-rei

In Vain: -rei

Level 5

-rei shows that an action got nowhere: ambaʼaporei “I worked in vain”.

How It Works

Add -rei to a verb to say that the action did not get anywhere. It can mean “in vain”, “for nothing” or “without a reason”. It also shows how the speaker feels: the action was a waste.

  • ambaʼapo “I work” becomes ambaʼaporei “I work in vain”.
  • oheja “he leaves” becomes ohejarei “he leaves for nothing, he abandons”.

-rei takes the stress. If an unstressed ending follows it, the acute mark goes on the í of -rei: ñambaʼaporeírõ “if we work in vain”.

It often goes with mante “only”, as in ohejarei mante. The Academy grammar calls it the frustrative mood, the mood for an action that was useless.

Examples (3)

  1. Ohejarei mante hikuái.

    They just abandoned him.

    Oheja “leaves” plus -rei says they left him for nothing. Mante adds “only”, and hikuái “they” follows the verb.

  2. Mbaʼeichaitépa ñande mbopochy ñambaʼaporeírõ!

    How very frustrating it is if we work in vain!

    Ñambaʼaporeírõ is ñambaʼapo “we work” plus -rei plus -rõ “if”. The acute is on the í of -rei.

  3. Ambaʼaporei.

    I worked in vain.

    The same ending on the verb for “I work”. The stress is on rei, so the word needs no accent.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving off the acute when -rõ follows -rei.

    Mbaʼeichaitépa ñande mbopochy ñambaʼaporeirõ!
    Mbaʼeichaitépa ñande mbopochy ñambaʼaporeírõ!

    -rei is stressed and -rõ is not, so the acute mark goes on í.

How It Connects

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

-reiLevel 5In Vain: -rei

Learn This First

The ending -rei is added after the plain verb.

Words in This Pattern

mante