it/It's written") Perfect intransitive verbs take the suffix -em, which has an allomorph -en following a labial consonant (in Tzeltal, /p, b, w/) Atin-em ("He washed himself/He is clean": atin "to wash oneself") Lub-en ("He tired himself/He is tired": lub "to be tired") While verbs in the passive voice are typically conjugated as intransitive (passive transitive verbs taking the suffix -ot), passives in the perfect aspect do not take the intransitive suffix -em but instead receive a unique suffix, -bil. Thus to translate "He is seen" (il: "see") one would say Il-bil and not Il-ot-em. Perfect constructions in Tzeltal can also signal a "persistent state," similar to the function described above but without the necessity that the characterization be the result of an action or event. Further, when following the clause-initial predicate ay, it is interpreted experientially. If the transitive verb tiʼ ("eat [something]") were marked for the perfect aspect in such a construction, (Aybal a-tiʼ-oj-ix max?) it would translate as "Have you ever eaten monkey (max)?" Progressive The progressive aspect typically signals an event or action still occurring when another, more temporally located event took/takes/will take place. It is expressed with the auxiliary yakal or its reduced form yak together with an infinitive verb construction (of which there are four in Tzeltal). There are two ways to combine yak(al) with an infinitive. In the first, the subject is marked by an absolutive suffix on the auxiliary, while infinitive is marked by the preposition ta. In the second, which only occurs with inflected transitive infinitives, the auxiliary yak(al) is unmarked while the second verb, still in the infinitive, takes person markers: Yak(al)-[ABSOLUTIVE MARKER]-ta [INFINITIVE VERB] Tulan yak ta okʼ-el te alale ("The child is currently crying hot tears") Yak(al) [ERGATIVE MARKER]-[TRANSITIVE VERB]-bel-[ABSOLUTIVE MARKER]. Yakal j-koltay-bel-at ("I'm currently helping you") Syntax Noun phrases The following schematic represents the full range of possible elements that may exist in a noun phrase: [Determiner/demonstrative] [numeral (+classifier)] [adjective(s)] [NOUN] [noun-phrase possessor] [relative clause] Determiners and demonstratives The initial position of the noun phrase may be occupied by either the determiner te (often followed by the final-position clitic, =e), or a demonstrative. They behave like proclitics, phonologically joining the following independent word. Te serves two functions in the noun phrase, as a marker of both definiteness and grammatical topic. In this sense it is similar to the definite articles in French or Spanish. Te is usually