Basic Sentences

Verb Subject Object Order

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In MacZ, declarative sentences—those sentences that make a statement (as opposed to a question or a command)—have a basic word order of Verb Subject Object (VSO); the verb comes before the subject which in turn precedes any object that is present in the sentence. (Other word orders are possible in MacZ, though their grammar is more complex. We will be looking at these other orders in Lesson 6).

In English, the word order in declarative sentences is almost always Subject Verb Object (SVO). Consider the sentence in 1 for example:

In this sentence, the subject dogs precedes the verb eat which precedes the object meat. In the equivalent MacZ sentence, the verb precedes the subject:

The verb roo 'eats/is eating' precedes the subject beccu' 'dog' which comes before the object beela' 'meat'. Additional examples are given below (in both the Zapotec and the English, the subject has been italicized and the verb placed in bold):

Verbs and Subjects without Objects

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As is also the case in English, MacZ generally requires a subject and a verb to make a complete sentence. But in both languages, objects depend on the verb. Some verbs require objects, some forbid them, and others optionally take them. Regardless of whether an object is present or not, in English the subject continues to precede the verb while in MacZ the subject follows the verb (again subjects are italicized and verbs are in bold):

Pronoun Subjects

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Just like other subjects, pronoun subjects in English precede the verb while in MacZ they follow the verb. The only difference is that in MacZ, the pronouns actually attach to the verb to form a single word with it. We can see this in the examples below with the pronoun subjects ‑ya' 'I' and -lù' 'you' (the dash indicates that these are suffixes and cannot stand by themselves):¹

We will be learning other pronoun subjects (such as the words for we, he, they etc.) in later lessons.

Basic Questions

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Yes/No Questions

Simple yes/no questions—those questions that can be answered by a yes or a no—are formed in the present tense in MacZ by adding a ba- prefix before the verb. Following Spanish writing conventions, an upside down question mark ¿ is generally placed at the beginning of a question with a regular question mark following the question. (In English, the formation of these questions is more complicated and requires placing an auxiliary verb before the subject.) In MacZ, these questions can be answered with oho 'yes' or abii 'no':

Who/What Questions

To ask a question about who, what, where, when, how, why, etc., the appropriate question word is placed at the beginning of the sentence. This is illustrated in the sentences below with questions involving nuuni 'who' and biini 'what':

New Vocabulary

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Practice Exercises

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Translate the following sentences into Zapotec:

1. A man is drying corn.

2. A woman is making atole.

3. A horse is kicking a dog.

4. A man kills a snake.

5. What does a dog eat?

Translate the following sentences into English:

1 Rudiia tu niula tu libru.

2 Rutti' tu beyùú' béllá.

3 ¿Nuuni rugoo tu bia'?

4 Ri'ya tu beccu' niisi'.

5 Abii ruushia' tu beccu'.

Answer the following Zapotec questions with a complete sentence in Zapotec:

1 ¿Nuuni rutti' inda ilaa'?

2 ¿Nuuni rushiisi'?

3 ¿Biini roolù'?

4 ¿Nuuni abii ra'athi?

5 ¿Nuuni abii ruya'a?

1.The pronoun –lù' 'you' is informal, used to address people who are younger than the speaker or viewed as an equal. Older and/or respected individuals are addressed with a different pronoun, -ccwa', to be discussed later. The pronoun suffix –ya' 'I' frequently changes the tones of the verb as well. We will not be concerned with that here, but you might listen to the teacher to see if you can detect the difference in how the verb is pronounced depending on whether –ya' is attached to it or not.
2.With the verb ruuni, the final i of the verb deletes before a suffix. This is discussed more in the pronoun lesson.

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