-nte

Only: -nte

Level 2

-nte means “only”: iporãnte “just fine”.

How It Works

-nte sits on the word it limits. Iporã means “fine”, so iporãnte means “just fine”. In Ahasénte nendive the only thing the speaker wants is to go with you.

It can follow a pronoun too: chénte “I alone”, ndénte “only you”.

The ending is unstressed. A word stressed before its last syllable needs an accent: ndefelínte, ahasénte. A nasal vowel marks its stress with the tilde alone, so iporãnte has no acute.

Speakers use it to pick one person or thing out of several: Juanpente “only Juan”. A later lesson covers -mante, which also means “only”.

Examples (4)

  1. Iporãnte.

    Just fine.

    Iporã is “fine”. -nte adds “just”. The tilde carries the stress, so there is no acute.

  2. Ndefelínte che aipota.

    All I want is for you to be happy.

    Nde- “you” plus feli “happy” plus -nte “only”. The accent shows that the stress stays on lí.

  3. Ahasénte nendive.

    I just want to go with you.

    -se “want” is stressed and -nte follows it. Nendive is one word: ne “you” plus ndive “with”.

  4. Nandévei rohenói, Juanpente.

    It was not you I called, only Juan.

    -nte follows Juan plus -pe and picks Juan out. Nandévei is “not to you”.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the accent on the word.

    Ndefelinte che aipota.
    Ndefelínte che aipota.

    -nte is unstressed, so the accent marks the stress on lí.

How It Connects

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

-nteLevel 2Only: -nte

Words in This Pattern

-nte