Basic Quechua Greetings and Farewells

Hello! Welcome to the third lesson in our Quechua course.

In our first two lessons, we built a strong phonetic foundation, covering the Quechua vowels and the three distinct series of stop consonants (plain, aspirated, and ejective). You've done the hard work of learning to produce and distinguish these crucial sounds.

Today, we get to put that knowledge into practice in a very rewarding way. This lesson is all about communication. We will focus on using basic greetings and farewells in different social situations. By the end of our session, you'll be able to greet people at different times of the day, ask how they are, and say goodbye politely. This is your first major step into conversational Quechua.

Let's begin.

1. General Greetings: "Hello"

In Quechua, there isn't a single, all-purpose word like "hello" that is used universally in all contexts. However, there are a couple of formal and respectful phrases used for greeting someone.

As you saw in the resource, two common greetings are:

• Napaykullayki (pronounced na-pay-kul-YAI-ki)
• Rimaykullayki (pronounced ri-may-kul-YAI-ki)

Both can be translated as "I greet you." Napaykullayki is very common and a great, respectful greeting to use when meeting someone.

2. Time-of-Day Greetings

A very common way to greet people is by referencing the time of day, much like we do in English with "Good morning" or "Good evening."

Here is a summary of the phrases from the video. Notice the ejective p' in p'unchaw, which you practiced in our last lesson.

These are extremely useful and can be used as standalone greetings when you meet someone.

3. The Core Interaction: "How are you?"

The most frequent and essential greeting exchange in Quechua revolves around asking about a person's well-being.

The fundamental exchange is:

• Question: ¿Allinllachu? (Are you well? / How are you?)
• Response: Allillanmi. (I am well.)

To make this a real conversation, you need to be able to return the question. After responding Allillanmi, you can ask:

• ¿Qamrí? (And you?)

So, a simple two-person exchange looks like this:

Person A: ¿Allinllachu?
Person B: Allillanmi. ¿Qamrí?
Person A: Allillanmi.

4. Adding Social Context: Terms of Address

In Quechua, it is customary and polite to address people using terms that translate to "brother" or "sister." The specific word you use depends on your gender and the gender of the person you are speaking to. This is a critical part of using greetings in an "appropriate social context."

The Quechua Tinkuy resource explains this system perfectly.

Here is a summary of the rules for easy reference. The -y suffix means "my," so wayqiy means "my brother."

You can combine these terms with the greetings you've learned to make them more personal and polite.

• A woman greeting a man: ¿Allinllachu, turay?
• A man responding to her: Allillanmi, panay. ¿Qamrí?
• A man greeting another man in the morning: Allin p'unchaw, wayqiy.

5. Saying Goodbye

Once your conversation is over, you'll need a way to say goodbye. The most common farewell reflects the hope of seeing the person again.

Let's consult the Omniglot phrase list one more time.

The most versatile and widely used farewell is:

• Tupananchiskama (Until we meet again)

This is a perfect, all-purpose way to end an interaction. You might also hear or use:

• Paqarinkama (Until tomorrow)
• Huq p'unchaykama (Until another day)

Practice Scenario

Imagine you are a man named David. You meet a woman named Maria in the afternoon. Let's walk through a potential conversation.

1. David greets Maria: Allin sukha, panay. (Good afternoon, my sister.)
2. Maria asks how he is: ¿Allinllachu, turay? (How are you, my brother?)
3. David responds and asks back: Allillanmi. ¿Qamrí? (I am well. And you?)
4. Maria responds: Allillanmi. (I am well.)
5. David says goodbye: Tupananchiskama. (Until we meet again.)
6. Maria says goodbye: Tupananchiskama. (Until we meet again.)

Try to read this dialogue aloud. How would it change if David were greeting another man? Or if Maria were greeting another woman?

Conclusion

Excellent work! You've just learned the fundamental building blocks of a Quechua conversation. You can now initiate contact, express goodwill, and part ways politely.

Here are the key takeaways from today's lesson:

• General Greeting: Napaykullayki is a formal and respectful way to say hello.
• Time-Based Greetings: Use Allin p'unchaw (morning), Allin sukha (afternoon), and Allin tuta (evening).
• "How are you?": The core exchange is ¿Allinllachu? (How are you?), Allillanmi (I'm well), and ¿Qamrí? (And you?).
• Social Address: Always consider gender context. Use ñañay (woman to woman), turay (woman to man), panay (man to woman), or wayqiy (man to man).
• Farewell: The standard goodbye is Tupananchiskama (Until we meet again).

Preview of the Next Lesson:
Now that you can greet someone, the natural next step is to introduce yourself. In our next lesson, you will learn how to state your name using the pattern Sutiymi..., which will allow you to have a more complete introductory exchange.