ai- / rei- / oi-

Verbs with Ai-, Rei- and Oi-

Level 2

Verbs such as kuaa “know” use ai- for I, rei- for you and oi- for he or she.

How It Works

Verbs of this group take the prefixes in the table. The i belongs to the prefix, not to the root. It disappears when another prefix comes first: aporopytyvõ “I help (people)”.

PersonOral verb: kuaa “know”Nasal verb: kotevẽ “need”
Iaikuaaaikotevẽ
youreikuaareikotevẽ
he, sheoikuaaoikotevẽ
we (with you)jaikuaañaikotevẽ
we (without you)roikuaaroikotevẽ
you allpeikuaapeikotevẽ

Common verbs in this group are kuaa “know”, pytyvõ “help”, kotevẽ “need” and pota “want”.

Verbs whose root simply starts with i, such as iko “live” and ime “be at”, look the same on the page, but the i belongs to the root: aiko, reiko, oiko.

Examples (5)

  1. Che aikuaa amo kuñáme.

    I know that woman over there.

    Kuaa takes ai-. The woman is a person, so she takes -me, the form of -pe after a nasal word.

  2. Ndépa reikuaa che réra?

    Do you know my name?

    Rei- is the “you” prefix for kuaa. The question marker -pa joins ndé.

  3. Aipytyvõ ichupe.

    I help him.

    Pytyvõ is in the same group, so “I” is ai-.

  4. Roikotevẽ pirapire.

    We need money.

    Roi- is “we without you” for the verb kotevẽ “need”.

  5. Oikuaase nde réra.

    She wants to know your name.

    Oi- is the “he or she” prefix. -se adds “want”.

Common Mistakes

  • Treating the verb as a plain a-, re-, o- verb.

    Ndépa rekuaa che réra?
    Ndépa reikuaa che réra?

    Kuaa belongs to the ai- group, so “you” is rei-, not re-.

How It Connects

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

ai- / rei- / oi-Level 2Verbs with Ai-, Rei- and Oi-

Learn This First

These verbs add an i to the active prefixes, so the prefixes come first.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.