Cahuilla grammar

The grammar of Cahuilla is agglutinative, head-marking, and makes extensive use of compounding, and derivation. That is, it can add many different prefixes and suffixes to a root until very long words are formed that sum up a whole sentence.

Demonstratives

Cahuilla uses a single demonstrative ’i’ ("this/that") that takes the form ’i before sonorants and ’i’ elsewhere.

It can be modified with deictic markers meaning local or distant/remote.

	Proximal		Distal
	simple	complex	simple	complex
sing. subj.	’et	’evat	pe’	pevat
sing. obj.	’eti	’evati	pe’i	pevati
plur. subj.	’etem	’evatem	pe’em	pevatem
plur. obj.	’etmi	’evatmi	pe’mi	pevatmi

The complex and simple forms have no difference in perceived meaning according to Seiler. The inflection agrees with the sentence itself where the deictic marker co-ordinates with the subject or verb such as in "’i’ pe’ menill" meaning "this over there, the moon," as pe’ is inflected to mark the singular subject menill. Additionally, there are clitic forms of this marker: pe, pee and pey.

Nouns

Nominal predicate subject-marking prefixes

Nominal predicates (e.g. 'I am a person') mark their subjects ('I' in the preceding example) by adding a prefix. Nouns bearing subject prefixes can serve as predicates (i.e. 'to be an X') without a copula. Both nominal and verbal predicates distinguish two numbers: singular and plural, and the number of a subject prefix must match that of its predicate.

Nominal predicates may or may not be preceded by the independent pronouns (in parentheses in the table below).

Person	Nominal subject prefixes	Example
1S	(ne') hen-	(ne') hentaxliswet 'I am a human being'
2S	('e') ’et-	('e') ’ettaxliswet 'you are a human being'
3S	(pe') ø	(pe') taxliswet 'he is a woman being'
1P	(chemem) hish-	(chemem) hishtaxliswetem 'we are human beings'
2P	('emem) ’eme-	('emem) ’emetaxliswetem 'you guys are human beings'
3P	(pe'em) ø	(pe'em) taxliswetem 'they are human beings'

Absolutive and construct states

Like all other Uto-Aztecan languages, Cahuilla nouns usually appear in what is called the absolutive state (also called non-possessed noun state), that is to say an absolutive ending -t, -sh, -l or -ll is added to the bare noun root. If the noun is possessed however (if it's preceded by a possessive prefix or if it's the possessed noun of a compound), these absolutive endings are dropped and the noun appears in what is called the construct state.

The absolutive suffix is absent when the noun is incorporated into a compound of which it is not the head.

Number and plural

Like all modern Uto-Aztecan languages (except Tübatulabal), Cahuilla nouns only know the singular and plural numbers.

Plural formation in -em

Most Cahuilla nouns are made plural by adding the ending -em:

• wikikmall "bird" → wikikmallem "birds"
• taxliswet "person" → taxliswetem "people"

As seen in the Morphophonology section, the final -sh of some nouns becomes -ch- between two vowels. This is what usually happens to -sh ending nouns when the plural ending -em is added:

• ting'ayvash "doctor" → ting'ayvachem "doctors"
• tekish "cave" → tekichem "caves"

Nouns ending with the -l absolutive ending double the l in the plural before -em:

• ’eqwasmal "boy" → ’qwashmallem "boys"

Plural formation in -am with vowel loss

Some nouns do not follow the -em plural formation pattern but take the plural ending -am and loose the last vowel of their root:

• palukul "snake" → paluklam "snakes"
• hunal "badger" → hunlam "badgers"

Many (but not all) of these nouns have the vowel u in their root: palukul, hunal, tukat etc. A few nouns whose bare root is ending in -sh and that take an absolutive ending -ill make their plural by loosing the -i-:

• machill "tick" → mashllam "ticks"

A few nouns with either double vowel or a diphthong loose the second vowel and replace it by a h while adding -am:

• neat "basket" → nehtam "baskets"
• muut "owl" → muhtam "owls"
• meet "gopher" → mehtam "gophers"

Plural formation through consonant reduplication

Reduplication is a plural formation way also found in many other Uto-Aztecan languages. Many nouns referring to human beings, family relatives or living beings show traces of reduplication in their plural formation:

• nawishmal "girl" → nanwishmallem "girls"

Here the first consonant n- reduplicates after the first vowel, and the -em ending is added. Reduplication may also occur with the so-called glottal stop ’, as in ’awal "dog" → ’a’walem "dogs". The noun naxanish, "a man" follows this pattern, but the reduplication of -n- before -x- triggered the palatization of -n- into -ng-:

• naxanish "man" → nangxanichem "men"

to this category belongs also the noun ñichill "woman", even though it shows a -ch-/-k- phonological adaptation:

• ñichill "woman" → ñingkichem "women"

The noun kiat shows a full reduplication of the first syllable and the -am plural ending:

• kiat "child, baby" → kikitam "children, babies"

A few nouns, usually referring to inanimate objects, make their plural through first consonant reduplication but without any -em or -am ending:

• qawish "rock, mountain" → qaqwish "rocks, mountains"
• ’elat "dress" → ’e’lat "dresses"

Plural formation for Spanish borrowings

Words borrowed from Spanish often end in -a’ or -u’. Most of them form their plural by reduplicating this final vowel before the plural-marking -m:

• gaatu’ "cat" → gaatu’um "cats"
• kaama’ "bed" → kaama’am "beds"
• liivru’ "book" → liivru’um "books"

A few of them, however, form their plural by loosing the ’ and adding -m:

• vuuru’ "burro, donkey" → vuurum "burros, donkeys"
• ’eveexa’ "bee" → ’eveexam "bees"

To this last category belong the words kampaan "bell" (plural: kampaanem), mansaana’ "apple" and vureewa’ "sheep".

Irregular plural formations

A few nouns do not enter in the aforementioned patterns and form their plural by modifying their roots:

• ’isill "coyote" → ’istam "coyotes"
• sasang "wild bee" → sasañem "wild bees"

A few other nouns do not change in the plural:

• kish "house" → kish "house"
• tamit "sun, day" → tamit "suns, days"
• pit "road" → pit "roads"
• kelawat "tree" → kelawat "trees, forest"
• sawish "bread" → sawish "breads"

Declensions

Cahuilla nouns take different forms whether they are the subject of the clause or it's object. When Cahuilla nouns are the object of the verb, they take the ending -i.

• Naxanish liivru’i leyeerqa = A man is reading the book

Nouns that end in a vowel take an -y instead of -i:

• Ne’elay peteewqa’ = He saw my dress

When it is added to a proper noun, the -i is preceded by an hyphen.

• René Girard-i pe’leyeerqa = You are reading René Girard

Possessive prefixes

Possession is usually indicated in Cahuilla by possessive prefixes. The possessed noun must appear in the construct state (without the absolutive endings -t, -sh, -l and -ll) and is preceded by the person possessive prefixes ne-, ’e-, he-, chem-, ’em- and hem-. Only singular nouns can be given in the possessed form. If they want to mean that they possess a plural noun, Cahuilla speakers use the same form as the singular (nesaw means "my bread" as well as "my breads"). Here are a few exceptions :

• the 3rd person singular prefix he- is only attached to monosyllabic nouns. For longer nouns, no prefix is added and one only knows the noun is possessed because of its construct state (so that taxmu'a must mean his song because a song or the song would be the absolutive form taxmu'at).
• a few words, usually Spanish borrowings (but not only, and not all Spanish-borrowed words) also take a possessive suffix -ki:
  • weevu’ → chemweevu’ki, "our egg(s)"
  • mansaana’ → ’emansaana’ki, "your apple(s)"
• nouns referring to animals use the word ’achill (construct state ’ash) "animal" to make their possessive forms, so that cannot say *ne'aw, "my dog" (from ’awal) but has to use the word ’ash followed (or preceded, the order is free) by the word for dog, ’awal :
  • ’awal → ne’ash awal or ’awal ne’ash, "my dog"
  • gaatu’ → he’ash gaatu’ or gaatu’ he’ash, "his cat"
• the word qichill (construct state qish) "money" is irregular, it takes a suffixe -ki'a in addition to the aforementioned prefixes:
  • qichill → neqishki’a, "my money"

Person	Marker	kish, short noun	taxmu'at, long noun	liivru’, Spanish-borrowed noun	’awal, animal noun
1S	ne-	neki’ 'my house'	netaxmu’a 'my song'	neliivru’ki 'my book'	ne’ash ’awal 'my dog'
2S	'e-	’eki’ 'your house'	’etaxmu’a 'your song'	’eliivru’ki 'your book'	’e’ash ’awal 'your dog'
3S	he- (for monosyllabic nouns) Ø- (for longer nouns)	heki’ 'his house'	_taxmu'a '(his) song'	_liivru’ki 'his book'	he’ash ’awal 'your dog'
1P	chem-	chemki’ 'our house'	chemtaxmu’a 'our song'	chemliivru’ki 'our book'	chem’ash ’awal 'our dog'
2P	'em-	’emki’ 'your house'	’emtaxmu’a 'your song'	’emliivru’ki 'your book'	’em’ash ’awal 'your dog'
3P	hem-	hemki’ 'their house'	hemtaxmu’a 'their song'	hemliivru’ 'their book'	hem’ash ’awal 'their dog'

Nominalizers

Nominalization, or the creation of nouns from verbs and adverbs as is the case in Cahuilla, occurs fairly frequently. Grammatically, these so-called nominalizers created nominal forms from verbs or adverbs, they can be translated in English either by a verbial clause or by a noun, depending on the case.

Verbial nominalizers

Seiler lists ten nominalizers attached to the verb playing a wide range of functions.

-ka(t) 'inceptive'
Using Seiler's terminology, this nominalizer indicates an oriented relationship in the noun/action, very similar to the nominal suffix -ka(t) (see below). As tense plays little role in the language, this should not be taken to mean 'future.'

SUFF:suffix PRON:pronoun STEM:stem P2:P2 prefix P1:P1 prefix O:object prefix

mishqwakatem

me–

O-

3SG

hish–

P2-

1PL

qwá'

STEM

eat

–kat

-SUFF

NOM

–em

-SUFF

PL

me– hish– qwá' –kat –em

O- P2- STEM -SUFF -SUFF

3SG 1PL eat NOM PL

them we eat lit. 'We are one who are going to eat them.';
'We are going to eat them.'

’emechemki’iwen ’emishwaykinikatem

’eme–

O-

2PL

chem–

P1-

1PL

kí’iw

STEM

wait

–wen

-SUFF

DUR

..

..

..

’eme–

O-

2PL

hish–

P2-

1PL

wáykini

STEM

feed

–kat

-SUFF

NOM

–em

-SUFF

PL

’eme– chem– kí’iw –wen .. ’eme– hish– wáykini –kat –em

O- P1- STEM -SUFF .. O- P2- STEM -SUFF -SUFF

2PL 1PL wait DUR .. 2PL 1PL feed NOM PL

you we wait .. you we feed
'We are waiting for you so that we may be going to feed you.'

-(a)k(t) 'excellence'
This denotes goodness or excellence.

(’e’) ’etmuak

(’e’)

PRON

2SG

you

..

..

..

..

’et–

P2-

2SG

you

mú

STEM

shoot

shoot

–ak

-SUFF

NOM

excelling

(’e’) .. ’et– mú –ak

PRON .. P2- STEM -SUFF

2SG .. 2SG shoot NOM

you .. you shoot excelling

'You are a good shooter.'

(ne’) hennehak

(ne’)

PRON

1SG

I

..

..

..

..

hen–

P2-

1SG

I

néh

STEM

weave baskets

weave baskets

–ak

-SUFF

NOM

excelling

(ne’) .. hen– néh –ak

PRON .. P2- STEM -SUFF

1SG .. 1SG {weave baskets} NOM

I .. I {weave baskets} excelling

'I am a good basket weaver.'

-nax(t) 'supposed to fulfill function'
This denotes where one is supposed to fulfill a specialized function, notably in a socio-cultural context.

peypii’nax

pe–

O-

3SG

y–

P2-

3SG

píi’

STEM

bewitch

–nax

-SUFF

NOM

pe– y– píi’ –nax

O- P2- STEM -SUFF

3SG 3SG bewitch NOM

'the one supposed to bewitch him.'

taxmu’nax

táxmu’

sing

–nax

NOM

táxmu’ –nax

sing NOM

'one who is supposed to sing'

-(i)sh 'completed action or process'
Denotes a completed action or being completed as a process.

tami’ti piytewish

támit

STEM

sun

–i

-SUFF

OBL

..

..

..

pi–

O-

3SG

y–

P2-

3SG

téw

STEM

find

–ish

-SUFF

NOM

támit –i .. pi– y– téw –ish

STEM -SUFF .. O- P2- STEM -SUFF

sun OBL .. 3SG 3SG find NOM

'the one that found the sun'

v-vash 'performing in a special situation'
Denotes performing an act in a specially defined situation. Compare the following examples:

penpayniqal

pe–

O-

3SG

n–

P1-

1SG

páy

STEM

daylight

–ni

-SUFF

CAUS

–qal

-SUFF

DUR

pe– n– páy –ni –qal

O- P1- STEM -SUFF -SUFF

3SG 1SG daylight CAUS DUR

'I'm making it daylight' i.e., 'I'm sitting up all night.'

peypaynivash

pe–

O-

3SG

y–

P2-

3SG

páy

STEM

daylight

–ni

-SUFF

CAUS

–vash

-SUFF

NOM

pe– y– páy –ni –vash

O- P2- STEM -SUFF -SUFF

3SG 3SG daylight CAUS NOM

'the one that makes it daylight' i.e., 'the morning star'

-wet/-et 'habitual or competent performer'
Functioning similarly to -vaš, denotes a competent or habitual performer. When in combination with the durative (dur, -qal/'-wen) or stative (stat, -wen), it takes the form -et. Compare the following examples:

nu’inqalet

nú’in

STEM

tell

–qal

-SUFF

DUR

–et

-SUFF

NOM

nú’in –qal –et

STEM -SUFF -SUFF

tell DUR NOM

'the one that tells (people) what to do,' 'leader'

nu’inwenetem

nu’in

STEM

tell

–wen

-SUFF

DUR

–et

-SUFF

NOM

–em

-SUFF

PL

nu’in –wen –et –em

STEM -SUFF -SUFF -SUFF

tell DUR NOM PL

'the ones that tell (people) what to do,' leaders'

taxnu’inqal

tax–

O-

INDEF

Ø–

P1-

3SG

nú’in

STEM

tell

–qal

-SUFF

DUR

tax– Ø– nú’in –qal

O- P1- STEM -SUFF

INDEF 3SG tell DUR

'He tells [indef.] what to do.'

taxnu’inqalet

tax–

O-

INDEF

Ø–

P1-

3SG

nú’in

STEM

tell

–qal

-SUFF

DUR

–et

-SUFF

NOM

–em

-SUFF

PL

tax– Ø– nú’in –qal –et –em

O- P1- STEM -SUFF -SUFF -SUFF

INDEF 3SG tell DUR NOM PL

'Leaders'

hichiwet

híchi

go

–wet

NOM

híchi –wet

go NOM

'one that habitually goes.'

-’a & -at/-(’)ill 'abstract nominalizers'
These makes abstract verbs into nouns. Where -at and -ill/-’ill can attach to abstract verbs with few restrictions, -’a is restricted to abstract verbs which are then possessed once nominalized.

’aminat

’ámin

throw

–at

NOM

’ámin –at

throw NOM

'the throwing,' 'the orphan'

ne’amin’a

ne–

1SG

’ámin

throw

–’a

NOM

ne– ’ámin –’a

1SG throw NOM

'my throwing'

qwa’isni’ill

qwá’isni

write

–’ill

NOM

qwá’isni –’ill

write NOM

'the writing'

neqwa’isni’a

ne–

1SG

qwáisni

write

–’a

NOM

ne– qwáisni –’a

1SG write NOM

'my writing'

-pish 'unrealized subordination'
Nominalizes verbs that both indicates subordination and something that has not yet happened.

vuvanpish

vúvan–

hit

pish

NOM

vúvan– pish

hit NOM

'an insect that stings'

-vel/-ve 'event already occurring or occurred'
Nominalizes verbs in regard to occurrence of the action.

kupvel

kúp

sleep

–vel

NOM

kúp –vel

sleep NOM

'the bed'

nekupve

ne–

1SG

kúp

sleep

–ve

NOM

ne– kúp –ve

1SG sleep NOM

'my bed'

-va’al 'located event'
A complex of suffixes where the verbal suffix -va’ indicates 'locale, place' such as:

pa hemchengenva’

pa

there

..

..

hem–Ø–

3PL

chengen

dance

–va’

place

pa .. hem–Ø– chengen –va’

there .. 3PL dance place

'Where they are dancing.'

Combining with -al, the abstract nominalizer, there become forms such as:

pisiva’al

pís–

go out

iva’

place

–al

NOM

pís– iva’ –al

{go out} place NOM

'the place to go out,' 'toilet'

hempisiva’a

Ø–

3rd

hem–

3PL

pís–

go out

iva’

place

–a

NOM

Ø– hem– pís– iva’ –a

3rd 3PL {go out} place NOM

'their toilet'

Adverbial nominalizers

There is only one adverbial nominalizer according to Seiler's Grammar, which is -vish. It can either affix to adverbs to denote being from a place or time or denote ordering.

Place/Time

kichanxwanvichem

kíchan–

SOUTH‍

xwan

'toward'

–vish

NOM

–em

PL

kíchan– xwan –vish –em

SOUTH‍ 'toward' NOM PL

'ones who are from the South.'

Place/Time

vaaningaxvichem

váani–

Banning (place name)

–nga

LOC

–x

ABL

–vish

NOM

–em

PL

váani– –nga –x –vish –em

{Banning (place name)} LOC ABL NOM PL

'ones who are from Banning.'

Ordering

muluk(u)vish

múluk(u)

first

–vish

NOM

múluk(u) –vish

first NOM

'one who is first.'

Pronouns

Independent personal pronouns

Because Cahuilla is an agglutinative language, verbs usually bear person-marking prefixes. In sentences where English a copula verb, Cahuilla also uses another series of person-marking prefixes. These prefixes make independent pronouns far rarer in Cahuilla than in an analytic language like English.

• I cook → Nekukulqa
• I am a brave man → Hentaxat

3rd person independent pronouns do not exist and are replaced by the demonstratives ’i’, ’evat, ’et etc. seen above.

Independent pronouns in Cahuilla may be used for emphasis:

• It's me that's cooking → Ne’ nekukulqa

Independent pronouns can be used to emphasize not only the subject of the sentence but any component of it:

• It's your house that they are destroying → ’E’ ’ekiy pemsakwaywe

Independent pronouns are also used before and after conjunctions like pen ("and"):

• You and I will meet him → ’E’ pen ne’ haxpichemmaqine

Notice that you and I equals we, so that the verb takes the 1st person plural subject prefix chem-.

Independent personal pronouns

		Singular		Plural
		Accented	Clitic	Accented	Clitic
1st	subj.	ne'	ne'	chemem čém	chem
	obj.	ne'iy		chememi
2nd	subj.	'e'	'e	'emem 'em	'em
	obj.	'e'iy		'ememi

Verbs

Verbs in Cahuilla are bare roots that always appear with affixes. The Cahuilla verb for "to sleep", for example, is the bare root -kup- that never can appear without prefixes or suffixes, so that *kup alone is not a Cahuilla word. That is why all Cahuilla verbs are given enclosed in dashes on Wiktionary:
-kup-.

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Cahuilla verbs can be divided into two categories based on the subject-marking prefixes they will take: intransitive verbs only take subject-marking prefixes on their bare roots, whereas transitive verbs cannot appear without both subject and object-marking prefixes. Even if the object of a transitive verb is given in a sentence, the verb will take an object-marking prefix that kind of repeats it :

• Wikikma’lli penteewqa’ = I saw a bird

In this example, even though the object of the verb -teew- is wikikma'lli, "the bird", the verb -teew- has to bear the 3rd person prefix pe- referring to wikikma'lli.

Subject-marking prefixes

The table below shows the subject-marking prefixes for both intransitive and transitive verbs. As transitive verbs must also have an object-marking prefix with them, we gave it in the 3rd singular neutral pe-, corresponding to English it. As you will see in the Subject and object prefix combination section below, subject and object-marking prefixes create fixed prefix combination special to transitive verbs.

Person	Intransitive subject prefixes	Example	Transitive subject prefixes	Example
1S	ne-	nekupqa 'I sleep'	-n-	penqwa'qa 'I eat it'
2S	’e-	’ekupqa 'you sleep'	-’-	pe’qwa'qa 'you eat it'
3S	ø	kupqa 'he sleeps'	-ø-	peqwa'qa 'he eats it'
1P	chem-	chemkupqa 'we sleep'	-chem-	pichemqwawe 'we eat it'
2P	’em-	’emkupqa 'you guys sleep'	-’em-	pe’emqwawe 'you guys eat it'
3P	hem-	hemkupqa 'they sleep'	-m-	pemqwawe 'they eat it'

Subject and object prefix combinations

Transitive verbs always appear with both subject (except for the 3rd person singular which is unmarked) and object prefixes. Even if an object noun is given in the sentence, the verb will take an object prefix that refers to it. In the prefix order, the object prefix always precedes the subject prefix, which often looses its vowels (compared to the subject prefixes seen in the Subject-marking prefixes section above). In the table below, subject-marking particles (which are often reduced to one consonant due to the vowel loss) are shown in bold.

	me	you (sg.)	him/her/it; them (inanimate)	us	you (pl.)	them (animate)
I	∅	’en-	pen-...	∅	’emen-...	men-...
you (sg.)	ne’-...	ø	pe’-...	cheme’-...	ø	me’-...
he/she/it	ne-...	’e-...	pe-...	cheme-...	’eme-...	me-...
we	ø	’echem-...	pichem-...	ø	’emechem-...	michem-...
you (pl.)	ne’em-...	ø	pe’em-...	cheme’em-...	ø	me’em-...
they	nem-...	’em-...	pem-...	chemem-...	’emem-...	mem-...

Affix order on the root

Every verb must take both -2 (subject) and at least on inflectional affix from -1 or +1 alongside the necessary stem. -1 and +1 are incompatible as is -4 and -1, as -4 only occurs in combination with +1's -nem.

Inflection positioning

–4	–3	–2	–1	STEM	+1
hax- / ’ax- expect., absol. (pros)	ne- Obj. 1sing.	ne- Subj. 1sing.	pe2- localis		-’i realized, absol. (perf)
Ø expect., non-absol.	’e- 2 sing.	’e- 2 sing.			-Ø non-realized, non-absol.
	pe- 3 sing.	Ø- 3 sing.			-nem expect.
	cheme- 1 plur.	chem- 1 plur.			-pulu’ / -pu’ / -alu’ possib. (sjv)
	’eme- 2 plur.	’em- 2 plur.			-e injunctive, absol., sing. (imp)
	me- 3 plur.	hem- 3 plur.			-am injunctive, absol., plur. (imp)
					-na injunctive, non-absol. (inj)
	tax- reflex./indef.				-ve subordin., realized
					-pi subordin., non-realized
					-nuk subordin., gerundial
					-pa subord., when

Conjugation table

Here is the intransitive verb -taxmu-, "to sing", fully conjugated in Cahuilla:

Person	Singular			Plural
	First	Second	Third	First	Second	Third
	ne'	'e'	pe'	chemem	'emem	pe'em
Indicative mood
Present	netaxmuqa	'etaxmuqa	taxmuqa	chemtaxmuwe	'emtaxmuwe	hemtaxmuwe
Imperfect	netaxmuqa'	'etaxmuqa'	taxmuqa'	chemtaxmuwe'	'emtaxmuwe'	hemtaxmuwe'
Perfect	netaxmu'i	'etaxmu'i	taxmu'i	chemtaxmu'i	'emtaxmu'i	hemtaxmu'i
Perfect negative	kill netaxmu’	kill 'etaxmu’	kill taxmu’	kill chemtaxmu’	kill 'emtaxmu’	kill hemtaxmu’
Future	haxnetaxmune	hax'etaxmune	haxtaxmune	haxchemtaxmune	hax'emtaxmune	haxhemtaxmune
Continuous future	haxnetaxmunashne	hax'etaxmunashne	haxtaxmunashne	haxchemtaxmunashne	hax'emtaxmunashne	haxhemtaxmunashne
Subjunctive mode
Present	netaxmupu'	'etaxmupu'	taxmupu'	chemtaxmupu'	'emtaxmupu'	hemtaxmupu'
Past	netaxmupu' yeya	'etaxmupu' yeya	taxmupu' yeya	chemtaxmupu' yeya	'emtaxmupu' yeya	hemtaxmupu' yeya
Future	haxnetaxmune 'esan	hax'etaxmune 'esan	haxtaxmune 'esan	haxchemtaxmune 'esan	hax'emtaxmune 'esan	haxhemtaxmune 'esan
Desiderative mood
Present	netaxmuvichuqa	'etaxmuvichuqa	taxmuvichuqa	chemtaxmuvichuwe	'emtaxmuvichuwe	hemtaxmuvichuwe
Past	netaxmuvichuqa'	'etaxmuvichuqa'	taxmuvichuqa'	chemtaxmuvichuwe'	'emtaxmuvichuwe'	hemtaxmuvichuwe'
Conative mood
Present	netaxmu'ayawqa	'etaxmu'ayawqa	taxmu'ayawqa	chemtaxmu'ayawwe	'emtaxmu'ayawwe	hemtaxmu'ayawwe
Past	netaxmu'ayawqa'	'etaxmu'ayawqa'	taxmu'ayawqa'	chemtaxmu'ayawwe'	'emtaxmu'ayawwe'	hemtaxmu'ayawwe'
Future	haxnetaxmu'ayawne	hax'etaxmu'ayawne	haxtaxmu'ayawne	haxchemtaxmu'ayawne	hax'emtaxmu'ayawne	haxhemtaxmu'ayawne
Irrealis	haxnetaxmu'ayawalu'	hax'etaxmu'ayawalu'	haxtaxmu'ayawalu'	haxchemtaxmu'ayawalu'	hax'emtaxmu'ayawalu'	haxhemtaxmu'ayawalu'
Injunctive mood
Present	netaxmuna	'etaxmuna	taxmuna	chemtaxmuna	'emtaxmuna	hemtaxmuna
Imperative mood
Present	—	taxmu’	—	chemtaxmu’am	taxmu’am

Syntax

Although Cahuilla employs a relatively free word order, its underlying classification is that of a subject–object–verb (or SOV) language. Its verbs show heavy agreement, indicating the subject and object even when not overtly present, and the subject and object may appear after the verb, highlighting specific usage.

References

• Saubel, Katherine Siva, Pamela Munro, Chem'ivillu' (Let's Speak Cahuilla), Los Angeles, American Indian Studies Center, University of California, 1982.
• Seiler, Hansjakob, Cahuilla Texts with an Introduction, Bloomington, Language Science Monographs, Indiana University Press, 1970.
• Seiler, Hansjakob, Cahuilla Grammar, Banning, Malki Museum Press, 1977.
• Seiler, Hansjakob, Kojiro Hioki, Cahuilla Dictionary, Banning, Malki Museum press, 1979.

Further reading

• Huaute, Incamu Ray (2023). Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla (Doctor of Philosophy). San Diego: University of California.