-hára

The One Who Does It: -hára

Level 3

-hára names the doer: mboʼehára “teacher”, pohãnohára “doctor”.

How It Works

An agent noun answers the question “who does it?”. Guarani builds it by adding -hára to a verb.

VerbAgent noun
mboʼe “teach”mboʼehára “teacher”
pohãno “cure”pohãnohára “healer, doctor”
ñotỹ “plant seeds”ñotỹhára “farmer”
hai “write”haihára “writer”
pytyvõ “help”pytyvõhára “helper”

-Hára is stressed, so the accent on á stays in every word: mboʼehára, not mboʼehara.

Most words in -hára name a job or a role. A thing used to do the job is usually named with the shorter -ha, for example joʼoha “shovel”, although there are exceptions.

A word in -hára can be the whole predicate of a sentence: nde sy mboʼehára “your mother is a teacher”.

Examples (4)

  1. Nde sy mboʼehára.

    Your mother is a teacher.

    Mboʼehára is “teacher”. The noun alone says what she is.

  2. Pohãnohára heʼi jakaru mboyve jajepohéiporãvaʼerãha.

    Doctors say that we must wash our hands well before we eat.

    Pohãnohára “doctor” is the subject. Mboyve is “before”, and -ha makes the last verb a clause.

  3. Marta pohãnohára.

    Marta is a doctor.

    Pohãno “cure” plus -hára gives the person who cures.

  4. Luisa haihára.

    Luisa is a writer.

    Hai “write” plus -hára gives the person who writes.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the accent.

    Nde sy mboʼehara.
    Nde sy mboʼehára.

    -hára is stressed and the stress falls on há, so the accent is part of the spelling.

How It Connects

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

-háraLevel 3The One Who Does It: -hára

Learn This First

The ending -hára is the stronger relative of -va for the person who does a job.

Words in This Pattern

-háramboʼehárapohãnohárahaiháramomaranduhárañorairõhárapohanohárairũmoheñoiháramaranduʼasãiháramuatãreʼỹhárasãmbyhyhára