In this lesson we will learn to speak about events and experiences in the past. In K’iche’ these are expressed using the completive aspect, which is comparable, though not the same as the past tense.
Mauricio le nub’i. Kimpe pa le tinamit Austin, pa le amaq’ Estados Unidos. In tijoxel pa le nimatijob’al. Iwir ximb’e pa le nimatijob’al. Aretaq xinwa’lijik, xinwa’ik. K’a te k’u ri’, ximb’e pa le nimatijob’al. Xinb’inik. Utz kinwil le nutinamit. Aretaq xinopan pa le nimatijob’al, xojb’e pa le qatijonik rech k’iche’. Tat Wel ub’i’ le qajtij. Pa le tijonik, xojch’aw ruk’ le qajtij pa k’iche’ ch’ab’al. Sib’alaj utz kinwil le nutijonik rech K’iche’!
The following is a poem written by your teacher. Listen and read it paying attention to what verbs you can recognize.
UJILOWEM JUN AMAQ’
In kinb’isonik aretaq kana’taj ri q’ij chwe, aretaq xu’lik,
Xulkitukij we amaq’ ruk’ numik, ruk’ kamik,
Ix ixajmak xecha’, k’a te k’u ri’ ruk’ ri xekamik xeki’kotik,
Mayijab’al utayik ma ruk’ taq ri tzij xel pa kichi’, xesokonik, xekamsanik,
Ulew, loq’alaj ulew kech qatat qanan, qati’t, qamam,
Le a’lkwal la are taq mojo’qa chu’la le tukinelab’, xeki’kotik, xetze’nik, xeb’ixanik,
E jachin ri’ ri xepe ojer tzij, xulkib’ana k’ax che la,
Wa’ xewa’ik, xewarik k’a te k’u ri’ xkib’ach ri wach la aretaq xewa’katik,
Le b’isonik chi’l le oq’ik xenab’ej chwach le kamik,
E teren le ekichaq’ cher a’re le numik, le kosik, le muqik,
Na k’o ta kolotajik la, kino’q’ik, kinjiq’ik, k’ax kuna’ wanima aretaq kinwil le sokotajik la,
Utz rowaxik, uk’exik, usachik ri ub’e’el ri ch’a’oj xb’anik.
Ta alaq kelewal, kipuqlajil nab’e taq qatat, nab’e taq qanan,
Itzel taq chomanik xb’anik konojel ri a’lk’wal la xech’ojinik,
No’jimal xek’exik, xeb’inik, xechakunik, xenumik, xekamik,
Aninaq xesachansax ri e nimaq taq winaq, kuk’a’m nimaq taq chomanik ma xeporoxik.
Maj uk’exb’em pa taq we q’ij kamik loq’alaj ulew, kariqon la,
Iwir, kab’jir, ri xekamik a’re eyo’winaq ri uxlab’ la arech k’a katataj ri ub’uk’uwem ri anima la,
Tinamit, loq’alaj nutinamit, chkitzolq’omij ta b’a ri kichomanik ri ojer tzij xepetik, ma na xaq ta lal jun amaq’,
LAL WULEW
My name is Mauricio. I am from the city of Austin in the United States. I am a student at the university. Yesterday I went to the university. When I got up, I ate. Afterwards I went to the university. I walked. I like my town. When I arrived to the university, we went to our K’iche’ class. Our teacher’s name is tat Wel. In class, we talked with our teacher in K’iche’. I like my K’iche’ class a lot!
THE AGONY OF A PEOPLE
I am saddened when I remember that day, when they arrived,
They came to devastate this country with hunger and death,
You are guilty, they said, then they were content with those who died,
It is surprising to hear it because with the words that came from their mouths, they wounded, they killed.
Land, land adored by our ancestors.
Your children (yours), before the devastators arrived, were happy, they laughed, they sang,
Who must have been those who came long ago, came and came to harm you,
Surely they ate, they slept, then they trampled your face as they walked.
Sadness and tears preceded death,
Followed by your brothers who are famine, faintness, burial.
You have no salvation. I cry, I suffocate, my soul aches when I see your wound,
Well hidden, distorted, twisted truth of the confrontation that took place.
Listen, dust and ashes of our first ancestors,
Faulty reasonings were made, all your children (yours) fought,
Slowly they were transformed, they walked, they worked, they hungered, they died,
The annihilation of our ancestors was swift, endowed with much wisdom because they were burned,
Nothing has changed today, beloved land, you suffer,
In the past, those who died were those who gave you breath so that the beat of your soul could still be heard,
People, my beloved people, may those who came long ago change their reasoning, because you are not just a country,
YOU ARE MY LAND
In K’iche’ the completive aspect indicates that the action has been completed relative to the time in which it is being spoken. Remember that aspect gives us a text internal perspective of time, how events relate to each other: the completive aspect marks events that have been completed relative to other events. We generally translate the completive with the past in English (I went, I ate, etc.).
The completive marker is the prefix x-, which replaces the incompletive k(a)-. In the completive, there is no filler vowel –a- in the third person singular linking the aspect marker with the verb stem, like in the incompletive aspect. See the following examples:
| 1. K-at-b’ek INC-2sing- go You go. |
1. x-at-b’ek COMP-2sing-go You went. |
| 2. Ka-Ø-b’ek. INC-3sing- go He/she/it goes. |
2. x-Ø-b’ek COMP-3sing-go He/she/it went. |
| 3. x-im-b’ek. COMP-1sing-go I went. |
4. x-im-b’e r-uk’ le ajkun iwir COMP-1sing 3sing-with art. doctor yesterday. I went to the doctor’s yesterday. |
| 4. La x-tzalij la iwir? INT COMP-return 2sing.form yesterday Did you return yesterday? |
5. Je’, x-in-tzalij-ik. Yes, COMP-1sing-return-pfm. Yes, I returned. |
The pronouns and phrase final markers are the same as for incompletive verbs.
| Aspect | Person | Root | PFM | Complete | Gloss |
| x- | im/in | b’e | -k | ximb’ek |
I went |
| x- | at | b’e | -k | xatb’ek |
You went |
| x- | — | b’e | — | xb’e la |
You went (formal) |
| x- | Ø | b’e | -k | xb’ek |
He/she/it went |
| x- | oj | b’e | -k | xojb’ek |
We went |
| x- | ix | b’e | -k | xixb’ek |
You all went |
| x- | — | b’e | — | xb’e alaq |
You all went (formal) |
| x- | e | b’e | -k | xeb’ek |
They went |
| wa’kat(ik) | to stroll, to take a walk |
| q’ij | day |
| amaq’ | country |
| k’a te k’u ri’ | then, after |
| E-uk’ | with (E=ergative) |
| oq'(ik) | to cry |
| ul(ik) | to arrive (here) |
| kolotaj(ik)* | salvation |
| kos(ik) | to be tired, to tire |
| muq(ik)* | to bury |
| jiq'(ik) | to suffocate |
| qatat, qanan; qati’t, qamam | our ancestors (literally: our fathers, our mothers; our grandmothers, our grandfathers) |
| tukinel(ab’) | destroyer(s) |
| sokotajik* | to be wounded |
| ch’o’jin(ik) | to fight |
| uxlab’ | breath |
| tz’olq’omij | remorse, penance, regret |
| b’uk’uwem | the beating of the earth |
| matam | late |
| aretaq | when |
*These are in a grammatical form that we have not studied yet, where the root of a verb is used to make a noun. We will learn this form later.
Translate the following sentences into English:
- Xinwa’kat pa le juyub’ iwir.
- Matam xatwa’lij kamik.
- Xki’kot le al Maria aretaq xulik.
- La xatb’e pa le tyox iwir?
- La xixkos pa le ichak?
- Xojb’e pa le amaq’ Estados Unidos.
- -La xixul pa le tijob’al?
-Je’, xojulik. - La xwar le tijoxel pa le tijonik?
- Xojch’awik.
- Xch’aw le ajtij ruk’ le al We’l.