rakaʼe

Guarani verbs do not have to show the past. When speakers want to show how they know something, they add a small word. Kuri says “I know this first-hand”. Raʼe says “I just worked out that…”, often with surprise. Rakaʼe works like raʼe, but it covers a longer chain of thinking and a time far back.

It stands after the verb and is unstressed: oiko rakaʼe. The verb keeps its own stress and, if the stress is not on the last syllable, its accent mark: nerehendúi rakaʼe.

You can use it in a question too. In the book, a man finds his son-in-law killed in the forest. The young man had ignored his advice. The man asks Mbaʼérepiko nerehendúi rakaʼe che ñeʼẽ? “Why did you not listen to my words?” He has just worked out that the young man did not listen.

Some writers join it to the verb. The Academy grammar writes akérakaʼe and calls it the remote past, and Estigarribia prints nerehendúirakaʼe joined in one example. Here it stands apart, like raʼe.