animation
English translation Japanese animation is called anime.


Incorporation of Foreign Words

Due to the phonology of Nahuatl not covering all possible sounds in Spanish, foreign words that are incorporated into Nahuatl are made to fit Nahautl's phonology using the closest Nahuatl phoneme.

Conversion table
Spanish Sound Nahuatl Sound Reasoning
guerrero quellelo
gobernador copelnatol
medio melio medial position exception
caballo cahuallo medial position exception
doña toya one form of substitution for "ñ"
doña tona one form of substitution for "ñ"
Fabian papia F turns into a P
José Xoce normal substititution
cristiano, cruz quixtiano, coloz Nahuatl cannot start with two consonants. If a Spanish word starts with two consonants, the "r" sound in dropped.
mula mola
batan patan


Numbers

Note: It is counted in steps of 20, ordinal numbers have "ic" (=so that) in front of the numeral (in some dialects also "ipan")

arabic number roman number numeral ordinal number ordinal number word
0 - ahtle
1 I ce 1. ic ce
2 II ome 2. ic ome
3 III yei 3. ic yei
4 IV nahui 4. ic nahui
5 V macuilli 5. ic macuilli
6 VI chicuace 6. ic chicuace
7 VII chicome 7. ic chicome
8 VIII chicuyei 8. ic chicuyei
9 IX chicnahui 9. ic chicnahui
10 X matlactli 10. ic matlactli
11 XI matlactlihuan ce 11. ic matlactlihuan ce
12 XII matlactlihuan ome 12. ic matlactlihuan ome
13 XIII matlactlihuan yei 13. ic matlactlihuan yei
14 XIV matlactlihuan nahui 14. ic matlactlihuan nahui
15 XV caxtölli 15. ic caxtölli
16 XVI caxtöllihuan ce 16. ic caxtöllihuan ce
17 XVII caxtöllihuan ome 17. ic caxtöllihuan ome
18 XVIII caxtöllihuan yei 18. ic caxtöllihuan yei
19 XIX caxtöllihuan nahui 19. ic caxtöllihuan nahui
20 XX cempohualli 20. ic cempohualli
21 XXI cempohuallihuan ce 21. ic cempohuallihuan ce
22 XXII cempohuallihuan ome 22. ic cempohuallihuan ome
23 XXIII cempohuallihuan yei 23. ic cempohuallihuan yei
... ... ... ... ...
29 XXIX cempohuallihuan chicnahui 29. ic cempohuallihuan chicnahui
... ... ... ... ...
30 XXX cempohuallihuan matlactli 30. ic cempohuallihuan matlactli
31 XXXI cempohuallihuan matlactli ce 31. ic cempohuallihuan matlactli ce
... ... ... ... ...
39 XXXIX cempohuallihuan caxtöllihuan nahui 39. ic cempohuallihuan caxtöllihuan nahui
... ... ... ... ...
40 XL ompohualli 40. ic ompohualli
50 L ompohuallihuan matlactli 50. ic ompohuallihuan matlactli
60 LX eipohualli 60. ic eipohualli
70 LXX eipohuallihuan matlactli 70. ic eipohuallihuan matlactli
80 LXXX nauhpohualli 80. ic nauhpohualli
90 XC naupohuallihuan matlactli 90. ic naupohuallihuan matlactli
100 C macuilpohualli 100. ic macuilpohualli
200 CC matlacpohualli 200. ic matlacpohualli
300 CCC caxtölpohualli 300. ic caxtölpohualli
1.000 M ce mil 1000. ic ce mil
... ... ... ... ...
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Common phrases

Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan) edit

  • Nahuatl: Nawatlahtolli/Nahuatlahtolli
  • hello: niltse/niltzé
  • good-bye: nimitzittaz (lit. "I will see you")
  • thank you: tlasohkamati/tlazohcāmati
  • that one: inon
  • yes: kema/quemâh (ordinary), kemakatsin (reverential)
  • no: ahmo (ordinary), ahmotsin (reverential)
  • English: Inglestlahtolli
  • Do you speak [English]?: Nitlatlahtoa [Inglestlahtolli]?
  • What is your name?: Tlen motokatsin?