In this unit we will study negative clauses and will soon be able to negate sentences in K’iche’. By the time we finish, if your ajtij saw you dozing off and asked La katwarik? “Are you sleeping?” you would be able to answer Ja’i, na kinwar taj! “I am not sleeping!”
Listen to the following conversation:
Negation of verbs
Negative clauses in K’iche’ require two negation particles: na preceding the predicate head -which can be a verb, adjective, noun or pronoun- and ta(j) following it. Na is often deleted in colloquial speech. There are two variants of the second particle: taj in phrase-final position and ta elsewhere.
To answer “no” in K’iche’, the whole verb phrase is repeated and negated.
Are you all sleeping?
Na k-uj-war taj
Neg1 INC-1pl-sleep Neg2
We aren’t sleeping.
Na k-uj-war ta waral
Neg1 INC-we-sleep Neg2 here
We don’t sleep here.
Na ka-0-war ta la
Neg1 INC-a-sleep Neg2 2sF
You aren’t sleeping. (Second Sing. Formal)
Here are a couple more – non-sleeping- examples:
La k-at-b’in pa le uxlanb’al?
INT INC-2sing-walk LOC ART park
Are you walking to the park?
Na k-im-b’in taj
Neg1 INC-1sing-walk Neg2
I am not walking.
La k-ix-pe pa tijob’al?
INT INC-2pl-come LOC school
Are y’all coming to school?
Na k-oj-pe taj
Neg1 INC-1pl-come Neg2
We are not coming.
These are some more common intransitive verb roots:
|b’in(ik)||to walk, to travel|
|kape le jab’||it starts to rain|
|kos(ik)||to be/become tired|
|qaj(ik)||to descend, to go down|
|kinqaj chuwach le juyub’.||I descend the mountain.|
|ka’y(ik)||to see, to look|
|ko’t(ik)||to be happy|
|b’ison(ik)||to be unhappy, sad|
You will hear a series of questions. Listen carefully and answer them both in the positive and the negative: