Totonac Verbs

Mitla Ruina The Totonac language, spoken in the states of Puebla and Veracruz, has directional syllables that may occur inside of verbs. The suffix -nu means ‘into’ and -xtu means ‘out of’ in the following words. The final -lh on these verbs marks them as past tense.
The man went out of his house. The woman went into her house.
The man went out of his house.
taxtulh 		The woman went into her house.
tanulh
He took money out of his pocket. She took clothes into the house.
He took money out of
his pocket.
maxtulh 		She took clothes into
the house.
manulh

Now try your hand at being a linguist:

Question: Two of the Totonac words above begin with ta- and two begin with ma-. Can you figure out when ta- and ma- are used?

Answer: The verb ta is used when a person himself is entering or leaving; linguists call such actions intransitive.

The verb ma is used when a person makes something else enter or leave something; linguists call such actions transitive.

 

 

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