Chapter 22: Connecting Ideas and Keeping a Conversation Going

Starting point#

A phone call. a Tz'ikin (a teacher in Comalapa) calls his friend a Tojil (a student from Sololá) about the coming market day in Tecpán.

TZ'IKIN: ¿La yape chwa'q pa Iximche'?
Are you coming to Tecpán tomorrow?

TOJIL: Ninwajo' yipe, xa ja ri' k'o k'iy nusamaj.
I want to come, but I have a lot of work.

TZ'IKIN: Wi yape, xkojb'e pa k'ayb'äl, k'a ri' xkojwa' pa qochoch.
If you come, we'll go to the market, and then we'll eat at our house.

TOJIL: Ütz k'a. Po man wetaman ta wi xtipe jöb'.
All right. But I don't know whether it's going to rain.

TZ'IKIN: Stape npe jöb', k'o ri k'ayb'äl. Xub'ij ri nute' chi k'o k'iy ichaj wakami.
Even if it rains, the market is on. My mother said that there are a lot of vegetables right now.

TOJIL: Ja', ke ri'. Töq xkinapon, xkatinkanoj.
Yes, fine. When I arrive, I'll come and find you.

TZ'IKIN: Ütz k'a ri'. K'a chwa'q.
Good then. Until tomorrow.

Every sentence here is made of pieces you already know: verbs with their aspect prefixes (Chapter 10: Intransitive Verbs in the Incompletive; Chapter 12: Talking About the Past and the Future), relational nouns (Chapter 21: Relational Nouns in Depth), negation with man ... ta (Chapter 19: Negation, Doubt, and "If only"). What is new is the glue: xa ja ri' "but", wi "if / whether", k'a ri' "then", po "but", stape "even though", chi "that", töq "when", and the little replies ütz k'a, ja', ke ri', ütz k'a ri'. This chapter takes that glue apart.

How it works#

Putting things side by side: the missing "and"#

The first lesson is a lesson in restraint. English reaches for "and" constantly: bread and butter, she came and sat down, I cooked and cleaned. Kaqchikel usually does not. Words, phrases, and whole clauses of the same kind are simply placed next to each other, with a slight pause (a comma in writing), and the listener supplies the connection. Linguists call this juxtaposition (putting side by side). In older Kaqchikel texts, even long lists of nouns are strung together this way, and in speech it is still the normal pattern. (That is the answer to the "Try it first" above: the "and" in "we'll go to the market, and then we'll eat" has no counterpart; k'a ri' means "then", not "and".)

Notice that each verb carries its own aspect prefix and its own subject marker. There is no "she weaves, sweeps and cooks" with one subject shared by three bare verbs; Kaqchikel says "she weaves, she sweeps, she makes". This is a direct consequence of the rule you met in Chapter 3: every predicate carries its own subject, so it is complete in itself. Because each verb is complete, nothing needs to join them.

x-Ø-samäj,        x-Ø-tzolin   pe
COMPL-3sB-work    COMPL-3sB-return  hither
"he worked, (and) he came back"

When you tell a story, this stacking of complete verbs is what gives Kaqchikel narrative its rhythm: xyakatäj, xatin, xwa', xel el "she got up, bathed, ate, went out".

chuqa' and rik'in: when an "and" is wanted#

Two words have been pressed into service as an explicit "and", largely under the influence of Spanish y. Both are useful, and both keep their older meanings.

chuqa' means "also, too". Between two nouns or two names it reads as "and"; at the end of a sentence it is "too".

rik'in is the relational noun -ik'in "with" (Chapter 21), possessed by the second of the two things joined. So ri xta Ixchel rik'in rute' is literally "Ixchel with her mother", and it can be translated either "Ixchel and her mother" or "Ixchel with her mother". The grammar gives the game away: the verb usually agrees with the first noun only (singular xb'e, not plural xeb'e), because grammatically there is one subject accompanied by someone.

x-Ø-b'e         ri  xta Ixchel  r-ik'in     ru-te'
COMPL-3sB-go    the xta Ixchel  3sA-with    3sA-mother
"Ixchel went with her mother"

Use chuqa' when the two items are truly parallel and equal; use rik'in when one item accompanies the other. When in doubt, leave "and" out altogether and juxtapose.

Then and next: k'a ri' and its rivals#

English "and" often hides an "and then": "I washed up and went to bed" means one thing followed the other. Kaqchikel makes the sequence explicit with k'a ri', literally "until that", which means "then, and then, after that".

A few points of use:

• nab'ey "first" and the ordinals ruka'n "second", rox "third" (Chapter 9: Numbers, Counting, and Time) pair naturally with k'a ri' in instructions and recipes.
• k'a ri' is also the standard way to answer "and then what?" in a conversation: ¿K'a ri'? with rising intonation means "And then?".
• In a finished narrative, ke ri' xk'is "thus it ended" is a common closing line, and ke ri' "like that, so" ties a result to what went before.

In everyday spoken Kaqchikel you will also hear the Spanish loan entonces "then, so", shortened to tons or to (both are common, often in the same speaker's mouth). Written standard Kaqchikel avoids it and uses k'a ri'. Speakers who use both often give them different jobs: k'a ri' links steps inside one episode ("she bathed, then dressed, then ate"), while tons opens a new episode or a new stage of a procedure. If you are explaining how to do something in several stages, that division is worth imitating: k'a ri' inside a stage, and a pause or a new topic sentence between stages.

But: xa ja ri', ma ja ri', xa, and po#

"But" introduces something that runs against an expectation. Kaqchikel has a native set of expressions for this, all built on the idea of "just" or "not":

Why "just"? Because xa narrows what follows to the one fact that matters: "I looked for my watch; the only thing is, I didn't find it." The contrast is implied rather than announced. This is a general habit of Kaqchikel: rather than saying "but", it says "it's just that". Once you get used to it, xa is the most natural "but" of all.

xa xe (and the variant xe) is also "only", and as a restrictive word it is very common on its own: xe rin in k'o "only I am here"; xa xe jun manq'uq' "just one quetzal".

If and whether: the two faces of wi#

The word wi has two different lives that you should keep apart in your head.

1. The trace particle wi that appears after a verb whose location has been questioned or fronted: ¿Akuchi' k'o wi? "Where is it?" (Chapter 5: Existence, Location, and Having; Chapter 20: Asking Questions).
2. The conjunction wi "if, whether", which stands at the beginning of a clause. This is the one we need here.

"If". The wi clause usually comes first, and the consequence follows with no linking word at all. There is no "then" in the second half.

You will also meet the irrealis particle ta (Chapter 19) inside a wi clause: Wi npe ta jöb' chwa'q, man xtib'e ta pa juyu' ri ma Kawoq. "If it rains tomorrow, Kawoq won't go to the fields." The ta marks the condition as unreal only in the plain sense that it has not (yet) happened, which is true of every "if" about the future; the sentence is still an ordinary condition, and the translation does not change. Our main source gives wi clauses with and without ta side by side as plain "if" sentences; the authors' newer reference grammar adds one shade, that each ta a speaker slips in makes the condition sound a little less likely (wi yib'e "if I go", wi yib'e ta "if I should happen to go"). Either way the English is still a plain "if"; do not hunt for a "would" or "should" in it. (A condition that is contrary to fact, "if I had money", drops wi altogether and uses manta, Chapter 19.)

"Whether". After verbs of knowing, saying, and asking, wi introduces an open question inside the sentence. This is especially common when the main verb is negated: "I don't know whether...", "she didn't say whether...". English often uses "that" here; Kaqchikel uses wi.

"Either ... or". Doubled, wi ... wi joins alternatives, whether clauses or nouns. In a list of options, either every item gets a wi or none does; do not put it only before the last one as English does with "or".

That: chi after saying, knowing, and wanting#

To report what someone said or knows, Kaqchikel uses chi "that" between the main verb and the reported clause. This is the same little word that also works as a preposition (chi ri' "there", chi rupam "inside"), but in this use it simply links a clause to a verb.

x-Ø-u-b'ij        ri  te Ixk'at   chi    k'o    k'iy   samaj
COMPL-3sB-3sA-say the te Ixk'at   that   exist  much   work
"Ixk'at said that there is a lot of work"

Two things to remember:

• The reported clause is a complete, independent sentence with its own aspect and person marking. There is no infinitive, no "to come": you say "I want that you come".
• When the verb of saying or knowing is negated, wi tends to replace chi, as we saw above: Man wetaman ta wi xtipe "I don't know whether/that he'll come". Affirmative: chi; negative: usually wi.

Direct quotation needs no chi at all; the quoted words simply follow, often with the quotative particle cha "he says / she says" after them: "Yib'e," cha ri ala' "'I'm going,' says the young man". In written stories you will also meet the full verb in the completive, xcha' "he said", which the literary anthology uses constantly (xcha' ri achin "said the man").

When and while: töq and loman#

töq "when" (also spelled toq) introduces a time clause. It works in all aspects: past, present-habitual, and future.

As in English, the töq clause may come first or second: Xiwa' töq xinapon "I ate when I arrived". Do not confuse töq with the question word jampe' "when?" (Chapter 20): töq never asks a question; it only links.

loman (in some areas ruloman) means "while, at the same time as":

loman on its own is also an adverb "sort of, so-so": loman ütz "sort of good". What keeps the two apart is where the word sits. As the conjunction "while" it opens a clause and a whole subject-and-verb follows it, as in Loman yisamäj, ...; as the adverb it leans directly on a single quality with nothing following, as in loman ütz or loman jeb'ël.

Because, therefore, so that, even though#

Here is one fully worked example of a cause clause, then a table for you to complete, and only then the full table.

man   x-i-b'e         ta    roma     n-ajin        jöb'
NEG   COMPL-1sB-go    IRR   because  INCOMPL-be.Xing  rain
"I didn't go because it is raining"

roma (some speakers: ruma) is the relational noun -oma "because of" (Chapter 21) used as a conjunction "because". The question ¿Achike roma? "why?" (literally "what because?") is answered with roma.

roma ri' "because of that" = "therefore, that is why". It opens a sentence that states a consequence:

richin is the relational noun -ichin "for, belonging to" (Chapter 21) used as "in order to, so that". The clause after it takes the incompletive:

With the irrealis ta, richin ta means "so that ... might": Xinlöq' jun apo't richin ta nakusaj pa nimaq'ij "I bought you a blouse so that you might wear it at the fiesta".

stape "even though, although" concedes a point before the main clause:

Here is the whole family of logical connectors in one place:

Still, until, already, again: k'a ... na, chik, yan#

Three small words handle the English notions "still / not yet / already / again / any more". They are easy to confuse, so look at the contrasts.

k'a ... na wraps around a predicate to mean "still, yet". k'a on its own means "until, as far as, well", and na means "still, yet"; together they bracket the idea that a state continues.

The same frame with a potential verb means "until ... first": K'a xkatwa' na, k'a ri' xkab'e "Eat first, then you'll go" (literally "until you will eat yet, then you will go").

chik means "again, any more, already (with a change of state)". Its meaning depends on its company:

yan means "already, right away" and signals that something happened sooner than expected or is now done:

(The little ¿qupe? at the end of that last example is the confirmation tag "right?, didn't you?" from Chapter 20, the regional partner of ¿peja'?.)

So: k'a ... na = still going on; chik = a change (again / no more / now done); yan = already, earlier than expected.

The small words that flavor a sentence#

Kaqchikel has a handful of particles that rarely translate into an English word but shape the tone of what is said. You have met most of them; here they are as a set. None of them takes stress, and they sit right after the word they color.

A note on ri'. It is the same deictic "that" you met in Chapter 6: Pointing Words, and it has become the closing syllable of a whole family of discourse expressions. ke ri' "like that, so, OK"; ja ri' "that's the one, exactly"; roma ri' "because of that"; k'a ri' "until that, then"; ütz k'a ri' "good then, fine". When you hear a phrase end in ri', it is almost always pointing back at something just said.

A note on k'a. In greetings and farewells (Chapter 2: Greetings, Names, and Polite Talk) it is everywhere: Xseqër k'a, Matyöx k'a ri', K'a chwa'q, Ch'o'n yan chik "see you later" (literally "until we speak again"). Its job there is to soften and round off. Before a time word it means "until". Inside a sentence it can mean "as far as, even".

Saying yes, saying "go on": fillers and back-channels#

A conversation is not only sentences; it is also the noises that show you are listening. The Kaqchikel set is small and worth memorizing, because using them makes you sound like a participant rather than a student.

Here is a fragment that uses them:

IXCHEL: Iwir xib'e pa Chiq'a'l.
Yesterday I went to Comalapa.

ANA: ¿Qitzij? ¿K'a ri'?
Really? And then?

IXCHEL: Xintz'ët ri nuxib'al, k'a ri' xojwa' junam.
I saw my brother, and then we ate together.

ANA: Jeb'ël. Ütz k'a ri'.
Lovely. Good, then.

Saying it twice: couplets and parallelism#

One more feature of Kaqchikel speech is not a word at all but a habit: saying a thing twice in two parallel phrases. Linguists call this a couplet (two matched phrases) and the general habit parallelism. In casual talk it shows up as a quick rephrasing: ¿La ütz awäch? ¿Ütz ab'anon? "How are you? Are you well?" or a doubled command such as Katuxlan, kawär "Rest, sleep". The more formal the occasion, the more elaborate it becomes. Prayers and ceremonial speeches pile up pairs: sky and earth, hill and valley, wind and rain, each pair standing for a whole.

Here is one authentic example, from a ceremonial discourse in the anthology of Salazar Tetzagüic (1995), speaking of the ancestors:

Piece by piece:

Three things are worth noticing. First, "mother, father" is itself a couplet standing for "ancestors" as a whole. Second, the three predicates are all perfect forms in -näq (Chapter 15: States, Results, and Ongoing Actions), each with the plural e; the structure is repeated exactly so that the meaning builds in steps. Third, there is no "and" anywhere: this is juxtaposition doing ceremonial work. When you read real Kaqchikel in Chapter 25: Reading Real Kaqchikel, expect this pattern everywhere.

You can use a mild version of it yourself. Doubling an adjective is an intensifier (ütz ütz "very good", Chapter 8: Describing Things and People), and offering a second, parallel phrase is a polite way to make sure you are understood: Yalan ütz, yalan jeb'ël "Very good, very fine".

Building a paragraph: a day in Ixchel's life#

Here all the glue comes together in a short original narrative. Read it once for meaning, then go back and name the job of every connector.

What to notice:

• Sequence: nab'ey ... k'a ri' ... k'a ri' inside the morning; a new time word (pa tiqaq'ij, töq noq'a' pe) opens each new stage.
• Simultaneity: loman.
• Condition with two branches: wi ... ; wi ....
• Concession: stape.
• Contrast and cause, as a closing comment: xa ja ri' ... roma ....
• Juxtaposed verbs with no "and": nmeson, nuch'äj.

This is the skeleton of almost every spoken narrative: a time frame, a chain of completed or habitual verbs, a concession or contrast, and a reason. Build your own stories on it.

Patterns at a glance#

Joining like with like

Contrast

Logical links

Time-and-state particles

Vocabulary#

Usage and dialect notes#

• Less "and" is more. The single biggest improvement an English speaker can make is to stop inserting chuqa' between every pair of verbs. Stack the verbs; use chuqa' for nouns or for "too".
• rik'in and agreement. Because rik'in means "with", the verb usually agrees with the first noun only. Xb'e ri xta Ixchel rik'in rute' has a singular verb. A plural verb that counts the companion in is also heard (Xeb'e ri xta Ixchel rik'in rute'; Chapter 21). If you want an unambiguously plural subject, use chuqa' and a plural verb: Xeb'e ri xta Ixchel chuqa' ri rute'.
• roma / ruma; -ik'in / -uk'in. The vowel of these relational nouns varies by town; both forms are understood everywhere. The Tecpán and Comalapa area favors roma and rik'in, which this book uses.
• töq / toq. The glossary of our main source writes töq with a lax vowel; many modern publications write toq. Treat them as the same word.
• wi ... wi and we ... we. In some towns the "either ... or" pair is said (and written) we ... we: Tiqamolo' qi' we luq'ij we maq'ij. "Let's meet either Monday or Tuesday." (Kik'aslemal ri Kaqchikela', draft, p. 286). Same construction, different vowel.
• Before and after with relational nouns. Besides töq, a time clause can be opened by a relational noun: chwäch "before" and chrij "after". Chwäch nqatïj qawa'im, nqamatyoxij. "Before we eat our food, we give thanks." (Kik'aslemal ri Kaqchikela', draft, p. 286). This is the locative "in front of / behind" of Chapter 21 doing time work.
• po, pero, tons. These Spanish loans are a normal part of spoken Kaqchikel. So is Spanish y "and", pronounced and written i (ixim i kinäq' "corn and beans"); it has been the commonest spoken "and" for a very long time, and chuqa' as an overt "and" is partly a written-language replacement for it. In writing for a Kaqchikel-language publication, use xa ja ri' and k'a ri' instead. In conversation, do not be surprised to hear them, and do not correct anyone.
• cha and xcha'. The quotative particle after a quotation is cha (no glottal stop); the verb "to say" in the completive, common in written stories, is xcha'. Do not confuse either with -cha' "choose".
• chi overload. You now know chi as a preposition (chi ri', chi rupam), as part of relational nouns (chwe, chawe, chre), and as "that". Do not worry about telling them apart by form; worry only about the context, exactly as an English speaker handles "that" (pointing word, relative pronoun, conjunction) without noticing.
• Particles carry no stress. k'a, na, chik, yan, b'a lean on the word before them. Saying them loudly makes them sound like separate words and changes the meaning (for example, stressed k'a "until" versus unstressed k'a "well").

Pitfalls for English speakers

1. Writing wi A, k'a ri' B for "if A, then B". That means "if A, and afterwards B", a sequence, not a consequence. Leave the second clause bare.
2. Using chi after a negated verb of knowing. Say man wetaman ta wi ..., not man wetaman ta chi ....
3. Using jampe' "when?" as a conjunction. The linking "when" is töq; jampe' only asks.
4. Putting wi only before the last alternative ("A, B, or C"). Either every alternative gets wi, or none does.
5. Using yan for "still". "Still" is k'a ... na; yan is "already".
6. Sharing one subject across several verbs ("she weaves, sweeps and cooks"). Every Kaqchikel verb carries its own prefixes: nkemon, nmeson, nub'än.

Looking back and ahead#

This chapter turned the single sentences of Chapters 10 through 21 into connected speech: juxtaposition, chuqa' and rik'in, k'a ri', the "but" family, wi, chi, töq, roma, richin, stape, and the flavoring particles. The next two chapters, Chapter 23: Market, Food, and Home and Chapter 24: People, Work, Body, and Feelings, put all of this to work in everyday situations with large vocabulary banks, and Chapter 25: Reading Real Kaqchikel shows the same connectors and couplets at work in authentic texts.