  This work investigates the muon capture reactions 2H(\mu^-,\nu_\mu)nn and
3He(\mu^-,\nu_\mu)3H and the contribution to their total capture rates arising
from the axial two-body currents obtained imposing the
partially-conserved-axial-current (PCAC) hypothesis. The initial and final A=2
and 3 nuclear wave functions are obtained from the Argonne v_{18} two-nucleon
potential, in combination with the Urbana IX three-nucleon potential in the
case of A=3. The weak current consists of vector and axial components derived
in chiral effective field theory. The low-energy constant entering the vector
(axial) component is determined by reproducting the isovector combination of
the trinucleon magnetic moment (Gamow-Teller matrix element of tritium
beta-decay). The total capture rates are 393.1(8) s^{-1} for A=2 and 1488(9)
s^{-1} for A=3, where the uncertainties arise from the adopted fitting
procedure.
