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Internet Quechua Lesson 3:
Place Suffixes, Present Progressive Tense, and Question Words

Bolivian Quechua Version

Soon to be reformatted and edited for better presentation

Vocabulary

aqha      corn beer/chicha          aqha-wasi  bar/bar
kay*      to be/ser, estar, existir llank'ay   to work/trabajar
lloqsiy   to leave, exit/salir      phin~akuy  to be angry/enojarse
sumaq     good, well, wonderful/    takiy      to sing/cantar
          bueno, bien, buenisimo    tawa       four/cuatro
jamuy     to come/venir             wasi       house/casa
ujyay     to drink/beber,tomar      yachacheq  teacher/profesor
yachakoq  student/alumno            yaku       water/agua

Spatial Suffixes

Three suffixes are used to describe the relevance of locations to a verbal action.

-man: added to a place noun, describes the destination of the verbal action.
-manta: added to a place noun, describes the source, origin, or point of departure of a verbal action.
-pi: added to a place noun, describes the location in which the verbal action takes place.

Examples:

CaliforniaPI tiyakuni.     I live in California.     Vivo en California.
New YorkMANTA kani.        I am from New York.       Soy de Nueva York.
WasiPI mikhuncheq.         We eat at home.           Comemos en casa.
Llant'ata llaqtaMAN apan.  He carries firewood to    El lleva len~a al
                           town.                     pueblo.
K-MartMAN riyku.           We have gone to K-Mart.   Hemos ido al K-Mart.
LlaqtaMANTA lloqsinku.     They have left town.      Han salido del pueblo.

Present Progressive Tense

==============================================================================
Noqa: -SANI  			 Noqayku:   -SAYKU
      takisani: I am singing                takisayku: we are singing
        canto / estoy cantando                cantamos / estamos cantando
         	                 Noqancheq: -SANCHEQ
					    takincheq: we are singing
                                              cantamos / estamos cantando
.............................................................................
Qan:  -SANKI                     Qankuna:   -SANKICHEQ
      takisanki: you are singing              takisankicheq: y'all are singing
        cantas / estas cantando                 uds. cantan / estan cantando
.............................................................................
Pay:  -SAN                       Paykuna:   -SANKU
      takisan: he/she is singing            takisanku: they are singing
        canta / esta cantando                 cantan / estan cantando
==============================================================================

The present progressive tense is formed by adding the suffix -SA before the personal ending of the simple present conjugation. It is generally translated in English as the present progressive, but in Spanish it falls somewhere between the present progressive and simple present.

Examples:

Bill aqha-wasipi kasan.   Bill is in the bar.      Bill esta en el bar.
Aqhata ujyasan.           He's drinking corn beer. Esta bebiendo chicha.
Noqancheq llank'asancheq. We are working.          Nosotros estamos trabajando.
Yakuta ujyasancheq.       We are drinking water.   Tomamos agua.
Phin~akusancheq.          We are getting angry.    Nos estamos enojando.

Question Words

Pi       who              May      where    Ima    what  Imayna how/what type
         quien                     donde           que          como/que tipo

Jayk'a,  how many/much    Jayk'aq, when     Mayqen which
Mayk'a,  cuanto/cuantos   Mayk'aq  cuando          cual
Mashka

NOTES: 1. The suffixes -TAQ and -LLA are often used to make question words
          more polite or affective: imaynaLLA, piTAQ, jayk'aqTAQ
       2. The pluralizing suffix -KUNA or -S (see Lesson 4) must be used
          to form plural questions: PiKUNA (who all/quienes), imaS (what
          things, que cosas), mayqenKUNA (which ones cuales)
       3. Various suffixes can be added to pi, may, mayqen, ima, and imayna;
          spatial suffixes are always necessary with may questions.