The Question Marker -pa

Level 1

-pa joins the first word or phrase of a question.

How It Works

Join -pa to the first word or phrase of the sentence, which is usually the part you are asking about. When the phrase has two words, -pa goes on the last one: Mbovy arýpa reguereko? “How old are you?” It works for yes-or-no questions and for questions with a question word. Some speakers leave -pa out after a question word.

WordWith -pa
nde “you”ndépa
mbaʼe “what”mbaʼépa
máva “who”mávapa
moõ “where”moõpa
ikatu “can”ikatúpa

The suffix has no stress of its own. If the word before it had its stress on the last syllable, an acute accent now marks that syllable. A nasal vowel needs no accent.

A yes-or-no question is answered with heẽ “yes” or nahániri “no”.

The Academy grammar writes no question mark when -pa asks the question. These lessons keep it, so questions are easy to spot.

Examples (5)

  1. Ndépa Pablo?

    Are you Pablo?

    -pa joins nde, the first word and the one being asked about.

  2. Moõpa reime?

    Where are you?

    -pa also goes with a question word, here moõ “where”.

  3. Mbaʼépa rejapo?

    What are you doing?

    Mbaʼe “what” takes an accent when -pa is added.

  4. Mávapa haʼe?

    Who is he?

    Máva “who” keeps its accent before -pa.

  5. Ikatúpa rehecha?

    Can you see?

    Ikatu becomes ikatúpa, and the question has no other change.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the accent before -pa.

    Mbaʼepa rejapo?
    Mbaʼépa rejapo?

    Mbaʼe has its stress on the last syllable. The accent keeps that stress in place when -pa comes after it.

How It Connects

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The Question Marker -paLevel 1

Learn This First

The question marker goes on the first word of the question, so word order comes first.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

-pa