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Nahuatl course basics 1 part 2 (Pronounciation, tl, noun endings, woman, girl, etc...)
Ximopanolti!
Alright so alot to cover this post. First and most imporatantly...PRONOUNCIATION. So here are the regular sounds.
A - /a/ (Like the "a" in Father")
C - /k/ /s/ (Pronounced like an "s" when infront "I" or "e") Like in Cihuatl
E - /e/ (Can be like the "e" in "They" or the ɛ as in "Eh", usually depends on speaker, but most people use the first one)
H - /h/ (Same as in english, but pronounced like a "w" when followd by a "u" and then usually a vowel like in "Nahuatl" sounds aspirated to some). Think about Chihuahua!
I - /i/ (Pronounced like the "e" in "team" or "we")
L - /l/ (like the "L" in "Lend" or "Lick"
M - /m/ (As in "m" in "Master")
N - /n/ (Like in spanish and english)
O - /ɔ/ (Like the "o" in "oh" or "Bone")
P - /p/ (Like in spanish or as in the "p" om "Pop"
Q - /k/ ( Like the English "k")
T - // (As in "Tommy". Yay thats me!)
U - /u/ (Silent behind Q's and followed by a vowel. Like in Nahuatl (Na-wa-tl) but is pronounced behind C's. Like in "Cualli" (Kwa-li). Still kind makes that W sound. Otherwise make an "oo" sound. I cant explain it well so listen to the audio files.
X - /ʃ/ (Like the "Sh" as in "Shut")
Y - /j/ (Same as in english)
Z - /s/ (Like the "s" in "same", but alot people sometimes ignore this as it is hard to distinquish in speach)
SPEACIAL SOUNDS (COMBOS):
LL- One long L, not like in spanish
Tl-Almost like click, said simultaneously. Not like in Atlantic. Listen to audo file and at the end of the lesson I will explain how I do it with my mouth. "L" almost not voiced. /t͡ɬ/ in IPA, so the language itself is called [ˈnaː.wat͡ɬ] (With stress one 1st syllable).
CH- Like in "Cheek"
H-Again, like "h" in english ecspecially before a consonant. Sometimes not pronounced like in spanish. I will clarify how the "h" is prononced in most words. Listen to the audio files as well. Think of how Chihuahua is pronounced!
Well now that that's over with, we can get to the actualy learning.
So Im kinda going to follow the regular esperatno tree but im going throw in my own teaching order a little bit here.
Yehuatl-He or she
Cihuaton-Girl
Ichpocatl-Girl or young woman
Cihuatl-Woman
Ihuan-and
Nequi-To want
Ihta-To see
Here is some more basic vocab based of the Esperanto tree plus our first verbs... There is alot to cover in verbs when it comes to Nahautl, but no matter we will take it slowly.
Now we arleady know the following from last lesson:
Nehuatl or Nehua : I
Tehuatl or Tehua**: You
Yehuatl or Yehua: He/she/it
The reason I included two ways is because depending on region or level of speech people may use a diffirent one. But for now we will use the ones ending in "tl".
Anyone studying french? Well if you are, good news! French is simillar to Nahuatl in a way becuase because we use prefixes to add to verbs to conjugate them! Here are the ones for the words we know now.
Ni is for Nehuatl
Ti is for Tehuatl
And Yehuatl does not have one!
The main types of verbs are "Reflexive", "Intransitive", and "Transative". Right now we will work on transitive verbs because it easier to explain it this way. Nahuatl has a weird way of verbs. Plus I don't want to overwhelm you, so forming transitive verbs will be most of this lesson.
Everyone knows for transitive verbs we need an object. For know we will learn (to) Him/her/it . In order to do this we add "Qui" or "C". Lets see what we can do for now with what we know, its bad to jump to far ahead randomly.
"I want (it/him/her)" Nehuatl Nicnequi
"You want (It/him/her)" Tehuatl Ticnequi
"She/he/it wants (It/him/her)" Yehuatl Quinequi
Ok, don't be confused yet, I must explain this first. Remember when is said you can use "Qui" or "C"? Well, look how in Nehuatl Nicnequi, we used C. See it, before the verb? It always comes before. So why did I use Qui for Yehuatl Quinequi. Because as I have said already, Yehuatl doesn't have a prefix, so it would sound wierd as Yehuatl cnequi... See? This isnt the only case in which this will happen, but it is mostly for phonetic reasons. You'll know which one to use when you get there. Lets try some more.
"I see (him/her/it)" Nehuatl Niquihta
"You see (him/her/it)" Tehuatl Tiquihta
"He or she sees (him/her/it)" Yehuatl Quihta
See, not only for Yehuatl did I use a Qui instead of a C! Its entirely for phonetic reasons. I will always specify when whe learn a new word. Dont worry though ,when faced with a word you dont know, just think it out. Now Nicihta and Ticihta would also work speaking wise because the "u" isnt pronounced when between a Q and a Vowel! But Using Nicihta in writing is just wrong, but some people could care less.
One last IMPORTANT THING. It is not neccessary to use Nehuatl, Tehuatl, or Yehuatl before these verbs all the time, because the prefix alone will already clarify. It is UNCOMMON to see Nehuatl, Tehuatl, and Yehuatl infront of these verbs infact, and are usually used for Emphasis or when people arent sure exactly who you are talking about.
Thats a bit to take in and I will add more lessons ASAP, but school is getting in the way (Im just a teenager still). Highschool am I right :P
Here are some bonus words!!!!!!!
Aquin = who Ayac = nobody
Try to use these last two words correctly with the personal pronouns we learned (Nehuatl, Tehuatl, Yehuatl). I will edit this post later and add some audiophiles because I gotta be somewere in like 5 mins.
5 Comments
Thanks for doing these lessons. And don't worry if you're busy I completely understand. High school takes up a lot of time (especially if you have to study for yearly exams or something which I think I'm meant to be doing now...).
No problem, and thanks! I have a lot of AP homework to finsih rn. Glad you enjoy the lessons!
Could you make a masterpost or a table of contents of all the lessons, please?
Sure, mabye after the third one. I do need to get organaised though
Can we pronoun drop? Ie, can we say 'Nicnequi'? Or do we always have to put nehuatl before that?
