Otomí (Hñähñu)
· HñähñuEndangeredOtomangue · Hidalgo, Querétaro, Estado de MéxicoWord Constructor
These languages build new words by joining roots and affixes. Type in Spanish or English and construct the word or phrase in the language.
Morphology explorer
Break a word into roots, prefixes, and suffixes.
Affixes (prefixes & suffixes)
The pieces words in this language are built from.
Subject prefixes
- dí-I (present)dí ʼñepʼä = trabajo
- gí-you sg. (present)
- í- / bi-he/she (3rd)
Possessives
- mä-mymä ngû = mi casa
- ní-your sg.
- rá-his/her
Tense & aspect
- dá-I (past/completive)
- gá-you sg. (past/completive)
- bi-he/she (past)
Absolutive suffixes
- ar / rasingular articlear ngû = la casa
Plural
- yáplural articleyá ngû = las casas
- -widual (two)
Language structure
How this language works — its word order, morphology, sounds and writing. This reference also grounds the AI Word Constructor.
Word order
VSO/VOS order, head-marking; the article precedes the noun.
Morphology
Largely analytic and head-marking: verbs take proclitic person+TAM markers (dí- 1sg present, gí- 2nd, bi- 3rd completive); nouns take a preposed article (ar/ra sg., yá pl.) and prefixal possessives (mä- my, ní- your, rá- his/her). Far less synthetic than Nahuatl.
Sounds (phonology)
Tonal (high, low and rising tones) with phonemic nasalization; oral and nasal vowels and glottalized consonants. The INALI norm marks tone and nasalization.
Writing system
INALI Hñähñu orthography (Mezquital Valley), with diacritics for tone (e.g. underlined vowel ̱ for low tone) and nasal vowels (ä, ̧).
Key features
- Tense/aspect is marked by proclitics before the verb, not suffixes.
- Tone and nasalization are contrastive: they change meaning.
- Prefers short, analytic constructions over long single words.
- Possession by prefixes (mä-/ní-/rá-).
This reference is also fed to the AI Word Constructor so it builds words the way the language actually works.