Spanish Verbs in Guarani

Level 3

Spanish verbs get Guarani prefixes: astudia hína guarani “I am studying Guarani”.

How It Works

Paraguayans mix Spanish into Guarani all the time. A Spanish verb joins a Guarani sentence by taking Guarani person prefixes. The prefix tells who does it, as with any Guarani verb.

PersonExample
Iastudia “I study”
he, she, theyofarrea “he, she or they party”
we (you not included)rojuga “we play”

Guarani endings and small words go on these verbs too: astudia hína “I am studying”, oreajudami “help us a little” (ore- “us”, -mi “please”).

A Spanish verb that begins with a may add j- (or ñ-) after the prefix: ojagarra “he grabs”, from Spanish agarrar.

Many Spanish verbs lose the final -r: agarrar becomes agarra, ayudar becomes ajuda and farrear becomes farrea.

Examples (5)

  1. Astudia hína guarani.

    I am studying Guarani.

    A- is “I”, and studia is the Spanish verb. Hína shows the action is going on.

  2. Ofarrea hikuái.

    They party.

    O- is “he, she or they”. Farrea is Spanish, and hikuái repeats “they”.

  3. Upéicha umía rojuga.

    We played things like that.

    Ro- is “we, you not included”, and juga is Spanish jugar “play”.

  4. Oreajudami.

    Help us a little, please.

    Ore- is “us”, ajuda is Spanish ayudar “help”, and -mi makes the request kind.

  5. Che sy ojagarra che po.

    My mother grabs my hand.

    Agarra starts with a, so Guarani adds j- after the prefix: ojagarra.

How It Connects

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

Spanish Verbs in GuaraniLevel 3

Learn This First

A Spanish verb takes the same prefixes as a Guarani one, so learners need the prefixes and the rule for Spanish spelling.