To form negative sentences in Quechua we need the suffix -chu which is used to indicate the denied element of the sentence (word or phrase), therefore there is no a fixed word to which it is added. We must also add the word ‘mana‘ (no).
In the lesson about the verb Kay we saw that for the third person the suffix -mi/-n was used, now we will also need this suffix, which has the function of emphasizing the sentence or phrase that accompanies it. So, to form negative sentences we will need to add this suffix to ‘mana’ obtaining: ‘manan‘.
With the following example you will realize that turning a positive sentence into a negative sentence is almost as easy as when in English we add the word ‘not’ or ‘don’t’.
| Oración Afirmativa | Oración negativa |
| Kunan p’unchay llank’asaq ([I] will work today) | Manan kunan p’unchay llank’asaqchu ([I] will not work today) |
| Manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’asaq ([I] will not work today) | |
| Kunan p’unchay manan llank’asaqchu ([I] will not work today) |
Maybe the variation seems a bit confusing, so in the examples we will see later we will only use 2 basic structures😀.
- Kunan p’unchay: today
- Kunan: now
- P’unchay: day
You can also use the word ‘ama‘ (not prohibitive), but we saw this in the lesson on imperative sentences.
1. Negative sentences with the suffixes -chu, -qa and -ta
In previous lessons we learned to use the suffixes -qa, but until now we saw that they were only used in the third person, however, in negative sentences it is important to add the suffix -qa to the pronoun or noun that executes the action.
For example, let’s see how the sentence of the previous example would be with each of the grammatical people, and also with proper names.
| Oraciones afirmativas | Oraciones negativas |
| Noqa kunan p’unchay llank’asaq (I will work today) | Noqaqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’asaqchu Noqaqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’asaq (I will not work today) |
| Qan kunan p’unchay llank’anki (You will work today) | Qanqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’ankichu Qanqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’anki (You will not work today) |
| Pay kunan p’unchay llank’anqa (He/She will work today) | Payqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’anqachu Payqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’anqa (He/She will not work today) |
| Miriam kunan p’unchay llank’anqa (Miriam will work today) | Miriamqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’anqachu Miriamqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’anqa (Miriam will not work today) |
| Noqanchis kunan p’unchay llank’asunchis (We will work today) [Including the addressee] | Noqanchisqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’asunchischu Noqanchisqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’asunchis (We will not work today) [Including the addressee] |
| Noqayku kunan p’unchay llank’asaqku (We will work today) [Not including the addressee] | Noqaykuqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’asaqkuchu Noqaykuqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’asaqku (We will not work today) [Not including the addressee] |
| Qankuna kunan p’unchay llank’ankichis (We will work today) | Qankunaqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’ankichischu Qankunaqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’ankichis (We will not work today) |
| Paykuna kunan p’unchay llank’anqaku (They will work today) | Paykunaqa manan kunan p’unchay llank’anqakuchu Paykunaqa manan kunan p’unchaychu llank’anqaku (They will not work today) |
2. Negative sentences with the suffix -ta
| Oraciones afirmativas | Oraciones negativas |
| Noqa chayta munani (I want that) | Noqaqa manan chayta munanichu Noqaqa manan chaytachu munani (I don’t want that) |
| Qan chay waynata munakunki (You love that boy) | Qanqa manan chay waynata munakunkichu Qanqa manan chay waynatachu munakunki (You don’t love that boy) |
| Payqa chay q’opata wikch’uran (He/She threw that garbage) | Payqa manan chay q’opata wikch’uranchu Payqa manan chay q’opatachu wikch’uran (He/She didn’t throw that garbage) |
| Rosaqa Eduardota munakun (Rosa loves Eduardo) | Rosaqa manan Eduardota munakunchu Rosaqa manan Eduardotachu munakun (Rosa doesn’t love Eduardo) |
| Noqanchis chay runakunata uyariranchis (We listened to those people) [Including the addressee] | Noqanchisqa manan chay runakunata uyariranchischu Noqanchisqa manan chay runakunatachu uyariranchis (We didn’t listen to those people) [Including the addressee] |
| Noqayku runa simita yacharayku (We learned Quechua) [Not including the addressee] | Noqaykuqa manan runa simita yacharaykuchu Noqaykuqa manan runa simitachu yacharayku (We didn’t learn Quechua) [Not including the addressee] |
| Qankuna kayta yachankichis (You [guys] know this) | Qankunaqa manan kayta yachankichischu Qankunaqa manan kaytachu yachankichis (You [guys] don’t know this) |
| Paykunaqa chaykunata tapuranku (They asked those things) | Paykunaqa manan chaykunata tapurankuchu Paykunaqa manan chaykunatachu tapuranku (They didn’t ask those things) |
In this second group of sentences I didn’t conjugate the same sentence for all grammatical people, so you have more variety of examples, I hope it has been useful.