2. What is Mapudungun?
Mapudungun ("the speech of the land") is the language of the Mapuche people, spoken in central-southern Chile and neighbouring parts of Argentina. Estimates vary widely but run into the hundreds of thousands of speakers, with a strong revitalization movement.
It is unrelated to Spanish or any European language — it forms the small Araucanian family. Still, centuries of contact have left many loanwords in both directions: Chilean Spanish is full of Mapudungun (guata, pichintún, place names like Temuco, "water of the temu tree").
Why learn Mapudungun?
- It's already in Chilean Spanish — You'll recognize a surprising amount of vocabulary.
- A fascinating grammar — Agglutinative verbs, a dual number, and evidential marking reshape how you think about language.
- A living, dignified language — Learning it accompanies an ongoing cultural and political reclamation.
- Rooted in the land — The hills, rivers, and towns of the south only fully make sense in Mapudungun.
4. Essential Grammar
Mapudungun is agglutinative and very verb-centred: a single verb-word can pack what English needs a whole sentence for. There is no grammatical gender.
Three numbers: singular, dual, plural
Beyond singular and plural there is a dual (exactly two). And "we" distinguishes whether it includes you:
| Mapudungun | English |
|---|---|
| inche | I |
| inchiw | we two |
| inchiñ | we (several) |
| eymi / eymu / eymün | you / you two / you (plural) |
Verbs build on a root + suffixes marking person, number, tense, and even the source of the information (evidentiality). The infinitive is cited with -n: amun (to go), kimün (to know).
Higher numbers are Quechua loans: pataka (100), warangka (1000).
5. Pronunciation
There are six vowels — the five Spanish-like ones plus ü. Several alphabets exist (Unified, Raguileo, Azümchefe); this guide uses the Unified one.
| Letter | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ü | a high central vowel (neither "oo" nor "ee") | küyen (moon) |
| tr | a single retroflex consonant, like Chilean "tr" | trewa (dog) |
| d | often a soft "th" /ð/ | mapudungun |
| ng (g) | /ŋ/ — "ng" in "sing" | dungun (to speak) |
6. Common Mistakes
- Pronouncing tr as two sounds — it's a single retroflex consonant, not "t"+"r."
- Forgetting the dual — for exactly two people use the dual forms (inchiw, eymu), not the plural.
- Ignoring ü — it's a distinct vowel; küyen (moon) isn't "kuyen."
- Looking for gender — there's no masculine/feminine; don't force agreement.
- Mixing alphabets — Unified, Raguileo, and Azümchefe spell differently. Pick one (here, the Unified).
7. Learning Resources
- Kimeltuwebeginner — Free graphic materials (posters, vocabulary, grammar) that are very clear for starting out.
- iTalkiall levels — Find speakers to practice with (limited but valuable).
8. Culture & Context
Mari mari
The greeting mari mari (literally "ten ten") works at any time of day, often with peñi (brother, between men) or lamngen (brother/sister).
Wallmapu and the land
The idea of mapu (land) and Wallmapu (the Mapuche territory) is central: language, people (che), and land are joined in the very word mapuche, "people of the land."