-ʼive

Less: -ʼive

Level 5

-ʼive says “less”: ombaʼapoʼive “he works less”.

How It Works

-ve says “more”: Che ambaʼapove ndehegui “I work more than you”. To say “less”, put -ʼi “small” in front of -ve. The result is -ʼive, a stressed ending.

MoreLess
ambaʼapove “I work more”ambaʼapoʼive “I work less”
okyve “it rains more”okyʼive “it rains less”

The thing you compare with takes -gui “than”, just as it does with -ve: ndehegui “than you”.

Speakers often skip -ʼive and use the opposite word with -ve instead, such as “shorter” in place of “less tall”.

The Academy grammar calls this the comparison of inferiority and writes the same stressed ending.

Examples (3)

  1. Ombaʼapoʼive ñande hígado ha pitikiriʼikuéra.

    Our liver and kidneys work less.

    Ombaʼapo “works” plus -ʼive says “works less”.

  2. Che ambaʼapoʼive ndehegui.

    I work less than you.

    Ndehegui “than you” carries -gui. It is one word: ndehe plus -gui.

  3. Koʼág̃a okyʼive.

    It rains less now.

    Oky “it rains” plus -ʼi plus -ve. The stress is on ve, so the word needs no accent.

Common Mistakes

  • Using rehe for the thing you compare with.

    Che ambaʼapoʼive nderehe.
    Che ambaʼapoʼive ndehegui.

    The thing you compare with takes -gui “than”. Nderehe means “about you” and changes the meaning.

How It Connects

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

-ʼiveLevel 5Less: -ʼive

Learn This First

The ending -ʼive is the small ending -ʼi plus -ve, and it says less.

Words in This Pattern

-vegui