heta / mbovy / opa / ambue

Many, Few, All and Other

Level 2

Heta “many”, mbovy “few”, opa “all” and ambue “other”: Oĩ heta tapeʼi “There are many paths”.

How It Works

Four small words say how much or which one. They usually come before the noun, and the noun needs no plural ending.

WordMeaningExample
hetamany, a lotheta tapeʼi “many paths”
mbovyfewmbovy guyra “few birds”
opaall, everyopa mbaʼe “all things”
ambueother, anotherambue ára “another day”

Heta is one of the roots that change their first letter. It is heta after “his or her”, but it is reta after another person marker or inside a word made of two roots: ñandereta “there are many of us”, avareta “a crowd of people”.

Mbovy is also the question word “how many?”. For “everyone”, see opavave.

Examples (4)

  1. Oĩ heta tapeʼi.

    There are many paths.

    Heta comes before the noun, and tapeʼi needs no plural ending.

  2. Oĩ mbovy guyra.

    There are few birds.

    Mbovy means “few” and stands before the noun.

  3. Ahecha opa mbaʼe.

    I see everything.

    Opa mbaʼe means “all things”.

  4. Eju ambue árape.

    Come another day.

    Ambue means “other”, and -pe marks the time.

How It Connects

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heta / mbovy / opa / ambueLevel 2Many, Few, All and Other

Learn This First

These words say how much or how many, and heta needs no plural ending.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

hetambovyopaambuehetaopa