Guarani Grammar List

Say guata “walk”, mitã “child” and mombeʼu “tell” with the last syllable loudest and highest. No accent mark is written.

Many Paraguayans mix Spanish words into Guarani, and this mixed speech is called Jopara. The lessons use everyday Guarani with the Spanish words people really say, and the later levels add formal written Guarani.

When a word is nasal, the pieces added to it take their nasal form: ja- becomes ña- in ñag̃uahẽ “we arrive”, and -pe becomes -me in tetãme “in the country”.

The vowels ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ and ỹ are nasal. The tilde changes the word: pytũ “dark” and pytu “breath” are different words.

Add kuña “woman” or kuimbaʼe “man” only when it matters: jaguakuña “female dog”, mitãkuña “girl”.

Spelling is regular, so you can say a new word as soon as you see it: jagua “dog”, kavaju “horse”.

The same root can name a thing, tell an action or describe: karu is “food”, “to eat” and “greedy for food”.

Write óga “house”, ára “day” and kóva “this one” with the accent on the stressed vowel.

The puso is part of the word, so always write it: avañeʼẽ “Guarani”, mbaʼe “thing”, ñeʼẽ “word”.

The alphabet is called achegety. It has 33 letters, and pairs such as ch, mb, nd, ng, nt and rr are single letters.

Say mb like the mb in amber, nd like the nd in undoubtedly and ng like the ng in angle: mbohapy “three”, ndaipóri “there is none”, kangue “bone”.

Write g̃ in words such as hag̃ua “for” and g̃uahẽ “to arrive”. Many writers use a plain g or move the tilde, so hag̃ua also appears as haguã.

Write porã “good”, neʼĩra “not yet” and osẽta “he or she will go out” with the tilde only.

Say y with flat lips and your tongue pulled back toward u: y “water”, yvy “earth”.

Active markers are a-, re-, o-, ja-, ro- and pe-, and inactive markers are che-, nde-, i-, ñande-, ore- and pende-. Most words go with one set: aguata “I walk”, chekaneʼõ “I am tired”.

One word can be a whole sentence: ndaguatasevéima “I no longer want to walk” is built from small pieces around the root guata “walk”.

-gua names the place something comes from: Paraguaigua “from Paraguay”. After a word that ends in a, e or o the ending is -ygua: Alemaniaygua “from Germany”.

-ite usually joins the end of a describing word and means “very”: Iporãite “It is very good”. After i, u or y it is -ete, and after e it is -te.

Join -kuéra to the noun for “more than one”: jaguakuéra “dogs”, mitãnguéra “children”. People use it mostly for people and animals.

-ma means “already”: og̃uahẽ “he arrives” becomes og̃uahẽma “he has already arrived”. It is unstressed, so the accent stays on the root.

-na softens a command: ehecha “look” becomes ehechána “look, please”. It is unstressed, so the accent stays on the root.

-se joins the end of a verb and means that the person who acts also wants it: Ahase “I want to go”.

Put -ta on the end of the verb: ambaʼapo “I work” becomes ambaʼapóta “I will work”. The accent shows that the stress stays on the root.

A noun does not have to change for the plural: Kuña imbarete can mean “the woman is strong” or “women are strong”. A number or -kuéra says how many when it matters.

Words for things you do usually take a-, re-, o-, and words for how you are or feel usually take che-, nde-, i-. Learn each new word together with its set.

Say the thing first and describe it after: óga porã “a beautiful house”. Say the action first and how after: Eju pyaʼe “Come quickly”.

-gui joins the end of a word: merkádogui “from the market”. After che, nde, ñande, ore or pende it is hegui, written as one word: chehegui “from me”.

-pe joins the end of a word to say where: ógape “at home”, Paraguáipe “in Paraguay”. After a nasal word it is -me: guaraníme “in Guarani”.

Write -pe, -gui and -gua joined (ógape). Write rehe, ndive and rupi apart after a noun (isy ndive), but join them to a pronoun (orendive). A person marker joins a verb (chekaneʼõ).

Apuka means “I laugh”. Che apuka adds the pronoun to say “I am the one who laughs”.

The owner word goes in front of the thing owned: che ao “my clothes”, nde ao “your clothes”, ore ao “our clothes”. Write it as its own word.

These person markers have a nasal twin: ja- and ña-, nde and ne, ñande and ñane, pende and pene. Use the nasal one when the next word has a nasal sound.

A verb with no ending is not future. It means now or before, so add a time word such as kuehe “yesterday” or koʼág̃a “now” when the time matters.

For these nouns the first letter changes with the owner: tesa “eye”, nde resa “your eye”, hesa “his eye”.

Say Iporã “It is good” or Chekaneʼõ “I am tired” with no verb in between.

Ndépa Pablo? “Are you Pablo?” Moõpa reime? “Where are you?” The same -pa works for yes-or-no questions and for questions with a question word.

Reñeʼẽpiko guaraníme? “Do you speak Guarani?” Speakers often shorten it to -pio.

Ñande jaha means “we go, and you come too”. Ore roho means “we go, without you”.

Marta og̃uahẽ and Og̃uahẽ Marta both mean “Marta arrived”.

Put the prefix on the root: aguata “I walk”, reguata “you walk”, oguata “he or she walks”, jaguata, roguata, peguata.

Arakaʼépa og̃uahẽ Marta? “When did Marta arrive?” Add -ta to the verb to ask about the future.

Put avei after the word it adds to: Iporã avei “I am fine too”.

Che apurahéi, nde repurahéi, haʼe opurahéi: each pronoun goes with its own verb prefix.

Chekaneʼõ means “I am tired” and iporã means “it is good”. The marker joins the word.

Eju “come” speaks to one person and peju “come, all of you” speaks to a group. A command is the verb with its e- or pe- marker and needs no other ending.

Che ha nde “you and I”, che térã nde “you or I”. Both can join words or whole sentences.

Answer a yes-or-no question with heẽ or nahániri, then add a short sentence: Nahániri, ndaikatúi roho “No, we cannot go”.

Add hikuái after the verb to show that the doers are more than one: Og̃uahẽ hikuái “They arrived”.

Learn these forms as they are: aha, reho, oho “go”, aju, reju, ou “come”, and haʼe, ere, heʼi “say”. Every other verb keeps one root.

Put ikatu before a verb to say someone can do it: Ikatu apurahéi “I can sing”. The verb shows the person, and ikatu never changes.

Aiko porã “I am well”, peiko kokuépe “you all live in the countryside”. Mbaʼéichapa reiko? “How are you?” uses it too.

Aime koʼápe “I am here”, reime “you are”, oime “he or she is”. Use it when you say where a person is.

Put ko, pe, upe or amo before a noun to say “this” or “that”. The word you pick shows how close the thing is.

Put koʼã before a noun for “these” and umi for “those”. The noun stays the same.

Put a time word in the sentence to say when: Koʼẽrõ aháta “I will go tomorrow”. A verb with no ending can mean now or before, so the time word tells which.

Mbaʼe ere? “What did you say?” Add -pa to ask: Mbaʼépa rejapo? “What are you doing?”

Mbaʼérepa nerasẽ? “Why are you crying?” Mbaʼerã asks what something is for.

Mbaʼéichapa reiko? “How are you?” You can answer Aiko porã “I am well”.

Mbovy arýpa reguereko? “How old are you?” Mbovýpa hepy? “How much does it cost?” In a question, the two words mean the same.

Moõpa reime? “Where are you?” Add -gui to ask where from: Moõguipa reju? “Where do you come from?”

Mávapa haʼe? “Who is he?” Máva asks who a person is.

Wrap the verb: japo “do” becomes ndajapói “I do not do it”. With a nasal word the front piece is n(a)-: nañeʼẽi “I do not speak”.

Put the missing thing after ndaipóri: ndaipóri pakova “there are no bananas”. It is one fixed word for one thing or many.

Say who you are with, then ndive: isy ndive “with his mother”. After a pronoun write one word: orendive “with us”.

Oĩ pakova “there are bananas”. Add -pa to ask: Oĩpa pakova? “Are there bananas?” Oĩ is the form for things and for he or she.

Say peteĩ before a noun to mean “one” or “a”: peteĩ porandu “a question”. Guarani has no article of its own.

Put the number before the noun and usually leave the noun alone: mokõi mitã “two children”, mbohapy ovecha “three sheep”. From five up, people say Spanish numbers.

Che ru oguereko mbohapy kavaju “My father has three horses.” Aguereko irundy ary “I am four years old.” Both forms take the active markers.

Ñande and ore both mean “we”, peẽ means “you all” and haʼekuéra means “they”: Peẽ pepurahéi “you all sing”.

Add -icha to the end of a word to say “like” that word. Write it joined to the word.

Add -iterei to a describing word or a verb. The ending changes a little after some sounds.

Add -jevy to a verb, or put jey after it, to say that you do it again or come back.

Add -ke to a command to make it stronger. The ending is unstressed, so the root keeps its accent.

Add -nte to a word to say “only” or “just”. It is unstressed, so the stress stays on the word.

Put -pe after a person who is loved, helped or given something. After a nasal word it is -me.

Add -pota to a verb for “about to”. After a nasal word it is -mbota.

Rehe (or -re after a noun) goes after the thing you look at, remember, or need. With a pronoun it joins it: cherehe “about me”.

Add -pa to a verb for “all” or “finished”. After a nasal word it is -mba.

Put rupi after the place you go through or move around in.

Add -mi to a command to ask kindly, like “please”. The ending takes the stress, so the root loses its accent.

Family words have their own forms: túva “father”, che ru “my father”, itúva “his father”. Memby is the child of a woman, and taʼýra is the son of a man.

Use ja- (or ña- before a nasal word) on a bare verb to say “let us do it”. Add -ke for “come on”.

Add -ve to the verb or describing word, then name the other thing with -gui. A pronoun and -gui make one word, such as ndehegui.

Add -vaʼerã to a verb for “must” or “have to”. The ending is stressed, so the root loses its accent.

A word with a nasal sound gives its nasal sound to the ending after it. Learn the pairs and use the nasal one after a nasal word.

Say peteĩ, mokõi, mbohapy and irundy for one to four, then switch to Spanish numbers such as cinco, seis and diez. Ages and prices use the Spanish numbers.

On an active verb, put the person prefix inside the circle: nda- for I, nde-re- for you, ndo- for he or she. A nasal verb takes n- in place of nd-.

Add -mi or -ʼi to a noun to say it is small or dear. Both endings take the stress.

Caballo became kavaju and queso became kesu. Loans that speakers did not reshape keep Spanish letters, such as d, f and ll.

The verbs ʼu “eat”, yʼu “drink water”, ʼyta “swim” and ʼa “fall” use ha- for I, ho- for he or she and h- in the command.

The marker on the verb names the person who ranks highest: I first, then you, then he or she. Ainupã ichupe “I hit him”, Chenupã haʼe “He hit me”.

To say “will not”, put -moʼã on the verb and wrap it in nd(a)-…-i: nambaʼapomoʼãi “I will not work”.

Some verbs take ai-, rei-, oi-, jai-, roi- and pei- as their person prefixes, with an extra i. You learn which verbs belong to the group one by one.

Put ani in front of the verb to forbid something. The verb keeps the person prefix of the people you are talking to, and the ending -tei is optional.

These words name the person who gets something or for whom something is done: chéve “to me”, ndéve “to you”, ichupe “to him or her”.

Put gotyo after a place word to say which way something goes. After a word with a nasal sound you may also see ngotyo.

Put gueteri after the verb. After a negative verb it means “not yet”.

Put guive after the time or place where something starts, and peve after where it ends. Both stand apart.

Put g̃uarã after a noun or a pronoun to say who gets something. After a verb, use hag̃ua.

Put these words before a noun. The noun needs no plural ending.

Ask Mbaʼépa heʼise ...? for “What does ... mean?”. Ask Mbaʼéichapa ojeʼe ... guaraníme? for “How do you say ... in Guarani?”.

Put hína after the verb for something happening now or lasting: Rehai hína “You are writing”.

A prefix joins the noun for “his, her, their”: ipo “his hand”, ijao “his clothes”, hiʼáva “his hair”, iñakã “his head”.

Put jepi after the verb for something that happens often. It stays the same for every person.

Kóva means “this one”, and péva and upéva mean “that one”. They stand alone, with no noun after them.

In everyday speech people often put la before one thing and lo before several. Guarani has no articles of its own, and neither word shows gender.

Use these words with a verb that has the negative circle nd-…-i. Guarani says “I do not want nothing”.

Péicha and upéicha both mean “like that” or “that way”. Use them to say how something is done or to agree.

One prefix covers “I … you” and another covers “I … you all”: Rohayhu “I love you”, Pohayhu “I love you all”.

Put tekotevẽ before a verb to say someone has to do it. It stays the same for every person.

Write ári as a separate word after a noun: yvy ári “on the earth”. Write pýpe joined to the noun: ogapýpe “inside the house”.

Óga “house” has no t- form. After an owner it is róga (che róga “my house”), and for his or her it is hóga.

Add -hára to a verb for the person who does it: mboʼehára “teacher”, pohãnohára “doctor”. The ending is stressed, so write the accent on hára.

Add -kuaa to a verb to say that someone is able to do something: añeʼẽkuaa guaraníme “I can speak Guarani”. In a negative sentence it comes before the closing -i.

Add -ne to a verb for something that may be true or may happen: koʼẽrõ ambaʼapóne “maybe I will work tomorrow”. It is unstressed, so the verb keeps its stress.

Add -rõ or -ramo to the verb of the first part of the sentence. The second part says what follows.

Add -vo to the first verb. The second part says what happens at the same time.

Guarani builds many words by joining two roots: pirapire “money” is pira “fish” plus pire “skin”. The result is one word with its own meaning.

Put jo- before a verb for “each other”: jajohayhu “we love each other”. Before a nasal verb it becomes ño-.

Add -vaʼekue to a verb for a past event, often one from long ago: ahavaʼekue Chákope “I went to the Chaco”. Speakers often shorten it to -vaekue or -akue.

Put mbo- before a verb to make someone do the action, and mo- when the verb has a nasal sound. The one who is made to do it comes after the verb.

Put je- before a verb to say that something is done, with no doer named: ojejapo “it is made”. Before a nasal verb it becomes ñe-: oñekytĩ “he was cut” or “he cut himself”.

Speakers put the Guarani person prefixes on Spanish verbs: astudia hína guarani “I am studying Guarani”. A Spanish verb that begins with a may add j-: ojagarra “he grabs”.

Add -ha to the verb of the clause that follows. Use -hague for the past and -taha for the future.

Add -py to a command to push someone into action: eguatápy “walk, then!”. It also adds a push to “let us go”: jahápy.

Add -mi to a verb for a past habit: ajapomi “I used to make it”. Do not mix it up with the kind -mi in commands or the small -mi on nouns.

Some verbs always take the same small word with the person or thing they act on: aikotevẽ nderehe “I need you”, aikoporã hendive “I get along with him or her”, epoi chehegui “let go of me”. The verb decides which small word.

Use pota “want” with a second verb that has its own person prefix: aipota oho “I want him or her to go”. When you want to do it yourself, you usually use -se: ahase “I want to go”.

After -va add -kue for something that already happened and -rã for something that will happen or must happen.

Add -va to the end of a verb or describing word, then put it after the noun it describes. With no noun in front, it means “whoever” or “whatever”.

Put a person marker in front of mbaʼe “thing” to say whose it is: chembaʼe “mine”, nembaʼe “yours”, ñanembaʼe “ours”. Each one is a single word.

A few common verbs, such as ru “bring”, raha “carry” and reko “have”, add gue- after o- and ro-, and re- after che-, nde-, ñande-, ore- and pende-: ogueru “he brings”, chereru “he brings me”.

Put hag̃ua after the verb that names the purpose. It means “in order to”.

Put one of these words after the verb of the first clause. The clause tells when the main event happens.

Put katu right after the word you set against something, and say ha katu to join two statements. After a command, katu means “go ahead”.

Add kuri after the verb for something the speaker saw or lived a short time ago: oúkuri “he just came”. It is unstressed, so the verb keeps its stress.

Put mboyve after the verb of the event that comes later. The other part of the sentence says what happens first.

Put ndaje after the first word or phrase to say “they say” or “it is said”: nde tía ndaje iporã “your aunt is pretty, they say”.

Put niko (or ningo) after the first word or phrase to say that it is true, or to answer what someone believes: haʼe niko ndéve “I did tell you”. Ko and ngo are shorter forms.

Use opavave for “everyone”, mayma before a noun for “every”, and maymáva for “everybody” or “everything”: mayma yvypóra “every person”, Maitei opavavépe “Greetings to all”.

Say pero between the two statements. Formal Guarani avoids it and uses katu.

Say porque, or pórke, before the reason. The Guarani way is to end the reason with -rupi or -gui.

Put rire after the verb of the first event. The second part says what happens next.

Put voi after a word or phrase to say that it is certainly so: iporã voi “it is certainly beautiful”.

Add -haicha to a verb to say “as” or “the way”: Ejapo katu reipotaháicha “Do it however you want”.

Add -mante after a verb to say “only” or “just”. Ambokapu mante is “I just shot”.

Add -tee to say “own”: chembaʼetee “truly mine”. It stresses that the thing belongs to that person alone.

Add -uka to a verb that takes an object to say that someone has it done: ajapouka che aorã “I am having clothes made for me”. The person who does the work is often not named.

Add -ʼỹ to a noun, a describing word or a verb to say “without”: kyhyje “fear” becomes kyhyjeʼỹ “courage”, and mendare “married” becomes mendareʼỹ “unmarried”.

Add -moʼã to a verb for an action that was about to happen, and then did not. Haʼamoʼã is “I almost fell”.

Put rupi, -gui or -rehe after a noun or a clause to give the reason. Che ru rupi che aikove is “I live because of my father”.

Add -ha to a number to say first, second or third, and put it after the noun. Say a number twice for “each” or “by twos”.

Add -kue to a noun for something that used to be, and -rã for something that will be: che aokue “my former clothes”, che aorã “my clothes to be”. After a nasal word, -kue becomes -ngue.

Add -kue to a describing word to name the quality: mbarete “strong” becomes mbaretekue “strength”. After a nasal word it is -ngue: porã “beautiful” becomes porãngue “beauty”.

Put poro- before a verb when the object is people in general, and mbaʼe- when it is things: roporomboʼe “we teach people”, pembaʼejogua “you all buy things”.

Add -ha to a verb root to name a place or a tool. Guapy “sit” gives guapyha “seat”, and hai “write” gives haiha “pencil”.

Add -va to a verb for a habit. With pyʼỹi “often”, Aháva means “I go often”.

Put t- before the person marker for a wish or a permission. Tou is “let him come”, and Topurahéi is “may he sing”.

Put ani hag̃ua before a verb to say “so that … not”: ani hag̃ua ahecha “so that I do not see it”.

Between two parts of a sentence, haʼe can mean “is”. It never takes a person marker: Che haʼe nderecháva “I am the one who saw you”.

Use jeko, ñandeko or the ending -je to say “they say”. They often open a story or a legend.

Put la before a -va clause to say “what” or “the one that”: He la jaʼúva “What we are eating is tasty”.

Put meme after the verb for something that happens often or all the time, or for “all” when several people act.

Put ramo jepe after a clause to say “even though” or “even if”. The main clause still happens.

Put raʼe after a statement when you have just figured something out. English says “it turns out…”.

Put t-embi- before a verb that takes an object to name the thing it acts on: ʼu “eat” gives tembiʼu “food”, poru “use” gives tembiporu “tool”, apo “make” gives tembiapo “work”.

Add -eta after a noun that ends in i, u or y, and -ita after one that ends in a, e or o. The word then means a great many, or lots of something you cannot count.

Add -rasa for the highest degree: iporãrasa “super”, okyhyjerasa “he was extremely afraid”. The ending takes the stress and joins the word.

Add -rei to a verb for something done in vain or for no good reason: Ohejarei mante hikuái “They just abandoned him”.

Add -ty, or -ndy after a nasal word, for a place with a lot of plants or things: pakovaty “banana grove”, avatity “cornfield”.

Say the verb, then add iko with -vo: Ijapu oikóvo “He keeps on lying”.

Add -vy, or -ngy, for a smaller degree. Puka “laugh” becomes pukavy “smile”, and hũ “black” becomes hũngy “blackish”.

Add -ʼive for less. It is the opposite of -ve “more”: Che ambaʼapoʼive ndehegui “I work less than you”.

Add -ʼo to a noun for a verb about taking that thing off or out: pire “skin” gives pireʼo “to skin”. The ending takes the stress.

Guaraniete is Guarani kept as free of Spanish as possible, and Academy words are new Guarani words made for things that had no name. Jopara is the mixed speech most people use.

Days are ára plus a number (arateĩ “Sunday”), and months are jasy plus a number (jasyteĩ “January”). The numbers are the school numbers.

Put mbaʼe- before a root to name a feeling: mbaʼembyasy “sadness”, mbaʼepota “desire”.

Put je- before a verb for the act or the state: jevyʼa “happiness”, ñemano “death”. Put jo- for acts between people: ñopytyvõ “mutual help”.

School Guarani counts above four with po “five” and pa “ten”: poteĩ “six”, pokõi “seven”, mokõipa “twenty”. People still say Spanish numbers when they talk.

Add -py, or -mby after a nasal word, to name the thing acted on: hechapy “visible”, kañymby “hidden”, mombeʼupy “legend”.

When one of these markers stands for the person who receives the action, verbs such as japi “throw” and ñandu “feel” lose their first letter: Nde cheapi “You threw me”.

Put anga in the sentence to say “poor thing”. It has no stress of its own and sits near the word it feels sorry for.

Chete adds emphasis to who does something: “I myself”. Chejupe is the form for “to myself”, when the doer is also the receiver. Each person has its own pair.

Use ku or ako for someone or something you and the listener both know. Use aipo for something the speaker has no first-hand knowledge of.

Wrap a describing word in nde- and -va to say very: porã “beautiful” gives neporãva “very beautiful”. When the word is nasal, nde- becomes ne-.

Mbo and nipo let the speaker wonder out loud. In the book’s examples, mbo joins a question word and nipo stands after the word it is about: Mbaʼémbo ojehu chéve koʼárape “I wonder what is happening to me today”.

Ojoja goes with ndive, as in oñondive “with one another”, for “they are alike”. Ojogua takes -pe on the thing it looks like.

Rakaʼe is like raʼe, but for something far back in the past. It shows that the speaker is putting facts together, not telling what they saw.

To say what would have happened if things had been different, end the if-part with rire and put -vaʼerã and -moʼã on the other verb: Aikuaárire, ahavaʼerãmoʼã “If I had known, I would have gone”.

Put t-eko- before a root to name a quality: tekoayhu “friendship”, tekoasy “suffering”, tekoguapy “calm”.

Yrõ gives a second choice if the first does not happen: Oúta María yrõ oúta Isabel. Uvei says “rather” and names what is true instead.

Add -ngaʼu to a verb for “if only” or “I wish”: Rehechángaʼu “I wish you saw it”.

These three endings are not used to make new words today. They live on in a few set words and phrases: vyʼapavẽ “happiness”, mburuvichavete “supreme leader”, Ñanderuvusu “Our Great Father”.

Add -rãngue to a noun for something that was planned but did not happen, and to a verb for “instead of”: aharãngue, aju “instead of going, I come”.

Everyday speech uses the fixed word hína. In careful speech the word is -ína and it takes the person prefix: Rehai reína “You are writing”.

Guarani can put a noun in front of a verb to make one word: y “water” plus ʼu “take in” gives hayʼu “I drink water”. Only a few verbs still do this.

Repeating the end of a word stretches its meaning. Jajepohéipohéi means “we wash our hands over and over”.

Put guaʼu after a verb for an action that is only for show, or a joke: Perurima katu ikerambu guaʼu “Perurima just pretended to snore”.

Use guáicha for “as always” or “as if”, guaréicha for a time in the past, and guarãicha for a time in the future.

Put rehehápe after a noun to say who or what something is done for: Amano che retã rehehápe “I die for my country”.