Chapter 16: Wanting, Liking, Needing, Being Able

Starting point#

Ana has been in Tecpán for two weeks. At the market she finds xta Ixchel at her vegetable stall.

Read the dialogue again and notice how many times a verb is followed directly by another verb: ninwajo' ninlöq' "I want (that) I buy", yitikir ninlöq' "I am able (that) I buy", ntikir nub'än "she is able (that) she makes", k'o chi nak'utuj "it exists that you ask". That chain of two fully inflected verbs is the heart of this chapter.

Here is a short text that uses the same expressions in a different voice. Read it once now for the gist, and again after "How it works".

Ri xta Ixchel nk'ayin ichaj pa k'ayb'äl pa Iximche'. Nqa chi ruwäch ri rusamaj, po nrayij nretamaj jun chik samaj: nrajo' nkemon achi'el ri rute'. Jantape' nub'ij chi re ri te Ixk'at: "Nana, ninwajo' yikemon." Ri te Ixk'at nub'ij: "Ütz, po k'o chi yatuxlan nab'ey. Nik'atzin chawe k'iy ramaj." Wakami ri xta Ixchel man ntikir ta nkemon; xa xe retaman nk'ayin. Po ntikir nsik'in chuqa' ntikir ntz'ib'an pa Kaqchikel. Chwa'q xtib'e pa rochoch ri rute', xtutz'ët ri kem. "Nqa chi nuwäch ri kem," nub'ij. "Jun q'ij xtinwetamaj."

Xta Ixchel sells vegetables at the market in Tecpán. She likes her work, but she longs to learn another trade: she wants to weave like her mother. She is always saying to te Ixk'at: "Mother, I want to weave." Te Ixk'at says: "Fine, but first you have to rest. You need a lot of time." Right now Ixchel cannot weave; she only knows how to sell. But she can read and she can write in Kaqchikel. Tomorrow she will go to her mother's house and look at the loom. "I like the weaving," she says. "One day I will learn it."

How it works#

The big idea: no helper verbs, just two verbs in a row#

English has a small set of "modal" helpers (can, must, may, want to, have to) that take a bare infinitive: I can go, I want to go. Kaqchikel has no infinitive. Every verb form carries its aspect prefix and its subject pronoun (see Chapter 10: Intransitive Verbs in the Incompletive and Chapter 11: Transitive Verbs in the Incompletive). So when one verb depends on another, both verbs are inflected, and the second one is usually in the incompletive (present), because it names an action that has not happened yet relative to the wanting, the ability or the obligation:

n-Ø-inw-ajo'  y-i-b'e
INCOMPL-3sB-1sA-want  INCOMPL-1sB-go
"I want to go"  (literally "I want it, I go")

y-i-tikir  y-i-b'e
INCOMPL-1sB-be.able  INCOMPL-1sB-go
"I can go"  (literally "I am able, I go")

Keep this picture in mind: first verb = the attitude or condition; second verb = the action, fully inflected, normally incompletive. Now we take the expressions one by one.

Wanting: -ajo'#

-ajo' is a transitive verb meaning "want" and also "love". It ends in a glottal stop, so its vowel is tense and it takes no extra imperative vowel (see Chapter 13: Commands, Requests, and Wishes). Because it begins with a vowel, it takes the pre-vowel forms of Set A (ergative): inw-, aw-, r-, q-, iw-, k-. Here is one form taken apart:

n-Ø-inw-ajo'
INCOMPL-3sB-1sA-want
"I want it"

The object is the Set B (absolutive) slot. With a third person singular object it is zero, which is why the form looks as if it had no object at all. Note also that the 3s ru- loses its r after n- only before a consonant; before a vowel it stays as r-, giving nrajo'.

The full table:

Change the object and the Set B pronoun appears:

Note the shift of the aspect prefix from n- (before the zero third person object) to y- (before any other Set B pronoun), exactly as in Chapter 11.

With a noun object. This is the plain "I want X":

Ninwajo' jun kape.
I want a coffee.

Nrajo' jun k'ak'a' po't ri xta Ixchel.
Ixchel wants a new blouse.

¿Achike nawajo'?
What do you want?

Man nkajo' ta kinäq' ri ak'wala'.
The children do not want beans.

With a verb. When what you want is an action, the second verb follows in the incompletive and agrees with its own subject. If the subjects are the same person (you want to do something yourself), both verbs carry the same person:

Ninwajo' yiwär.
I want to sleep.

n-Ø-inw-ajo'  y-i-wär
INCOMPL-3sB-1sA-want  INCOMPL-1sB-sleep
"I want to sleep"

Nqajo' yojwär.
We want to sleep.

Nawajo' yab'iyaj pa Tz'olöj Ya'.
You want to travel to Sololá.

Nqajo' nqatz'ët ri k'ayb'äl.
We want to see the market.

Ri a Tojil nrajo' ntzolin chwa'q.
Tojil wants to go back tomorrow.

If the subjects are different (you want someone else to do something), nothing is added: the second verb simply carries the other subject. This is the pattern our sources show, and it is the one to learn:

Ninwajo' yab'e wik'in.
I want you to come with me. (literally "I want it, you go with me")

Man ninwajo' ta yasamäj wakami.
I don't want you to work today.

Nrajo' ri te Ixk'at nkemon ri rume'al.
Te Ixk'at wants her daughter to weave.

You may also hear speakers insert the linking word chi "that" between the two clauses (ninwajo' chi yab'e wik'in), on the model of verbs of saying and knowing (see Chapter 22: Connecting Ideas and Keeping a Conversation Going). The authors' sequel volume attests it: ¿nawajo' chi yojb'e pa k'ayb'äl? "do you want us to go to the market?" (Kik'aslemal ri Kaqchikela', draft, p. 38). Recognize it, but produce the plain two-verb pattern. What never changes is that each verb keeps its own subject.

Past and future wanting. Only the first verb changes aspect; the second stays incompletive:

Xinwajo' yib'e, xa man xitikir ta.
I wanted to go, but I just couldn't.

Xtinwajo' ninlöq' jun ch'ich' pa jun juna'.
I will want to buy a car in a year.

A stronger word: -rayij. The derived transitive -rayij "desire, long for" is the word for strong wishes and long-held ambitions. It is inflected like any derived transitive (Chapter 11) and, like -ajo', it can be followed by a second inflected verb:

Ninrayij ninwetamaj ri qach'ab'äl. I long to learn our language.

Nkirayij yeb'e pa nimatijob'äl ri tijoxela'.
The students long to go to the university.

Would like: the irrealis ta#

Kaqchikel softens a want with the particle ta, which marks something as unreal, not yet real, or contrary to fact (see Chapter 19: Negation, Doubt, and "If only"). Put ta right after the verb of wanting:

Ninwajo' ta jun kape.
I would like a coffee.

Ninwajo' ta ninwetamaj yikemon. I would like to learn to weave.

Jantape' ninwajo' ta yib'ixan.
I have always wished I could sing.

In the completive, ta yields "would have liked":

Xinwajo' ta yib'e pa k'ayb'äl iwir.
I would have liked to go to the market yesterday.

Why does this work? Because ta pulls the statement out of the world of facts. Ninwajo' jun kape states a want as a fact; ninwajo' ta jun kape places the want in a hypothetical space ("if it were possible..."), which is exactly how polite requests work in many languages, including English I would like. The same ta after -rayij gives a polite "What would you like?": ¿Achike narayij ta?

Liking: "it descends before my face"#

The most common way to say "I like it" is an idiom built from the intransitive verb -qa "descend, go down" and the possessed noun -wäch "face":

n-Ø-qa  chi  nu-wäch
INCOMPL-3sB-descend  at  1sA-face
"it descends before my face"  =  "I like it"

The logic is worth a moment. The thing liked is the grammatical subject (it does the descending). The person who likes is just a possessor of the word "face". English turns this around: I like it puts the experiencer first. Once you accept that the liked thing is the subject, everything else falls into place, including agreement.

The sequence chi + possessed -wäch is written in two words here, as in the source grammar; you will also meet it fused as chawäch, chuwäch (and further contracted to chwäch), the relational forms of Chapter 21: Relational Nouns in Depth.

Agreement with the thing liked. Since the liked thing is the subject of -qa, a plural liked thing makes the verb plural, and a first or second person liked thing puts that person in the Set B slot:

Yeqa chi nuwäch ri taq po't aj Iximche'.
I like the Tecpán blouses.

y-e-qa  chi  nu-wäch
INCOMPL-3pB-descend  at  1sA-face
"they descend before my face" = "I like them"

Nqa chi ruwäch ri q'utu'n.
She likes the food.

¿La yiqa chawäch?
Do you like me? (literally "do I descend before your face?")

Liking to do something. Put the activity verb, fully inflected, after the phrase:

Nqa chi nuwäch yisamäj pa juyu'.
I like working in the fields.

¿La nqa chawäch yakemon?
Do you like to weave?

Nqa chi kiwäch yexajon ri alab'oni'.
The young men like to dance.

Not liking. The negative frame man ... ta wraps the verb, and the rest follows:

Man nqa ta chi nuwäch ri tew.
I don't like the cold.

Man yeqa ta chi ruwäch ri kumatzi'.
He doesn't like snakes.

Past and future liking:

Xqa chi nuwäch ri xajoj.
I liked the dance.

Xtiqa chawäch ri tinamit.
You will like the town.

Asking what someone likes:

¿Achike nqa chawäch?
What do you like?

¿Achike xqa chawäch pa k'ayb'äl?
What did you like at the market?

Liking by the senses: ütz + a sensory verb#

A second way to express liking names the sense involved. The adjective ütz "good" goes first, then a transitive verb of perception with the liked thing as its object:

Ütz nintz'ët ri rub'onil ri po't.
I like the colors of the blouse.

Ütz nqak'axaj ri q'ojom.
We like (the sound of) the music.

¿La ütz nana' ri kape?
Do you like (the taste of) the coffee?

Man ütz ta ninna' ri ik. I don't like (the taste of) the chile.

Choose between the two constructions by meaning: nqa chi nuwäch is general approval; ütz nin- plus a sense verb says what about the thing pleases you. Both are frequent.

Preferring one thing to another#

Kaqchikel compares by placing one thing "before the face" of another (chuwäch, see Chapter 8: Describing Things and People). The attested pattern is adjective + thing + chuwäch + the other thing:

Jeb'ël ri käq po't chuwäch ri q'än.
The red blouse is prettier than the yellow one.

Qasan rajil ri ichaj chuwäch ri ti'ij.
The vegetables are cheaper than the meat.

To state a preference, the simplest and safest route is to say what you like and what you do not, or to compare the qualities that decide you:

Nqa chi nuwäch ri kape; man nqa ta chi nuwäch ri ya'.
I like coffee; I don't like water. (= I prefer coffee.)

Ütz nintz'ët ri käq po't. Jeb'ël chuwäch ri q'än.
I like the red blouse. It is prettier than the yellow one.

You will also hear the comparison tacked straight onto the liking phrase (ütz nintz'ët ri käq po't chuwäch ri q'än "I like the red blouse better than the yellow"), and, in towns where Spanish más has been borrowed, mas nqa chi nuwäch "I like it more". Our sources show chuwäch only with adjectives, so treat these as forms to recognize.

Needing: nik'atzin chwe#

The intransitive verb -k'atzin means "be necessary, be useful, serve". The thing needed is its subject; the person who needs it is introduced by the dative relational noun in its forms chwe, chawe, chre, chqe, chiwe, chike "to me, to you, to him/her, to us, to you all, to them" (Chapter 21):

n-Ø-k'atzin  chwe
INCOMPL-3sB-be.necessary  to.me
"it is necessary to me" = "I need it"

Notice yek'atzin in the fourth row: two books are needed, so the verb is plural, just as with yeqa. Past and future follow the normal aspect prefixes: xk'atzin chwe "I needed it", xtik'atzin chawe "you will need it".

Because the person is a possessor, not a subject, Kaqchikel also lets the needed thing carry possession instead: nik'atzin qapwäq "we need money" (literally "our money is necessary"). Both patterns are heard, and the possessed pattern is the one our source grammar gives first.

The adjective k'atzinel. From the same root comes k'atzinel "necessary, useful". With a following inflected verb it means "it is necessary to ... / one should ...":

K'atzinel natij ri ichaj.
It is necessary that you eat the greens.

K'atzinel nqasamäj wakami.
We need to work today.

Having to: k'o chi#

Obligation uses the existential k'o "there is" (Chapter 5: Existence, Location, and Having) plus chi and an inflected verb:

k'o  chi  y-i-b'e
exist  that  INCOMPL-1sB-go
"there is (the fact) that I go" = "I have to go"

K'o chi yib'e pa samaj.
I have to go to work.

K'o chi nab'än ri asamaj.
You have to do your work.

K'o chi nqatz'apij ri ruchi' jay toq'a'.
We have to close the door at night.

K'o chi xtub'än ri ma Kawoq.
Ma Kawoq will have to do it. (potential on the second verb)

K'o chi yatuxlan nab'ey.
You have to rest first.

Think of k'o chi as "it stands that ...". It is the everyday, neutral "must". For softer advice, speakers reach for the irrealis ta with a hortative verb (see below and Chapter 13).

Not having to. English "you don't have to" is a denial of necessity, and the clearest way to say it is to negate the necessity words you already know: man k'atzinel ta "it is not necessary" or man nik'atzin ta "it is not needed", followed by the verb:

Man k'atzinel ta yab'e wakami.
You don't have to go today. (literally "it is not necessary, you go today")

Man nik'atzin ta nalöq' jun chik.
You don't need to buy another one.

You will also hear the k'o chi frame itself negated (man k'o ta chi ...); our sources do not show that sentence, so learn the k'atzinel version first.

Being able: -tikir#

"Can" is the intransitive verb -tikir "be able". Its subject is the person who is able, marked by Set B, and the action follows as a second, fully inflected verb in the incompletive:

The second verb may of course be transitive:

Yitikir nintz'ib'aj jun wuj pa Kaqchikel.
I can write a letter in Kaqchikel.

Ntikir nub'än jun po't chawe ri te Ixk'at.
Te Ixk'at can make you a blouse.

Yojtikir nqak'waj ri si' chwa'q.
We can carry the firewood tomorrow.

Negation wraps -tikir, not the second verb:

Man yitikir ta yib'e wakami. I can't go today.

Man ntikir ta nsamäj ri a Tz'ikin, yawa'. Tz'ikin can't work, he is sick.

Aspect lives on -tikir only. When you talk about a past ability, the completive goes on -tikir while the second verb stays incompletive. This surprises English speakers, who expect I was able to go to put the past on go:

Xojtikir nqatz'ët ri xajoj.
We were able to see the dance.

Xkatikir natzolin pa jun ik'.
You will be able to come back in a month.

Why is this so? The second verb is not an event on its own timeline; it is the content of the ability. Kaqchikel leaves it in the unmarked incompletive and lets the first verb do the time-keeping. The same thing happens after -ajo'. That said, speakers do sometimes copy the completive onto both verbs: the authors' sequel volume has man xitikïr ta xinb'än "I just couldn't make it" (Kik'aslemal ri Kaqchikela', draft, p. 68) beside the pattern taught here, which is the one ¿La ütz awäch? uses. Produce the incompletive; recognize the doubled completive when it comes.

The related adjective tikirel means "possible": tikirel "it is possible", man tikirel ta "it is not possible".

Asking permission. The most natural "may I ...?" is a question with -tikir:

¿La yitikir yinok? May I come in? (literally "Am I able to enter?")

¿La yitikir ninkusaj ri atz'ib'ab'äl? May I use your pen?

A first person hortative also exists (kib'e "let me go", kojb'e "let's go", Chapter 13; note the Set B i- in k-i-b'e). Our sources show it only as a wish or a proposal, but with question intonation you may hear it used to ask for leave: ¿Kib'e? "Shall I go?". Treat the -tikir question as your default.

Knowing how: wetaman#

"Know" is a special form. -etamaj is a derived transitive meaning "learn, find out": xinwetamaj "I learned it / found out". The form that means "know" is -etaman with no aspect prefix at all, carrying only Set A:

Why no prefix? -etaman is a resultative, the "already learned" state of -etamaj (compare the perfect forms in Chapter 15: States, Results, and Ongoing Actions). Knowing is the result of having learned, so the language treats it as a state rather than an action, and states do not take aspect prefixes.

Three uses:

1. Knowing a fact (with chi "that"): Wetaman chi k'o jun k'ayb'äl pa Chiq'a'l.
   I know that there is a market in Comalapa.

2. Knowing a person or thing, literally "knowing its face" (ruwäch): ¿La awetaman ruwäch ri a Tojil?
   Do you know Tojil?
   Ja', wetaman ruwäch.
   Yes, I know him.

3. Knowing how to do something, with an inflected verb: Wetaman yikemon.
   I know how to weave.
   ¿La awetaman natz'ib'an pa Kaqchikel?
   Do you know how to write in Kaqchikel?
   Retaman nub'än wäy ri xta Ixchel.
   Ixchel knows how to make tortillas.

Negation is the usual frame: man wetaman ta "I don't know", the single most useful phrase for a learner.

Contrast -tikir and -etaman: yitikir yimuxan means I am able to swim right now (nothing prevents me); wetaman yimuxan means I have the skill. English can covers both; Kaqchikel separates them.

Thinking and feeling that#

Two transitive verbs let you talk about opinions and impressions. -ch'öb' is "think, think over, consider" (nuch'öb' "she is thinking it over"), and -na' is "feel, sense, taste, remember" (which is why it appears in ütz ninna' "I like the taste"). With a thing as object they are straightforward:

Ninch'öb' ri samaj.
I am thinking about the work.

Ninna' ri tew.
I feel the cold.

To report a whole opinion ("I think that ..."), our sources show the linking word chi after verbs of saying and knowing (xub'ij chi ... "he said that ...", wetaman chi ... "I know that ..."), and speakers extend the same frame to -ch'öb' and -na': ninch'öb' chi xtipe ri jöb' chwa'q "I think it will rain tomorrow", ninna' chi yawa' ri ak'wal "I feel that the child is ill". Because the sources do not show these two verbs with a clause, use them with a hedge of your own: when in doubt, the attested wetaman chi "I know that" or nub'ij chi "he says that" will carry most conversations. A third verb, -nojij "think up, invent", is for ideas, not opinions: ¿Achike xunojij? "What did he think up?"

Patterns at a glance#

Vocabulary#

Usage and dialect notes#

• Saying no politely. A flat man ninwajo' ta "I don't want it" can sound abrupt when food or drink is offered. A warmer refusal thanks first and then gives a reason: Matyöx, man yitikir ta, nq'axon nupam "Thank you, I can't, my stomach hurts." Hosts in Kaqchikel homes press food on guests as a matter of hospitality, so expect to decline more than once.
• Wanting a person. Because -ajo' also means "love", yatinwajo' is "I love you", not "I want you". Context and the object pronoun make the meaning clear; with a thing as object the verb means "want".
• chi + -wäch written together. You will see chi nuwäch and chinuwäch, chi awäch and chawäch, chi ruwäch and chuwäch. These are the same words; only the spelling convention differs. The fused forms are the ones used in comparison (chuwäch, often further contracted to chwäch) and in the locative sense "in front of" (Chapter 21).
• Regional forms. Some speakers pronounce nqa as niqa (the incompletive prefix with a supporting vowel before a consonant cluster); the source shows both nqa chi nuwäch and niqa chi nuwäch. The relational noun "to me" appears as chwe and also as chi nuwe in some areas.
• -tikir vs -k'owin. The glossary also lists -k'owin for being able to do something difficult ("manage to"). -tikir is the general word and the one to learn first, but in the authors' sequel volume -k'owin turns up freely as a plain "can" (Man yik'owin ta ninsik'ij wuj "I can't read", draft, p. 154), so treat the two as near-synonyms when you hear them.
• Pitfalls for English speakers:
• Putting past tense on both verbs (I wanted and went). Say xinwajo' yib'e: after -ajo' and -tikir the second verb normally stays incompletive. (You will sometimes hear the completive copied onto both verbs; recognize it, but learn the incompletive pattern.)
• Adding n- to "know": ninwetaman does not exist. The stative is wetaman; the action of learning is ninwetamaj, xinwetamaj.
• Making the liker the subject of -qa: ninqa "I descend" is not "I like". The liked thing is the subject: nqa chi nuwäch, yeqa chi nuwäch.
• Forgetting plural agreement with the needed or liked thing: two books are yek'atzin chqe, not nik'atzin chqe.
• Using ninwajo' alone as a polite request. Add ta: ninwajo' ta jun kape.
• Translating "can" with -tikir when the meaning is "know how": a skill you have learned is wetaman, not yitikir.

Looking back and ahead#

This chapter leaned on the verb machinery of Chapters 10 to 12 (aspect prefixes, Set A and Set B) and on the relational nouns chwe, chawäch and their kin, which get their full treatment in Chapter 21: Relational Nouns in Depth. The irrealis ta that softened our wants returns in force in Chapter 19: Negation, Doubt, and "If only". Next, Chapter 17: Voice: Passive, Antipassive, and Focus shows what happens when a transitive verb gives up one of its two arguments, a move you have already glimpsed in the intransitive -kemon "weave" beside transitive -kem.