The Incas had lunar months, so they had 12 months like us, but I’m not sure if they divided the months into weeks of 7 days, forgive my ignorance.
Almost everyone names the months and days of the week by their names in Spanish, so it is not necessary to learn their Quechua equivalents to be able to communicate with a Quechua-speaker, but it can be interesting to learn.
Keep these words in mind:
Nro Quechua Español 1 Yuraq White 2 Yana Black 3 Puka Red 4 Q’ello Yellow 5 Q’omer Green 6 Ancas Blue 7 Ch’unpi Brown 8 Ch’eqchi Heather, mottled, with spots of different color
Nro Quechua English 1 Alqo Dog 2 Michi Cat 3 K’anka Rooster 4 Wallpa Hen 5 Chiwchi Chicken 6 Ch’uspi Fly 7 Huk’ucha Mouse 8 Qowi Guinea pig 9 Llama Llama 10 Paqocha Alpaca 11 Atoq Fox 12 Puma Puma 13 Khuchi Pig 14 Piki Fleas 15 Q’ente Hummingbird 16 Urpi Andean pigeon 17 Kuru … Read more
Quechua uses a very transparent system when it comes to numbers.
Unfortunately, Quechua numbers are less and less used in everyday speech, from 1 to 10 are still widely used, and also multiples of 10, multiples of 100 and 1000, but, for example, to express amounts of money other than round numbers, many people prefer to use Spanish numbers, which are perfectly understood among the majority of Quechua-speakers.
This time we will learn to say hello and goodbye in Quechua, in addition to other expressions of courtesy.
| Nro | Quechua | English |
| 1 | ¿Imaynallan kashanki? | How are you? |
| 2 | ¿Allillanchu? | What’s up? / How are you? (literally: All right?) |
| 3 | ¿Allillanchu kashanki? | What’s up? / How are you doing? (literally: Are you ok?) |
| 4 | Allillanmi kashani | I’m fine. |
| 5 | Allillanmi | I’m good. |
| 6 | ¿Qanri? | And you? |
| 7 | ¿Iman sutiyki? | What’s your name? |
| 8 | Sutiymi José | My name is José |
| 9 | Paqarinkama | See you tomorrow |
| 10 | Huk p’unchaykama | See you soon (literally: until another day) |
| 11 | Tupananchiskama | Goodbye! (literally: until we meet again) |
| 12 | Ama hina kaychu | Please |
| 13 | Anchata kusikuni | I’m so glad |
| 14 | Allin p’unchay kachun | Good morning / May you have a good day |
| 15 | Hinallataq qanpaqpas | Also for you |
| 16 | Kusa | Good! Excellent! |
How do you say “thank you“?
Las partes del cuerpo humano en quechua
“Mana” can be used to form the antonyms of some words, for example:
In this section we will see the nouns that refer to people and family members.
Family: Ayllu
Note that after centuries of living with the Spanish language, there are many Spanish words that are used daily in Quechua, this free course is not the place to discuss whether this is right or wrong; I only inform you to take it into account.
I am in favor of a language evolving and enriching itself by acquiring words and concepts from other languages that do not exist in Quechua (for example, what is related to technology, science and other modern things), but I don’t like what words that are perfectly understandable in Quechua are Spanishized.
To learn a language and be able to have a non-complex conversation, you don’t need much vocabulary, on average with about 800 essential words it is more than enough to start.
Little by little I will give you batches of new words so that you can learn them and enrich your vocabulary. The key is in practice, do your best to use these new words, even in your thoughts.