In this lesson, you will learn about nominal possession in K’iche’. It is a bit more intricate than English or Spanish as K’iche’ has a very rich word morphology. You will have plenty of examples and drills!
In the following videos, students practice the possessive markers with tat Wel. Do you notice a difference between the two?
Possession
In K’iche’ nominal possession markers are prefixed on the possessed person/object. Different sets of prefixes are used with consonant-initial nouns and with vowel-initial nouns. The exception is formal address, in which the post-nominal particles la (sing.) or alaq (plural) are used instead of prefixes. See the examples in the table below:
| Before a consonant |
rajil “money” | Before a vowel | achi’l “friend” |
| nu-rajil | my money | w-achi’il | my friend |
| a-rajil | your money | aw-achi’il | your friend |
| rajil la | your money (formal) | achi’l la | your friend (formal) |
| u-rajil | his/her money | r-achi’il | his/her friend |
| qa-rajil | our money | q-achi’il | our friend |
| i-rajil | your money (pl. informal) | iw-achi’il | your friend (pl. informal) |
| rajil alaq | your money (pl. formal) | achi’l alaq | your friend (pl. formal) |
| ki-rajil
|
their money | k-achi’il
|
their friend |
Inherent possession (-Vl)
A certain class of K’iche’ nouns may take an additional /-Vl/ suffix. This is known as inherent possession and marks a part-whole relationship between possessor and possessed object/person. For example, the semantic difference between nub’aq and nub’aqil, both of which would be glossed as “my bone” in English, concerns inherent possession. The former references bones that are not part of the possessor’s body, chicken bones used to make soup, for example; the latter, in contrast, references the possessor’s own body. Some nouns take only inherent possession markers (wife, husband), others may take both (bone, house). The large majority of nouns do not take inherent possession markers, however. A few nouns take irregular possessed forms such as house (ja when not possessed, -ochoch when possessed).
| Preconsonantal | b’aq ‘bone’ | Prevocalic | ixoq ‘woman’ | –o’ch | ‘house’ |
| nu-b’aq-il | my bone( as part of my body) | w-ixoq-il | my wife | w-o’ch | my house |
| a-b’aq-il | your bone | aw-ixoq-il | your wife | aw-o’ch | your house |
| b’aq-il la | your bone (formal) | ixoq-il la | your wife (formal) | o’ch la | your house (formal) |
| u-b’aq-il | his/her/its bone | r-ixoq-il | his/her wife | r-o’ch | his/her house |
| qa-b’aqi-il | our bone | q-ixoq-il | our wife | q-o’ch | our house |
| i-b’aq-il | your (pl.) bone | iw-ixoq-il | your wife (pl.) | iw-o’ch | your house (pl.) |
| b’aq-il alaq | your (pl. formal) bone | ixoq-il alaq | your wife (pl. formal) | o’ch alaq | your house (pl. formal) |
| ki-b’aq-il
|
their bone | k-ixoq-il
|
their wife | ko’ch
|
their house |
Other examples:
| wuj | book |
| che’ | tree |
| ja | house (unpossessed) |
| -o’ch | house (possessed) |
| -ij | back of… (possessed) |
| achi’il | friend |
| -wach | face (possessed |
| -al | child (of woman) |
| kaq | red |
| ch’ich’ | metal; car |
| kik’ | blood |
| xa’r | cup |
| wakax | cow |
| q’oq’ | chilacayote |
| oj | avocado |
| ulew | tierra |
| b’aq | bone |
| rajil | money |
| tijonik | lesson |
| tz’ib’ab’al | pencil, pen |
Mark all of the following nouns using the possessive markers for all persons:
ch’ich’
kik’
xa’r
wakax
q’oq’
oj
ulew
b’aq
wuj
tijonik
tzib’ab’al