Prefixes are added to stems to modify their meaning, and to indicate who is doing what in a sentence.
Prefixes are found before stems, towards the beginning of words (which is why they are called pre-fixes).
The list of Hupa prefixes below is only partial. It will be updated periodically. Use the links under each entry find examples of each prefix in the dictionary. The search results will not be exhaustive, but should give you enough examples so you can identify some of the main patterns.
This index is organized according to groups of prefixes that do similar things:
Agreement
Agreement prefixes are added to words to indicate who is doing what in a sentence. They are a little bit like pronouns in English (I, me, my, you, your, he, him, his, she, her, they etc.).
Sometimes, it is the absence of a prefix that tells you who is doing what in a sentence. That is, if you don't use a prefix where you could have used a prefix, people will interpret a sentence a particular way. For example, in the Hupa word ch'itehsyay meaning 'he/she left', the agreement prefix ch'i- indicates 'he/she' (typically an adult human) was the one who left. By contrast, in the Hupa word tehsyay meaning 'it left', the absence of the prefix ch'i- indicates that it was something other than an adult human who left - maybe an animal or a child. Cases like this are called "unmarked" here.
Subject Agreement
Some agreement prefixes tell you who or what the subject of the sentence is. The subject is typically the main initiator of an action, or the main experiencer of things like emotions or states of being.
Direct Object Agreement
Other agreement prefixes tell you who or what the direct object of a sentence is. The direct object is typically whoever or whatever undergoes an activity intiated or caused by someone/something else.
Postpositional Object Agreement
Agreement prefixes can also tell you who or what the postpositional object of a sentence is. Postpositional objects are a variety of different kinds of participants in an event or activity, such as the recipient of an act of giving, the location where something happened, the instrument used to perform an activity, or the goal/endpoint of motion. Postpositional object agreement prefixes are often found on Hupa postpositions like -ł 'with' (as in mił 'with it') or -ch'ing' 'to, towards' (as in nich'ing' 'to you'). But they are also found in verbs, as in xowa'tiliwh 'he/she distributes things to him/her'.
Possessor Agreement
Nouns in Hupa can also have agreement prefixes. An agreement prefix on a noun will indicate a close relationship such as possession/ownership, a kinship relation, or a part of someone's body. These prefixes are identical to the postpositional object prefixes mentioned above, but are listed here separately because they are mainly associated with nouns.
Plurals
There are two different plural prefixes in Hupa. One of them just indicates that there are multiple participants in an event, similar to the difference between "she did it" (one person) vs. "they did it" (multiple people) in English. The other one is called "distributive" and indicates that an event involves multiple participants acting individually or takes place at multiple locations.
Aspect and Mood
Aspect and mood prefixes modify the meanings of verbs. Aspect typically has to do with the flow of time for an activity/event/state, etc. Mood has to do with things like possibility and degree of certainty.