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© 6 
1884. J 373 [Brinton, 
word have taken that which corresponds to sto, stare, or to 
habeo, habere; for the word goh, does not mean “to be” 
(Spanish, ser), but “to be in a place” (Spanish, estar). To 
translate this sentence, “I am good,” we may not say, yn qoh 
utz, ‘To express all that. we say by the verb swum, es, fut, the 
Indians make use of the following method: They take the 
primitive pronouns in the appropriate person and number, and 
place them before any adjective or substantive noun, and thus 
form the verb; and by various additions and circumlocutions, 
they express themselves as freely and with as many moods and 
tenses as we do, 
The above statement about the verb ‘‘to be’’ agrees with that in the 
grammar of Villacafias, but is attacked by Torresano. He writes, ‘ Al- 
though other grammarians who have written of this idiom have stated 
that it does not possess the verb sum, es, fut, the contrary is clear enough. 
In certain tenses the primitive pronouns can be used with the verb wa, 
which, although usually conjugated with the pronouns of the passive voice, 
may also be conjugated with those of the active, and in that case it has 
the proper sense of swm.’’ 
Father Coto, who has a long note, covering several folio pages, on the 
rendering of the Spanish verb ser, cannot be said to endorse the above, 
He observes, ‘‘This verb we seems to me to correspond in some way to 
the Latin fio, fis.’’ The word to express the essentia, or natural character 
of a thing, he gives as qeohlem, which is generally strengthened by the 
affirmative particle zaa and the correlative vi, as vax qohlem abah vi, it is, 
in its nature, a stone; but it may also mean custom, habit. This 
was the most appropriate word found in Cakchiquel to express the being 
of God. The declaration of the persons of the Trinity runs thus: Que- 
Tega wax owivt ru vinakil, waga hun qui qohlem, hun navipe Diosil, chi waa 
huna Dios vi chupam ru qohlem, Truly three are the persons, one, the 
Being (of God), and one, God, and one, God in His Being. This highly 
abstract expression shows the capacity of the tongue for recondite 
thought: certainly it is not less clearly put in the Cakchiquel than in 
any European idiom. 
InpicativE Moop. 
Present tense. 
yn utlz, I am good, oh utz, we are good. 
at wtz, thou art good, ya ulz, you are good, 
ha utz, he is good. he utz, they are good. 
This present is in very common use, and very properly takes 
