Final Stress

Foundations

Most Guarani words are stressed on the last syllable, and that stress takes no written mark.

How It Works

In most Guarani words, you stress the last syllable and write no mark. The other syllables stay clear and full. Guarani does not blur the unstressed vowels the way English does.

Prefixes such as a-, re- and o- are never stressed. Some endings carry stress and some do not. The stressed endings pull the stress to themselves, so it moves right each time you add one.

WordMeaningStressed syllable
aguataI walkta
aguataseI want to walkse
aguataseveI want to walk moreve

Endings such as -ta, -ma and -na carry no stress, so the stress stays on the root before them. In that case the stress is written with an acute accent. See The Acute Accent.

Guarani has no tone. The pitch of your voice does not change the meaning of a word.

Examples (5)

  1. guata

    to walk

    The stress is on the last syllable, ta.

  2. mitã

    child

    The stress is on the last syllable, tã, and no accent is added.

  3. mombeʼu

    to tell

    The stress is on the last syllable, ʼu.

  4. aguatase

    I want to walk

    The ending -se is stressed, so the stress moves to se.

  5. aguataseve

    I want to walk more

    The ending -ve is stressed, so the stress moves again.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing an accent mark on a last-syllable stress.

    guatá
    guata

    A mark shows stress that is not on the last vowel. Guata already has its stress on the last vowel, so it takes no mark.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Final StressFoundations

Learn This First

Finding the last syllable is easy when every letter keeps one sound, so this follows the spelling rule.