Convenience Store

1. Hayk'ataq kayqa?

   Hay-k'a-taq kay-qa?

   How much is this?

   Usage

   For the small Andean shop (Spanish tienda or bodega) and the market. Japanese-style convenience stores barely exist in the highlands — shopping happens at the market (qhatu) and the corner store, where prices are rarely marked. The phrases here are Cusco-Collao Quechua (Cusco, Puno, Bolivia); the Ayacucho variety differs in some forms.

   Grammar Note

   Quechua is agglutinative, stacking suffixes to carry grammatical relations. Question words take -taq to mark focus, while the item under discussion takes the topic marker -qa. The k' is an ejective consonant (released with a glottal closure) and the contrast matters — hayk'a and hayka are not the same.

2. Bolsata munankichu?

   Bol-sa-ta mu-nan-ki-chu?

   Do you want a bag?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Peru began charging for shopping bags in 2019 and has phased out single-use plastic since 2021. Even in Quechua-speaking shops the Spanish word bolsa is what people actually say; the native wayaqa (bag) is rarely heard in everyday shopping.

   Grammar Note

   The accusative -ta marks the object, and munay (to want) inflects for person: munani (I want), munanki (you want), munan (he/she wants). Yes-no questions are formed by suffixing -chu to the verb.

3. Huk bolsata quway, ama hina kaspa.

   Huk bol-sa-ta qu-way, a-ma hi-na kas-pa.

   Please give me a bag

   Usage

   The customer's version. Ama hina kaspa literally means "not being like that" and is the most courteous request formula in Quechua; the shorter allichu (please) also works. Asking politely in the local language changes the reception entirely.

   Grammar Note

   Quway is quy (to give) plus the first-person object infix -wa- and the imperative -y: "give to me". Quechua encodes the object's person inside the verb, so no separate word for "me" is needed.

4. Qullqiwanchu icha tarjetawanchu?

   Qull-qi-wan-chu i-cha tar-je-ta-wan-chu?

   Cash or card?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Andean corner shops run on cash; cards work only in city supermarkets and tourist-facing businesses. Phone-based QR payment (Yape, Plin) has spread fast and even tiny shops display a code, but it requires a Peruvian bank account and is out of reach for visitors. Carry cash.

   Grammar Note

   The suffix -wan marks the instrumental ("with"). Qullqi originally meant silver and came to mean money. Concepts Quechua lacks, such as tarjeta, are borrowed from Spanish and then take Quechua suffixes as normal.

5. Tarjetawan pagayta atiymanchu?

   Tar-je-ta-wan pa-gay-ta a-tiy-man-chu?

   Can I pay by card?

   Usage

   The customer's version. Tourist-facing shops in central Cusco and Puno take cards, sometimes with a surcharge added. Markets and village stores will not.

   Grammar Note

   Putting atiy (to be able) into the conditional -yman softens the question to "might I be able to?", which is politer than the plain atinichu. Pagay borrows Spanish pagar and adds the Quechua infinitive ending -y.

6. Boletata munankichu?

   Bo-le-ta-ta mu-nan-ki-chu?

   Do you want a receipt?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Peru distinguishes the consumer receipt (boleta de venta) from the business invoice (factura). Small shops have no till and issue neither. If you need documentation for expenses you would ask for a factura, but that requires a taxpayer number (RUC).

   Grammar Note

   Spanish loan nouns take Quechua case suffixes without adaptation — accusative -ta, instrumental -wan, locative -pi. Loanwords integrate fully into the grammar.

7. Chiri unuta quway, allichu.

   Chi-ri u-nu-ta qu-way, a-lli-chu.

   Please give me cold water

   Usage

   Tap water is not drinkable in the highlands, so sealed bottles are the norm — and at Cusco's 3,400 m, dehydration makes altitude sickness worse, so buying water often matters. Unu is the Cusco-Collao word; the Ayacucho variety says yaku.

   Grammar Note

   Modifiers precede their heads in Quechua, hence chiri unu. The case suffix -ta attaches once, to the end of the whole noun phrase. Chiri also functions as the noun "cold".

8. Maypitaq t'anta kashan?

   May-pi-taq t'an-ta ka-shan?

   Where is the bread?

   Usage

   Bread is an Andean staple with strong regional forms — Cusco's chuta, the t'anta wawa figures baked for All Saints. Shops put out the fresh batch in the morning and may be sold out by early afternoon.

   Grammar Note

   Maypi is may (where) plus the locative -pi. Kashan is the progressive of kay (to be) in Cusco-Collao form; the Ayacucho variety uses kachkan.

9. Maypitaq hisp'ana wasi kashan?

   May-pi-taq his-p'a-na wa-si ka-shan?

   Where is the toilet?

   Usage

   Corner shops do not have customer toilets. Markets and plazas have paid toilets (around one sol) where you bring your own paper or buy it at the door. Most people say the Spanish baño in conversation; hisp'ana wasi is the native Quechua term.

   Grammar Note

   Built from hisp'ay (to relieve oneself) plus -na, which derives "the thing or place for doing X". The suffix is highly productive: mikhuna (food, "what one eats"), tiyana (chair, "what one sits on").

10. Celularniyta kaypi cargayta atiymanchu?

    Ce-lu-lar-niy-ta kay-pi car-gay-ta a-tiy-man-chu?

    Can I charge my phone here?

    Usage

    Village shops sometimes charge phones for a small fee, though the supply is unreliable in many areas. If you are trekking into the mountains, bring a power bank. Celular and cargar are Spanish loans and are exactly what Quechua speakers use in daily speech.

    Grammar Note

    Celularniyta is celular + the epenthetic -ni- + the possessive -y (my) + the accusative -ta. When a consonant-final loanword takes a possessive suffix, Quechua inserts -ni- to keep the syllable structure legal — a single word showing borrowing and native grammar fused together.

11. Claro recargata rantiyta munani.

    Cla-ro re-car-ga-ta ran-tiy-ta mu-na-ni.

    I want to buy a Claro top-up

    Usage

    One of the commonest transactions in an Andean shop. Places selling prepaid top-ups (recargas) for Claro, Movistar, Entel or Bitel display each operator's sticker. Give your number and the amount and it is loaded on the spot, usually from five soles up.

    Grammar Note

    "Infinitive + -ta + munay" expresses "want to do". The infinitive rantiy (to buy) is the object of munani, hence the accusative -ta. Rantiy is an old native verb that also covered the exchange economy of Inca times.

12. Maypitaq cajero automático kashan?

    May-pi-taq ca-je-ro au-to-má-ti-co ka-shan?

    Where is there an ATM?

    Usage

    ATMs cluster in the centres of Cusco, Puno and Arequipa and are largely absent from Sacred Valley villages and the mountains. Fees are high and withdrawal limits low, so take out enough cash — including small notes — before heading out of town.

    Grammar Note

    Quechua has no native term for an ATM, so the Spanish is used unchanged. Quechua speakers code-switch constantly, commonly taking nouns from Spanish while keeping the grammatical frame Quechua.

13. Mana sencillo kanchu.

    Ma-na sen-ci-llo kan-chu.

    There is no small change

    Usage

    Said by staff. Change shortages are chronic in Peru and a 100- or 50-sol note will simply be refused at a corner shop. Sencillo (small change) is the everyday term and Quechua speakers use it too. Small notes are equally valuable at markets and on shared minibuses (combis), so break large ones early.

    Grammar Note

    Quechua negation is doubly marked: mana before the clause and -chu on the verb, both required. The suffix looks identical to the question marker, but the presence of mana identifies the clause as negative.

14. Huklla, allichu.

    Huk-lla, a-lli-chu.

    Just one, please

    Usage

    Andean shops sell sweets, bread, cigarettes and batteries by the single unit, so this is genuinely useful. Swap in iskay (two) or kinsa (three) for more.

    Grammar Note

    Beyond "only", -lla softens the tone and is used widely to convey politeness in Quechua. The cardinals are huk, iskay, kinsa, tawa, pisqa.

15. Chunka solesmi.

    Chun-ka so-les-mi.

    That will be ten soles

    Usage

    Said by staff. Prices usually come in Spanish, but knowing the Quechua numerals pays off at the market: huk (1), iskay (2), kinsa (3), tawa (4), pisqa (5), soqta (6), qanchis (7), pusaq (8), isqon (9), chunka (10).

    Grammar Note

    -mi is an evidential suffix marking information the speaker knows first-hand; hearsay takes -si and conjecture -cha. Quechua all but requires you to encode the source of your information, and a price you know for certain takes -mi.

16. Ima horastaq wichq'anki?

    I-ma ho-ras-taq wich-q'an-ki?

    What time do you close?

    Usage

    Andean shops typically open around 06:00 and close by 21:00, though Sundays and holidays shift activity to the market and many shops shut. In villages they close at sunset, and during fiesta weeks a shop may not open for days.

    Grammar Note

    Clock time uses the Spanish loan hora, giving ima hora (what time). The opposite of wichq'ay (to close) is kichay (to open) — swap wichq'anki for kichanki to ask about opening. The q' is an ejective.

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