-gua / -ygua

Where from: -gua

Level 1

-gua means “from” a place, and it becomes -ygua after a, e or o.

How It Works

Join -gua to a place name to say that someone or something is from there.

Place	From there
Paraguái “Paraguay”	Paraguaigua “from Paraguay”
Alemania “Germany”	Alemaniaygua “from Germany”
moõ “where”	moõgua “from where”

If the place name ends in a, e or o, an extra y usually comes first: -ygua.

The ending is stressed, so the place name keeps no accent mark of its own: Paraguái but Paraguaigua.

The word can be a whole sentence: Che Paraguaigua “I am from Paraguay”. To ask, use moõgua: Moõguápa nde? “Where are you from?”

Do not mix this up with -gui. -gui says where a movement starts: Ana ou Paraguáigui “Ana comes from Paraguay”. -gua says where someone is from.

Examples (4)

Che Paraguaigua.
I am from Paraguay.
-gua joins Paraguái, and the accent mark is gone.
Moõguápa nde?
Where are you from?
Moõ plus -gua is “from where”.
Mbaʼerã jayʼu terere ñande Paraguaigua?
Why do we Paraguayans drink tereré?
Ñande Paraguaigua is “we who are from Paraguay”.
Haʼe Alemaniaygua.
He is from Germany.
Alemania ends in a, so the ending is -ygua.

Common Mistakes

Keeping the accent mark before -gua.
Che Paraguáigua.
Che Paraguaigua.
-gua is stressed, so Paraguái loses its accent mark.

How It Connects

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

-gua / -yguaLevel 1Where from: -gua

Learn This First

The ending -gua turns a place name into where someone is from, so the place ending -pe comes first.

In, On, At and To: -pe / -meIn, On, At and to: -pe
Know -pe, because -gua is another short ending that joins a place name: Paraguáipe “in Paraguay”, Paraguaigua “from Paraguay”.
Level 1

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

guáicha / guaréicha / guarãichaLike Then, Like Now: GuáichaLevel 6

Words in This Pattern

-guamoõgui

Practice -gua / -ygua in Bubblegum

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