1
Greetings & Basic Phrases
Nahuatl greetings vary by dialect, but Classical Nahuatl and many modern variants share a core set of everyday phrases. Learning these first will give you an immediate ability to connect with Nahuatl speakers.
Niltze / Pialli
/nil.tse/ — /pi.a.lli/
Hello / Greetings. Niltze is a shortened form of ninotza ("I greet you"), widely used in the Huasteca region. Pialli (from pialtia, "to be glad") is common in central varieties. Both function as general-purpose greetings.
Quenin otitlanez?
/ke.nin o.ti.tla.nes/
How are you? / How did you dawn? Literally "How did you appear/dawn?" This greeting reflects the Nahua cultural importance of sunrise and a new day. The root tlaneci means "to dawn" or "to appear in light."
Tlazohcamati
/tla.soh.ka.ma.ti/
Thank you. Composed of tlazoh (precious, beloved) and camati (to feel/perceive). Literally: "I feel something precious." Adding miac (much) makes it "Thank you very much": Tlazohcamati miac.
Quemah / Ahmo
/ke.mah/ — /ah.mo/
Yes / No. Quemah ("yes, indeed") and Ahmo ("no, not") are the fundamental affirmative and negative particles. Ahmo is also used as a prefix in verb negation: ahmo nicmati = "I don't know."
Cultural Note
Nahuatl greetings often reference nature and time of day. Morning greetings may include references to dawn (tlaneci), while evening farewells invoke rest: Ximocehui ("Rest well"). This reflects the deep Nahua connection between language and the natural world.
2
Numbers & Counting
Nahuatl uses a vigesimal (base-20) counting system, which means numbers are built in groups of twenty rather than ten. This system was shared across Mesoamerica and is reflected in the structure of the calendar as well. The fingers and toes of a complete person (cempohualli = one count = 20) form the foundation.
One. The root of cen- (whole, complete) and cemanahuac (the whole world).
Two. Seen in Ometeotl (Dual God) and Ometecuhtli / Omecihuatl (Lord/Lady of Duality).
Four. Sacred number in Nahua cosmology: four cardinal directions, four previous Suns. Nahui Ollin = "Four Movement" (the Fifth Sun).
Macuilli = 5
/ma.kwil.li/
Five. From maitl (hand) — literally "the hand is taken" (all five fingers grasped).
Chicuace = 6
/tʃi.kwa.se/
Six. Formed as chicua- + ce (one beyond five).
Seven. Chicome Coatl (Seven Serpent) was the maize goddess.
Chicnahui = 9
/tʃik.na.wi/
Nine. Chicnahui Mictlan referred to the nine levels of the underworld.
Mahtlactli = 10
/mah.tlak.tli/
Ten. From maitl (hand) + tlactli (torso/body) — "half the body" (two hands).
The Vigesimal System
Numbers above 10 continue: mahtlactli once (11), mahtlactli omome (12), up to caxtolli (15) and caxtolli once (16), through cempohualli (20, literally "one complete count"). Larger numbers multiply by twenty: ompohualli (40 = 2×20), nauhpohualli (80 = 4×20), and centzontli (400 = 20×20). The word centzontli also means "four hundred" and appears in centzontli huitzitzillin (mockingbird, literally "four hundred voices").
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The Nahuatl Sound System
Nahuatl has a relatively simple vowel system but a distinctive set of consonants that are unfamiliar to most European-language speakers. Understanding these sounds is essential for correct pronunciation and comprehension.
Vowels
Classical Nahuatl has four vowel qualities, each of which can be short or long. Vowel length is phonemic, meaning it changes the meaning of a word.
Short a and long ā. Example: atl (water) vs. āmatl (amate paper). A macron (ā) marks long vowels in scholarly writing.
Short e and long ē. Example: tetl (stone) vs. tētl (fire).
i & ī
/i/ as in "machine"
Short i and long ī. Example: michi (fish) vs. mīquiztli (death).
Short o and long ō. Example: tochi (rabbit) vs. tōchtīn (our rabbit, reverential).
Key Consonants
tl
/t͡ɬ/ — voiceless lateral affricate
The most iconic Nahuatl sound. Place your tongue as if saying "t," then release air over the sides of the tongue (like a simultaneous "t" + "l"). Appears in Nahuatl, atl, Quetzalcoatl. It is a single phoneme, not a cluster.
tz
/t͡s/ — voiceless alveolar affricate
Similar to "ts" in English "cats," but treated as one sound. Example: tzin (reverential suffix), Quetzalcoatl, Itzcoatl.
ch
/tʃ/ — voiceless postalveolar affricate
Like English "ch" in "church." Example: chilli (chile pepper), Chicome (seven).
hu / uh
/w/ — labial-velar approximant
hu before a vowel and uh after a vowel both represent /w/. Example: Huitzilopochtli (/wi.tsi.lo.potʃ.tli/), Cuauhtli ("eagle," /kwaw.tli/).
The Saltillo (Glottal Stop)
The saltillo is a brief catch in the throat, like the pause in the middle of English "uh-oh." In many orthographies it is written as h or with an apostrophe. It is phonemic: tlatoa ("he speaks") vs. tlahtoa ("he speaks" — different dialectal form). Ignoring it changes meaning.
Stress Patterns
Classical Nahuatl stress is predictable: stress falls on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable of a word. For example: na-HUA-tl, te-NOCH-ti-tlan (stress on noch), quet-zal-CO-atl. In vocative forms (calling someone), stress shifts to the final syllable. This regularity makes Nahuatl pronunciation learnable once the consonant system is mastered.
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Basic Grammar — Noun Structure
Nahuatl nouns are built from roots that take affixes to indicate their grammatical state. The most fundamental distinction is between the absolutive (unpossessed, independent) form and the possessed form.
Absolutive Suffixes
When a noun stands alone (not possessed by anyone), it takes an absolutive suffix. The suffix depends on the final sound of the root:
Used when the root ends in a vowel. Examples: a-tl (water), coa-tl (serpent), xochi-tl (flower), maza-tl (deer).
-tli
after a consonant (not l)
Used when the root ends in a consonant other than l. Examples: cih-tli (grandmother), oceloh-tli becomes ocelotl (jaguar), miquis-tli (death).
Used when the root ends in l. Examples: cal-li (house), macuil-li (five), cuauhtol-li (turkey hen).
-in
irregular / some animate nouns
A less common suffix found with certain nouns, especially animate ones. Examples: cihuat-in is the plural of cihuatl (woman), michin (fish).
Possessive Prefixes
When a noun is possessed, the absolutive suffix is dropped and a possessive prefix is added to the root:
no-cal = my house (from calli), no-xoch = my flower (from xochitl).
mo-cal = your house, mo-couh = your serpent.
i-cal = his/her house, i-xoch = his/her flower.
to-cal = our house. Tonantzin ("our revered mother") uses to- + nan- + -tzin.
amo-cal = your (all) house.
in-cal = their house, in-tequiuh = their work/duty.
Pluralization
Nahuatl forms plurals in several ways depending on noun class. The most common strategies include:
- Reduplication of the first syllable: coatl (serpent) → cocoa (serpents); cihuatl (woman) → cihuah (women).
- Suffix -meh: tepetl (mountain) → tepemeh (mountains); mazatl (deer) → mazameh (deer, plural).
- Suffix -tin: tlatoani (ruler) → tlatoantin (rulers); pilli (noble) → pipiltin (nobles, also with reduplication).
- Suffix -h: used with certain nouns ending in vowels: cihuatl → cihuah.
Polysynthetic Nature
Nahuatl is an agglutinative, polysynthetic language. A single "word" can express what English requires an entire sentence for. For example: niccuaqualhuia = "I feed him/her something good" (ni- I, c- him/her, cua- eat, qual- good, -huia causative). Understanding noun structure is the first step toward grasping this powerful system.
Atl
/atɬ/ — noun
Water. One of the most fundamental Nahuatl roots, appearing in countless compound words. Atl is also one of the twenty day signs in the tonalpohualli (sacred calendar).
Example: In atl huel chipahuac. — "The water is very clean."
Compounds: a-tepetl (water-mountain = "town"), a-toyatl (river), teo-atl (divine water = "ocean").
Calli
/kal.li/ — noun
House, building, enclosed space. Root: cal-. The third day sign in the tonalpohualli. This root appears extensively in architectural and institutional vocabulary.
Example: In nocal cah ipan tepetl. — "My house is on the hill."
Compounds: teo-calli (god-house = "temple"), tlahcuilo-calli (scribe-house = "scriptorium"), cal-polli (great house = "neighborhood/ward").
Coatl
/ko.atɬ/ — noun
Serpent, snake. A deeply sacred animal in Nahua cosmology. The serpent represents earth, fertility, and cosmic duality. It is the fifth day sign of the tonalpohualli.
Example: In coatl motlaloa ipan cuauhtla. — "The serpent moves through the forest."
Compounds: Quetzal-coatl (feathered serpent), Coat-licue (serpent-skirt), Cihua-coatl (woman-serpent).
Cuauhtli
/kwaw.tli/ — noun
Eagle. The eagle was the supreme symbol of the sun and of warriors. Eagle knights (cuauhpilli) formed one of the elite military orders. The fifteenth day sign of the tonalpohualli.
Example: In cuauhtli patlani ipan ilhuicatl. — "The eagle flies in the sky."
Compounds: Cuauh-temoc (descending eagle), cuauh-calli (eagle house), cuauhtla (forest, literally "among eagles/trees").
Xochitl
/ʃo.tʃitɬ/ — noun
Flower. A potent metaphor in Nahua poetry for beauty, truth, and the transience of life. The twentieth and final day sign. The philosophical concept of in xochitl, in cuicatl ("the flower, the song") means poetry and art.
Example: In xochitl cualnezqui ihuan ahuiac. — "The flower is beautiful and fragrant."
Compounds: Xochi-milco (place of flower fields), Xochi-quetzal (flower-quetzal = goddess of beauty), xochi-cuicatl (flower song).
Mazatl
/ma.satɬ/ — noun
Deer. The seventh day sign. Deer were important game animals and appear in myths as swift messengers between the human and divine worlds.
Example: In mazatl motlaloa ica iciuhca. — "The deer runs swiftly."
Compounds: Maza-tlan (place of deer), maza-coatl (boa constrictor, "deer-serpent").
Tochtli
/totʃ.tli/ — noun
Rabbit. The eighth day sign. In Nahua mythology, the rabbit was placed on the face of the moon by the gods, explaining the markings visible on its surface. Also associated with pulque and the Centzon Totochtin (Four Hundred Rabbits — gods of drunkenness).
Example: In tochtli nemi ipan milli. — "The rabbit lives in the field."
Compounds: Toch-tepec (rabbit-mountain = place name), toch-omitl (rabbit bone).
Metztli
/mets.tli/ — noun
Moon, month. The moon played a central role in Nahua timekeeping and mythology. In the creation myth of the Fifth Sun at Teotihuacan, a humble god threw himself into the fire and became the moon.
Example: In metztli tlanextia yohualnepantla. — "The moon illuminates the midnight."
Compounds: Metz-titlan (place of the moon), metztli apan (moonlight on water).
Tonatiuh
/to.na.tiw/ — noun
Sun. The sun was the central force in Nahua cosmology. The current era is the Fifth Sun (Nahui Ollin). The sun required sustenance through ritual to continue its journey across the sky. The famous Sun Stone (piedra del sol) depicts the cosmic ages.
Example: In Tonatiuh quiza ica tlahuizcalpan. — "The Sun rises in the east."
Compounds: Tonatiuh ichan (house of the Sun = paradise of fallen warriors), tonal-pohualli (sun-count = sacred calendar).
Tlalli
/tɬal.li/ — noun
Earth, land, soil. The earth was both a nurturing mother and a consuming force in Nahua thought. The earth monster Tlaltecuhtli (Earth Lord) was an embodiment of the living land.
Example: In tlalli quicelia in xihuitl. — "The earth receives the plants."
Compounds: Tlal-tecuhtli (Earth Lord), tlal-pan (on the earth = place name), tlal-li cualli (good earth = fertile soil).
Teoatl
/te.o.atɬ/ — noun
Ocean, divine water. A compound of teotl (god, divine, sacred) and atl (water). The ocean was conceived as the vast divine water surrounding the world-disk of cemanahuac.
Example: In teoatl hueyi ihuan amo tlanqui. — "The ocean is vast and without end."
Related: ilhuica-atl (sky-water = another term for ocean), ana-huac (near the water = the Valley of Mexico).
Tepetl
/te.petɬ/ — noun
Mountain, hill. Mountains were revered as vessels of water and abodes of rain deities (Tlaloque). The altepetl (water-mountain) was the fundamental Nahua concept of a city-state or community.
Example: In tepetl huel huehcapan. — "The mountain is very tall."
Compounds: al-tepetl (water-mountain = city/town), Tepe-yac (at the mountain's nose = place name), Popo-catepetl (smoking mountain).
Ohtli
/oh.tli/ — noun
Road, path, way. Both a physical road and a metaphorical concept of one's life path or destiny. The great trade roads of the pochteca (merchants) connected the empire.
Example: In ohtli ohhuihqui, zan ye tinemizqueh. — "The road is difficult, but still we shall live."
Compounds: ohtla-toca (to follow a road), ohpan-tli (highway, wide road).
Maitl
/mai.tɬ/ — noun
Hand, arm. The hand is the basis for the Nahuatl number five (macuilli) and ten (mahtlactli). Hands symbolize craft, creation, and the work of artisans (tolteca).
Example: Ica nomah niquichihua in tlaxcalli. — "With my hands I make the tortillas."
Compounds: mah-tlactli (ten, lit. "hand-body"), mah-pilli (finger, lit. "hand-child"), ma-itl in possessed form: no-ma (my hand).
Yollotl
/jol.lotɬ/ — noun
Heart. From yolli (to live) + -otl (abstract suffix). The heart was the seat of one's teyolia — the animating soul force that determined temperament, thought, and identity. In Nahua philosophy, a "good heart" was the measure of a just person.
Example: In noyollo pactica. — "My heart is joyful."
Compounds: yolilo-tia (to enliven), yol-cuia (to take heart = to remember), yolloh-tli (core, center of something).
How Codices Were Created
Nahua codices were painted by trained scribes called tlahcuilohqueh (singular: tlahcuilo) on surfaces made from amatl (bark paper from the amate fig tree) or prepared deerskin. The pages were folded in an accordion-like (screenfold) format. Pigments derived from minerals, plants, and insects (including cochineal red and Maya blue) were applied with brushes made from animal hair. Pre-Conquest codices were primarily pictographic and ideographic; after the Spanish arrival, many codices incorporated alphabetic Nahuatl and Spanish glosses. Colonial-era scribes produced numerous codices that blended indigenous pictorial traditions with European writing systems, creating invaluable bilingual and bicultural records.
Codex Mendoza
Date: c. 1541 — Location: Bodleian Library, Oxford
Commissioned by the first Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio de Mendoza, this codex is divided into three sections: (1) A history of Mexica conquests from the founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325 through 1521, showing each tlatoani and the towns he conquered; (2) a detailed tribute list recording the goods (textiles, feathers, cacao, gold, rubber balls, warrior costumes) that 400+ subject towns paid to the Triple Alliance; and (3) an ethnographic section depicting daily life from birth through old age, including education at the calmecac and telpochcalli, marriage customs, punishments for misbehavior, and professional roles.
The Codex Mendoza is uniquely valuable because each pictorial page has a facing page of Spanish annotations that explain the images, making it one of the most accessible pre-Columbian sources for modern scholars.
Codex Borbonicus
Date: c. early 16th century — Location: Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée nationale, Paris
A screenfold manuscript considered one of the finest surviving examples of pre-Conquest Nahua painting. Its primary content is the tonalpohualli — the 260-day sacred calendar used for divination, naming ceremonies, and determining auspicious days for activities ranging from travel to warfare. Each of the twenty 13-day periods (trecenas) is illustrated with its patron deity, associated symbols, and day signs.
The codex also contains a section on the xiuhpohualli (365-day solar calendar) depicting the 18 monthly festivals (veintenas) with their associated rituals, deities, and offerings. The artistic style shows minimal European influence, suggesting it was either created just before or very shortly after the Conquest.
Florentine Codex
Date: 1575–1577 — Location: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence
Formally known as the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, this twelve-volume encyclopedic work was compiled by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún with the collaboration of Nahua elders and students at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco. It is written in parallel columns of Nahuatl and Spanish.
Its twelve books cover: (1) gods; (2) ceremonies; (3) origins of the gods; (4) divination; (5) omens; (6) rhetoric and moral philosophy (huehuetlahtolli); (7) astronomy; (8) kings and lords; (9) merchants and artisans; (10) peoples and customs; (11) natural history (plants, animals, minerals); and (12) the Conquest itself, told from the Nahua perspective. It contains approximately 2,400 illustrations and is the single most comprehensive source on Nahua civilization.
Codex Borgia
Date: pre-Conquest (c. 15th–early 16th century) — Location: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome
A pre-Conquest ritual and divinatory manuscript originating from the Puebla-Tlaxcala region. Painted on a continuous strip of prepared deerskin folded into 39 pages, it is one of the finest examples of the Mesoamerican divinatory codex tradition.
The Codex Borgia features elaborate depictions of deities, ritual scenes, and calendrical cycles. Its central section (pages 29–46) contains a remarkable sequence showing a cosmological journey through darkness and death to rebirth — interpreted by scholars as the passage of Venus through the underworld. The artistic complexity and symbolic density of this codex make it a masterpiece of pre-Columbian art and a critical document for understanding Nahua (and broader Mesoamerican) religion.
Importance of the Codices
The surviving codices represent only a fraction of the vast literary and historical production of Mesoamerican peoples. During the Conquest and early colonial period, the vast majority of indigenous manuscripts were deliberately destroyed by Spanish missionaries who viewed them as works of idolatry. Despite this catastrophic loss, the codices that survived — along with those created in the early colonial period as acts of cultural preservation — remain indispensable for understanding Nahua history, religion, science, economics, and thought. They are living documents that continue to inform the cultural identity of modern Nahua communities.