nipo / mbo

Wondering: Nipo and Mbo

Level 5

Mbo and nipo are small words for wondering and doubting.

How It Works

Questions with -pa and -piko ask someone for an answer. Mbo and nipo do not. The speaker is wondering out loud, or doubting what happened.

  • With a question word, mbo joins it: mbaʼémbo “I wonder what”, mbaʼéichambo “I wonder how”.
  • With a statement, nipo stands after the word it is about: omano nipo raʼe “it turned out that he died, though I doubted it”.

The book writes the pair as (ni)mbo and (ni)po, so the ni- can be left out. It gives no rule for where each one goes; the placements above are the ones in its examples. Both are unstressed, so the word before keeps its stress and its accent: mbaʼémbo.

They also team up with raʼe to add surprise.

Examples (3)

  1. Mbaʼémbo ojehu chéve koʼárape.

    I wonder what is happening to me today.

    Mbo joins mbaʼe “what” and turns the question into a wondering. The accent stays on é.

  2. Mbaʼéichambo haʼéta ndéve?

    How am I going to tell you this?

    Mbo joins mbaʼéicha “how”. The speaker is wondering, not asking you.

  3. Omano nipo raʼe.

    It turned out that he died, though I doubted it.

    Nipo stands after the verb and shows the doubt. Raʼe adds the surprise.

How It Connects

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

nipo / mboLevel 5Wondering: Nipo and Mbo

Learn This First

Nipo and mbo show doubt in a different way from -ne, and mbo follows a question word.

Words in This Pattern

nipo