Affirmative and Negative Responses

Hello! Welcome to your fifth lesson in Quechua.

In our last lesson, you learned how to introduce yourself by stating your name with patterns like Sutiymi [Name] and [Name]mi kani. This was a big step in being able to participate in a basic conversation.

Today, we will build on that by learning how to respond to simple yes/no questions. This is a fundamental skill that will dramatically increase your ability to interact. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to respond to simple questions with arí (yes) and form simple negative responses using the mana...-chu structure.

This lesson completes our first module on foundational sounds and greetings, giving you a solid base for the topics to come.

Let's get started.

1. Asking and Answering Yes/No Questions

In Quechua, one of the most common ways to form a yes/no question is by adding the suffix -chu to the word you are questioning.

For example, in the last lesson, you learned the statement:

• Qamqa Mariami kanki. (You are Maria.)

To turn this into a question, "Are you Maria?", you would change -mi to -chu and attach it to the name:

• ¿Qamqa Mariachu kanki?

Let's focus on how to answer such questions.

2. Affirmative Answers with Arí

The word for "yes" in Quechua is arí.

When someone asks you a question and the answer is yes, you typically start your response with arí, followed by a full affirmative sentence.

Question: ¿Qamqa Mariachu kanki? (Are you Maria?)
Answer: Arí, (ñuqaqa) Mariami kani. (Yes, I am Maria.)

Notice that the answer uses the ...mi kani structure you learned in the previous lesson. The ñuqaqa ("I") is often omitted, just as in the example.

Now, let's see arí used in a slightly more complex sentence.

In the resource, the question is ¿Warmi-yuq kankichu? ("Are you married?" or literally, "Are you with-wife?"). The affirmative answer is:

Arí, warmi-yuq kani. (Yes, I am married.)

This follows the same pattern: Arí, followed by the affirmative statement.

3. Negative Responses with the mana...-chu Structure

Forming a negative response in Quechua is a bit more involved than just saying "no". Quechua uses a structure often called a "negative sandwich" or circumfix: mana...-chu.

• mana is placed before the word or phrase being negated.
• -chu is attached to the end of that word or phrase.

Let's use our name example again.

Question: ¿Qamqa Mariachu kanki? (Are you Maria?)
Answer: Mana, mana Mariachu kani. (No, I am not Maria.)

Let's break down the negative part: mana Mariachu kani.

• Mana: The word for "no," which starts the clause.
• mana Mariachu: The "sandwich." mana comes before Maria, and -chu is attached to it.
• kani: The verb "I am" follows the negated element.

This structure is fundamental to the language.

The resource gives the rule: "To negate a verb, add mana before it and chu at the end of the sentence."

The example is Mana.n runasimi.ta rimani.chu (I don’t speak Quechua). Here, the verb is rimani (I speak). The negation wraps around the entire statement, with -chu attaching to the verb at the end.

Let's look at one more example from the other resource.

Question: ¿Warmi-yuq kankichu? (Are you married?)
Answer: Mana warmi-yuq kani-chu. (I am not married.)

In this case, the author has written it slightly differently, attaching the -chu to the verb kani. Both mana warmi-yuq-chu kani and mana warmi-yuq kani-chu are possible, but attaching -chu to the verb is very common. The key takeaway is the mana...-chu frame.

4. Practice

Let's put this into practice. Imagine someone is asking you the following questions. How would you respond based on your own life? Say the answers out loud.

Question 1: ¿[Your Name]chu kanki? (Are you [Your Name]?)

• Your likely answer: Arí, [Your Name]mi kani.

Question 2: ¿Yachachiqchu kanki? (Are you a teacher?)
(Note: yachachiq means "teacher")

• If you are a teacher: Arí, yachachiqmi kani.
• If you are not a teacher: Mana, mana yachachiqchu kani.

Question 3: ¿Qusqumantachu kanki? (Are you from Cusco?)
(Note: Qusqu is "Cusco" and -manta means "from")

• If you are from Cusco: Arí, Qusqumantam kani. (The -mi changes to -m after a vowel).
• If you are not from Cusco: Mana, mana Qusqumantachu kani.

Conclusion

Excellent work today! You have now learned one of the most important grammatical structures in Quechua and can give both positive and negative answers to simple questions.

Key Takeaways:

• To answer "yes," use arí, usually followed by an affirmative statement.
• To answer "no," use the mana...-chu structure, which frames the part of the sentence that is being negated.
• A simple negative answer to a question like ¿...-chu kanki? is often Mana, mana ...-chu kani.

This lesson marks the end of our first module. You've built a strong foundation, covering the basic sounds, greetings, introductions, and now, yes/no responses.

Preview of the Next Lesson:
In our next lesson, we will begin Module 2, "Identifying People and Things." You'll learn how to use basic adjectives like hatun (big) and huch'uy (small), and how to use the demonstrative pronouns kay (this) and chay (that) to start describing the world around you.