Section §22.1 explains how to use complex verbs with rac. Topics are presented in section §22.2. Section §22.3 introduces the definite future form, and section §22.4 reverential idioms. “Another”/”more” forms of numbers and the “only”/”just” particle –izy are presented in sections §22.5 and §22.6.

_{Fot Teiby xte Lecsyony Galyabtyop. A little girl in Tlacolula dressed in Isthmus Zapotec style.}

Xiëru Zalo Ra Dizh

1. Only three “another” forms of numbers are listed above; you’ll learn how to form many more of these in the lesson.

2. Ria “goes home” looks like ria “goes” in the habitual, and they are pronounced just the same. However, their other forms are different: compare the perfectives bia “went home” and gwe “went” or the irrealis gyia “will go home” and chia “will go”. You’ll learn more about using this new verb in the lesson.

3. Rzalo is used with another verb in the same form, as in these examples:

In the first example, both verbs are perfective; in the second, both verbs are irrealis; in the third, both verbs are habitual. Both verbs are followed by their subjects. (You’ll hear speakers use other sentence patterns with rzalo as well.)

§22.1. Complex verbs with rac

In Lecsyony Tsëbtyop, you learned about complex verbs containing runy “does”, most of which include words borrowed from Spanish, as in these examples:

In addition to these verbs with runy, Valley Zapotec also has complex verbs containing rac “is”. Here are some examples of sentences with the most common type of complex verb with rac:

There is a regular relationship between complex verbs with runy and complex verbs with rac. Compare the verbs below. You learned the first runy verb earlier; the next three are new. But they all work similarly:

      Each runy verb has both a subject and an object, and refers to an action. Here is the pattern for the runy verbs:

The rac verbs, on the other hand, do not have objects, and express the idea of “getting” into a state or “being” in a state. They use this pattern:

Negative future sentences, of course, use a different pattern. A negative future sentence begins with queitydi, followed by the subject, followed by the irrealis verb gac or guny. If the subject is a bound pronoun, it will also appear next, before the second word of the complex verb and the rest of the sentence, as in the pattern below. (“Bound pronoun” is in parentheses here because it must appear only when the subject of the sentence is a bound pronoun.) You can review the negative irrealis pattern in Lecsyony Tsë.

If you compare related pairs of runy and rac sentences, you’ll see that the object of a runy sentence is the same as the subject of the corresponding rac sentence.

With other verbs, while the general pattern is the same, the rac verbs are not translated with “is” or “gets”. Here are some more pairs:

Once again, the rac verbs have only a subject, while the runy verbs have both a subject and an object, with the object of the runy verb corresponding to the subject of the rac verb. The English translations, however, are somewhat different.

Of course, there are some runy verbs (such as runy nadar “swims”) that refer to actions but don’t have objects. Runy verbs like this usually don’t have corresponding rac verbs. In addition, there are rac verbs that don’t have a corresponding runy verb, such as rac enfad “gets annoyed, gets fed up”:

As you study more Zapotec, you’ll learn more rac and runy verbs and other ways to use them.

§22.2. Topics

Here are some new sentences. Can you see what’s different about them compared to the usual types of Zapotec sentences you’ve seen before?

These sentences all start with names or noun phrases, so they look like ordinary focus sentences. But then they include either a subject or an object pronoun following the verb. This pronoun refers to the noun phrase at the beginning of the sentence. This is called a topic sentence pattern. The name or noun phrase at the beginning is called the topic, usually someone or something that the speaker has already been speaking about. Following the topic is a complete sentence containing a pronoun referring to the topic. If you listen, you’ll hear a slight pause following the topic — we can show this with a comma following the topic, in both Zapotec and English.

Here are the patterns. First, for subject topics:

Next, for object topics:

You can even have a focused subject pronoun following the topic:

There are similar patterns for topics that are prepositional objects or possessors, as these sentences show:

In every case, the topic is followed by a complete sentence containing a pronoun referring to the topic.

§22.3. The definite future

Definite verbs. Since Lecsyony Tsë, you’ve been using Valley Zapotec irrealis verbs to refer to the future. But there’s another future verb form, the DEFINITE (abbreviated “def.”), which refers to a certain future, used to talk about an event that the speaker definitely knows will occur.

Here are some contrasting definite and irrealis pairs, each with several translations. The definite verbs are italicized:

_{Fot Tyop xte Lecsyony Galyabtyop. Musicians in Tlacolula.}

In these examples, the definite verbs are translated with “definitely” and “surely”, but these words may not always be included in a translation. The idea is always there, though – if a speaker uses a definite future, he or she is more certain that the event in question will occur. Here’s another example from the Useful Phrases section of Unida Tyop (S-9):

In a question, as in this example, a definite verb is used to ask about the hearer’s definite beliefs or intentions.

Forming definite stems. The examples above illustrate the different forms definite stems can have.

There are a number of possibilities. Before bases starting with vowels or y, the definite prefix is z- (as with zau and zyan). Before bases beginning with most other consonants, the definite prefix is s- (as with sdeidy). Before bases beginning with s and x, however, the definite stem usually looks exactly like the base (as with seidy). And before bases beginning with z and zh, the definite stem usually looks like the base with s or x (respectively) substituted for the first consonant (as with sicy and xuny).

Below is a table that compares the formation of definite and irrealis stems, according to what kind of base you start with.

As you know, base-changing verbs have a different base in the perfective: the perfective stem of rau “eats” is bdau, and the perfective stem of rgue “cusses” is bde. As the examples above show, the base that is used in forming the definite (and every other form other than the perfective) is the same as the habitual base.

The table may make the formation of the definite look more complicated than the formation of the irrealis. But definite verbs are not really harder to learn than irrealis verbs. The irrealis column above just tells you about regular irrealis forms. As you know, though, there are many irregular irrealis forms. As long as you follow the rules in the table, however, definite stems are formed completely regularly!

One thing that’s often irregular about irrealis stems, as you know, is their pronunciation. In addition to irregular consonant changes, the irrealis stem often has a different vowel pattern from the habitual stem. The definite stem, however, is pronounced with a vowel pattern just like that of the habitual. Here are some examples:

The last three examples will remind you that verbs with bases that begin with z often have irrealis stems that start with s. (This is not regular. Normally, verbs with bases that start with z have irrealis stems that start with yz, as with rzicy “sends back”, irr. yzicy, or rzeny “arrives”, irr. yzeny.) Thus, these verbs have irrealis stems that are written just like the (regular) definite. But in such cases the definite and irrealis stems are often pronounced differently, with the definite pronounced with the same vowel pattern as the habitual, as the examples show.

The definite stem of some verbs with “we” subjects is different from the definite stem used for other subjects. As you know, d-base verbs and some other verbs have irregular forms with “we” subjects. But forming the “we” subject definite verb follows the same rules given above. Start with the base used in the habitual — which for these verbs, is different from the base used with other subjects, and then follow the same rules:

Just look at the base! If it starts with a consonant, use the definite prefix s-; if it starts with a vowel, use the prefix z-.

A few verbs don’t have definite stems. These are listed in the verb charts and Rata Ra Dizh with “no def.”. For these verbs, the irrealis is used to express the “surely, definitely” meaning.

More about definite verbs in sentences. In the examples above, definite verbs are substituted for irrealis verbs. There’s a change in meaning (the definite sentences contain the “definitely” or “surely” idea), but the sentences look very similar.

However, while definite and irrealis verbs can both be used to refer to the future, you can’t always substitute definite verbs for irrealis verbs. Below are some examples of types of sentences where irrealis verbs can be used, but definite verbs can’t:

As you learned in Lecsyony Tsë, irrealis verbs are used in sentences with rcaz (to tell what someone wants to happen), and in plural, polite, and negative commands. Definite verbs can’t be used in these types of sentences. If you think about it, this makes sense, because things you want or might order or request are not events that are certain to occur.

Irrealis verbs are also used following bal “if” (which is pronounced just like bal “how many”!):

In English, we don’t say If I will see him…, but the verb following if still refers to a future event. In Zapotec, you use an irrealis verb to refer to the future following “if”. Definite verbs can’t be used in this case, however, because if you’re saying “if” about the future, you don’t know if your statement is true!

There are two additional things to learn about using definite verbs to refer to the future. First, speakers usually feel that sentences with definite verbs sound best if the verb phrase comes at the beginning of the sentence. This means that sentences with definite verbs don’t have any focused items. (When you use a definite verb, you’re actually focusing on the verb.) Of course, as the sentence below shows, a verb phrase may include a short word like a before a definite verb. (A is especially common in questions like this with definite verbs.)

Second, definite verbs are usually not used in negative statements of any kind. (Probably this is because they really refer to things that are definitely going to happen. If the sentence is negative, this can’t be true! Alternatively, though, maybe it’s because of the rule against putting things in front of the definite verb.)

Definites of ried and ria. The definite of ried “comes” is zied. Zied “will surely come” is completely regular.

The definite of ria “goes” is ze [zeheh]. Ria “goes” is the only verb that has an irregular definite (but, in fact, the definite has the same vowel and vowel pattern as the perfective of ria, which is gwe [gweheh]).

Ze “will surely go” has several irregular forms with bound pronouns:

All the other forms of ze are regular, using the combination form ze [zeh].

Definites of andative and venitive verbs. The definite andative prefix is ze– [ze], and the definite venitive prefix is zied- [zìe’d]. With a “we” subject, the definite andative prefix is zo- [zoo’], and the definite venitive prefix is zyop- [zyoo’p]. Here are some examples:

Definite andative and venitive verbs are quite common, and you’ll hear speakers use them often.

Definites and incompletives. Perhaps you’ve already realized that the definites of “goes” and “comes” are very similar to the incompletive forms of “goes” and “comes” that you learned in Lecsyony Galyabteiby. Definite and incompletive andatives and venitives are also very similar. In fact, the written forms of these verbs are just the same! But most of them are pronounced differently. Below are some comparisons.

First, for definite and incompletive ze:

Listen as your teacher pronounces these words.

While all the definite-incompletive pairs in the table are spelled the same, most of them are pronounced differently. However, the shaded items (those with “I” and “we” subjects) are pronounced the same, in both the definite and the incompletive. Zaa [za-a’] means both “I will surely go” and “I was going”, and Zoën [zoo’-ëhnn] means both “We will surely go” and “We were going.” This may seem pretty confusing, but in fact, if you think about it, in a given situation only one of the two is likely to make much sense.

The next table gives definite and incompletive zied pairs for “come” verbs. Listen again as your teacher pronounces these pairs of words.

Once again, the “I” and “we” subject forms are the same: Zyala [zyàa’lla’] can mean both “I will surely come” and “I was coming”; Zyopën [zyoo’pëhnn] can mean both “We will surely come” and “We were coming”. (These are all shaded in the table.) But, of course, in a particular situation usually there won’t be any difficulty understanding what a speaker means.

With the andatives and venitives, the situation is different. For every subject except “we”, the prefixes are pronounced differently. The definite andative prefix is ze- [ze], and the incompletive andative prefix is ze- [zee]; the definite venitive prefix is zied- [zìe’d], and the incompletive venitive prefix is zied- [ziìe’d], so all the forms are different. Only the “we” subject forms are the same. Zyopgyaën [zyoo’pgyàa’-ëhnn] can mean both “We will surely come and dance” and “We were coming to dance”. But, of course, in a particular situation usually there won’t be any difficulty understanding what a speaker means.

A new “goes” verb. Ria “goes home; goes back inside” is pronounced just like ria “goes”, but the perfective and irrealis forms of these verbs are different. Like ria “goes” and ried, ria “goes home” has an incompletive form which, as you might expect, is similar to its definite future. The definite stem of ria “goes home” is zia [zihah], and the incompletive stem is zia [ziia]. For many of the forms with vowel-initial bound pronouns, the base is zye. Here are the other forms:

Now you know all the verbs that have an incompletive form — ria “goes”, ried “comes”, and ria “goes home”, plus andatives and venitives. Almost all verbs have definite forms, but only these have incompletive forms.  Consequently, these are the only verbs for which there is any possible confusion between written definite and incompletive forms. With any other verb, if you see a form that looks like a definite, it is a definite!

§22.4. Reverential idioms

Can you see what the following sentences have in common?

True, there are two pairs (at the end) with the same meaning, but otherwise there doesn’t seem to be much that these sentences have in common! However, if you listen to and look at these sentences, you’ll probably see that all the verbs include the bound reverential subject pronoun -iny. However, only some of these sentences are translated into English with “it”, not all of them, and none of them seem to include a holy person or item as their subject.

These sentences are idioms: their meaning is something you need to memorize, since you can’t figure it out exactly from the meaning of the individual words that make up each item. A REVERENTIAL IDIOM is an expression with a reverential pronoun subject that has a meaning that you can’t figure out from the individual words it contains.

For example, riab means “falls”. Literally, riabiny means “it (rev.) falls” — but Zapotec speakers understand this as meaning “there is a job opening”. Rla means “bumps into”. Literally, rlainy means “it (rev.) bumps” — but Zapotec speakers understand this as meaning “it’s fortunate” or “things are fortunate”. These are meanings that you just need to learn. (See if you can figure out the literal meanings of all the other new expressions. How do you think the idiomatic meanings developed?)

Now, here’s one more reverential idiom:

This is a reverential idiom, literally meaning “it (rev.) is cutting me”; like the others above, its subject is a bound reverential pronoun. But it’s also an inverse idiom, just like riabzac “likes” (Lecsyony Tseinyabteiby). The person we think of as the subject (“I”, in the example) actually is expressed as an object, with the free pronoun naa. (Inverse idioms show that sometimes we need to distinguish between the subject recognized by the grammar of the language, and the subject that makes sense in terms of the meaning. They aren’t always the same!)

§22.5. “Another” / “more” forms of numbers

“Another” / “more” numbers. Here are some sentences with “another” forms of numbers:

The numbers in these sentences work pretty much like other numbers. Like other numbers, they must be followed by a noun or pronoun; they can’t be used alone. Like other numbers, they frequently occur at the beginning of the sentence. These number words are different from the numbers you’ve learned before, since they all start with a prefix s-. These numbers express “another” plus the number or “more” following the number. (If you think about it, the examples above could also be translated with “two more days”, “seven more of us”, and “ten or fifteen years more”.)

Here are the “another” or “more” forms of the numbers up to ten:

As the stseiny “another fifteen” example above shows, you can use these new forms with higher numbers as well. Most numbers are pronounced just the same with the s- prefix, although steby “another one” and stap “another four” are not.

Steby can be translated “another one (of)”, as in

but more commonly it’s translated just “another”, as in

Steby can also express “the other”, as in this example from Blal xte Tiu Pamyël:

S- on other words. The s- prefix (or its variant sa-) can also appear on other words referring to quantities, such as

Sa- is used before words that start with two consonants, and in some words the pronunciation of the consonant after s- changes. Here are some examples of how these words are used:

Spal and stuzh are like the “another” / “more” number words, in that they must be used with a following noun or pronoun. Sabgaly and sablac are different from all the other s- words you’ve seen so far in that they don’t require a following noun or pronoun: they include the idea of “money”, so another noun is not necessary.

You can also use s- on the special word cha meaning “one” when you’re talking about tortillas or other breadstuffs (Lecsyony Xop):

_{Fot Chon xte Lecsyony Galyabtyop. Rcazu scha guet xtily nax e? Pan dulce (sweet bread) in the market in Tlacolula}

“Again”. Steby can mean “again” (or “another time”) as well as “another one”. In this case too you don’t need to use a following noun or pronoun. Here are some examples:

Unlike the other s- words, steby “again” usually goes at the end of the sentence (or at least following the verb, subject, and object).

§22.6. The “only” / “just” particle — and more about particles

The –izy particle. Here are some examples of sentences containing a new particle, –izy [ihzy], which means “only” or “just”.

As you learned about the “must” particle –zhyi (Lecsyony Tseinyabtyop), –izy goes on the first item in the sentence. If that first item is focused, then the “only” idea applies only to the focused item, as you can see in the translations of the examples. (“Miguel ate the grasshopper only yesterday” means that Miguel didn’t eat it any other day, “Only Miguel ate the grasshopper yesterday” means that no one else ate it, and so on.) If the first word in the sentence is the verb, as in the last example, then the sentence may be interpreted more neutrally, or you can assume that “only” applies to the verb. (Often “just” is a good English translation for –izy too.)

As with –zhyi, when the first item in the sentence is a verb, –izy is attached to the verb, and bound pronoun subjects follow the particle:

However, when any other item in the sentence comes before the verb, –izy comes after that item, and a bound pronoun subject goes in its normal position after the verb:

Thus, it’s important to remember that bound pronoun subjects are attached to a verb word (just as bound pronoun possessors are attached to a possessed noun phrase), but particles may go on any type of word, according to what comes first. Further, even though bdauwa “I ate” is a complete word, in a sentence like Bdauwizya bxady nai the particle does not come at the end of this word, but rather after the verb.

Two more things about using –izy. First, you can’t use –izy in a sentence with a definite verb. Also, you may hear speakers use another form of the “only” particle, –dizy. We won’t practice that one in this book, but you need to be able to recognize it when you hear it.

Particles with reversible sentences. As you know, a sentence with a focused noun or name before a reversible verb and a noun or name after that verb may be interpreted in two ways:

The first noun or name in the sentence is focused, but we don’t know from this sentence whether it’s the subject or the object.

When you use a particle (–zhyi, -izy, or another particle) after the focused item in a reversible sentence, the sentence is, again, AMBIGUOUS (it has two possible meanings):

Where does the particle go? In all the examples up to now, the particle has been attached to the first word in the sentence. However, there are certain types of phrases in which particles may, or must, go after a longer phrase. For example, here’s a sentence you saw in Lecsyony Tseinyabtyop:

When the first phrase in a sentence begins with plural ra, the only place for a particle is after the noun following ra.

Another case where a particle must go after the second word in the sentence is with a focused noun followed by an adjective:

In sentences like this, you can’t put the particle after the noun. It must go after the noun + adjective phrase. Ra plural phrases and noun + adjective phrases can’t be broken up by anything, even a particle. Here’s another example that combines these two cases:

This one shows that, in fact, you can have three words before the particle!

Below are some additional examples. Can you tell what’s going on?

When a sentence begins with a focused number + noun phrase or a focused prepositional phrase, the particle may go after that whole phrase.

But here’s something interesting: in cases like these, the particle may also go after the number or the preposition!

(Usually this works only with Spanish prepositions.) The meaning is the same, regardless of where you put the particle.

More about possessors, prepositional objects, particles, and bound pronouns. With possessed noun phrases, things are a bit trickier. First, with a focused possessed noun phrase that includes a noun or name possessor, the best place for a particle is after the noun or name possessor:

It’s possible that you might hear sentences like this with the particle after the possessed noun, but generally speakers prefer to put the particle after the noun possessor.

The same is true with native prepositional phrases. With a focused native prepositional phrase with a noun or name prepositional object, the best place for the particle is after that noun object:

It’s possible that you might hear sentences like this with the particle after the native preposition, but generally speakers prefer to put the particle after the noun or name prepositional object.

However, things are different if the possessor or the prepositional object is a bound pronoun rather than a noun or name. In this case, the particle always comes before the bound pronoun:

Free pronouns plus –izy. You might think you could just add –izy onto the end of a free pronoun, but that’s not true! Below are the “only” + free pronoun words:

These words can be used at the beginning of the sentence to focus a subject or object pronoun, in examples like

(The “only” pronouns translated “only he” (etc.) could also mean “only him”, “only she”, “only her”, and, in many cases, “only it”.)

How are these words formed? Have you noticed that all the Valley Zapotec free pronouns (except the formal pronouns) include bound pronouns? The bound pronouns are underlined in the free pronouns below:

If you think about it, then, the “only” free pronouns are formed just the same way every other word that includes a particle plus a bound pronoun is — with the particle before the bound pronoun! (But if this seems too complicated, you can just memorize the “only” pronoun combinations.)

_{Fot Tap xte Lecsyony Galyabtyop. Both gringos and Zapotecs enjoy eating at the Comedor Mary in Tlacolula.}

Abbreviations

def. definite

Prefixes

s- [s] (definite prefix, used before hab. bases starting with consonants)

s- [s] / sa- [sa] another (number or quantity); (number or quantity) more (prefix)

z- [z] (definite prefix, used before hab. bases starting with vowels)

ze- [ze] (definite andative prefix)

zied- [zìe’d] (definite venitive prefix)

zo- [zoo’] (definite venitive prefix for verbs with a “we” subject)

zyop- [zyoo’p] (definite andative prefix for verbs with a “we” subject)

Endings

-dizy [dihzy] see –izy

-izy [ihzy] / –dizy [dihzy] only; just (particle)