Language & Words
Quechua Language Quiz
The Inca Empire's tongue — still spoken by 8 million across the Andes
The Inca Empire's tongue — still spoken by 8 million across the Andes
Quechua grammar requires speakers to mark how they know what they're saying — there's a different suffix for direct experience, hearsay, and inference. Spoken by roughly 8–10 million people across Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and beyond, Quechua (Runasimi) is the most widely spoken Indigenous language family of the Americas. It served as the lingua franca of the Inca Empire, lent English words like 'condor,' 'llama,' 'puma,' and 'jerky,' and remains an official language of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
Each round presents 10 randomized questions from a pool of 50, with four multiple-choice options and instant feedback after every answer. Your final score comes with a performance tier and shareable results.
You'll cover Quechua's Inca-era role, Cuzco-Collao and Kichwa varieties, agglutinative grammar with evidentiality and inclusive/exclusive 'we,' loanwords like 'condor,' 'llama,' 'puma,' and 'quinoa,' Andean toponyms (Cusco, Lima, Cotopaxi), Atahualpa, Pachacuti, and the lasting cultural footprint of Tawantinsuyu.
Quechua is itself a family of related varieties rather than a single language. The two main branches are Quechua I (Central, in Peru's central highlands) and Quechua II (Peripheral, including Cuzco-Collao, Ayacucho-Chanca, and Ecuadorian Kichwa). They are partly mutually unintelligible.
English borrowings from Quechua include condor (kuntur), llama, alpaca (allpaqa), guano (wanu), poncho, puma, pampa, jerky (charki), coca, and quinoa (kinwa). Spanish has absorbed many more, including 'papa' (potato).
Quechua is spoken across the Andes from Colombia and Ecuador through Peru and Bolivia, with smaller communities in Argentina and Chile. It is co-official with Spanish in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador (where it's known as Kichwa).
Last updated: May 2026