Making Verbs into Nouns in O’otham Ñeo’ok 2025

August 22, 2025

In O’otham ñeo’ok there is often a relationship between verbs and nouns that identifies the person that performs a type of action. For example, the word (to teach) is “mashcham” and can be used as an action word like in the sentence “Mañ ha mashcham hegam a’al.” (I am teaching the children.) This verb can be turned into a noun simply by adding the suffix ‘tham at the end and a prefix ‘e before the word. By adding these two pieces to the word you change it from being an action word to being a noun that identifies a student, or the person who is being taught. The suffix ‘tham changes a verb or action word into a noun and is used in O’otham to identify the person who does the type of action in the verb. For example, the word meaning (to play) is “chichvi” and this can be turned into a noun chichivi’tham just by adding ‘tham at the end. This new word chichvi’tham is no longer an action word but identifies a team player or teammate. If you want to be more specific you can add another word to identify the type of player like a thoka chichivi’tham or bo:l chichvi’tham. Another example is “vachvi” (to swim) that becomes vachvi’tham, or swimmer.

Keep in mind, that not all words follow this pattern, especially when another word exists in O’otham

ñeo’ok that identifies the person. For example, the verb (to heal/cure) is “kulañmath” but there is no such person as a kulañmath’tham. That’s because O’otham already has a perfectly good word for a doctor/healer which is “makai”. Another example is the verb (to cook), which is “hithoḍ”. There is no such person as a hithoḍa’tham as O’otham already has a word for a (chef) which is “kosñil.”

For this month’s puzzle we are including five professions that come from five action words. Take a look at the word match and try to identify the person who does the action. Here are five action words that should help you solve the puzzle.  Cheg’gia (to fight); gagtha (to sell); o’itham (to hunt); hi:k (to cut) and vaila (to dance).  We encourage you to learn their names and use them in your everyday lives.  Speak with an Elder or Speaker and learn to say the names.  Professional names may be slightly different between the villages. 

A special Thank You to Community Elders, whose knowledge of O’otham Ñeo’ok that made this article possible.