Southern Quechua→English

Translate Southern Quechua to English the way locals mean it.

Southern Quechua messages often use evidential particles, topic markers, and affectionate idioms whose social force is stronger or softer than a textbook gloss suggests.

Going the other way? English to Southern Quechua

474 local dialects

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What locals actually say

Arí, qhipamanmi risaq, kunanqa llamk'achkani.

Yeah, I’ll go later, I’m working right now.

The ending -mi presents the promise as certain, while -qa marks kunan, “now,” as the contrast with later, so the message sounds like a firm but casual explanation.

Mana imapaschu, ama llakikuychu.

It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.

The negative frame mana ... -chu with imapas, “anything,” forms a reassurance, not a detached literal statement about there being nothing.

Ama hina kaychu, ñañay.

Come on, don’t be like that.

Ama hina kaychu literally rejects being “like that,” but in conversation it softens a rebuke, and ñañay is often an affectionate form of address rather than a literal reference to a sister.

Qullqiyqa pisiña, qhipa p'unchawmi pagasaq.

I'm short on cash, so I'll pay tomorrow.

The Cusco-Collao forms pisiña and p'unchaw use -ña for a current or already-established state and the glottalized Southern spelling for day; -mi adds confident emphasis.

Wichayman riy, chaymanta lluq'iman tikrakuy.

Go uphill, then turn left.

Wichayman marks movement upward, while lluq'i is the Southern Quechua word for the left side.

Asllata yapaykuway, kay lawataqa ancha misk'ichkan.

Add just a little more, this soup is really delicious.

Lawa is an Andean Southern Quechua food term for a thick soup or porridge; yapaykuway uses the benefactive request construction, asking someone to add it for the speaker.

Rit'i urmaykuchkanña, punchuykita churakuy.

Snow is falling now, put on your poncho.

Rit'i and punchu are Southern Quechua terms for snow and poncho; -chka- signals an ongoing event and -ña signals that it is happening already.

Kayqa hayk'anmi? Pisiyachipuway, taytá.

How much is this? Please lower the price, sir.

Pisiyachipuway combines the causative and benefactive suffixes to request that the price be made lower for the speaker; taytá is a respectful Southern Quechua form of address.

Notes like these come with every AIRTranslate translation, so you learn why locals phrase it that way as you go.

How Southern Quechua differs

Southern Quechua (Cusco-Collao) in official Peruvian orthography.

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Localization Notes explaining why locals say it that way