Words Built From Pieces

Foundations

A Guarani word grows by adding small pieces before and after a root.

How It Works

Guarani builds long words from short pieces. Each piece has a main meaning, and it is written joined to the root, with no spaces.

PieceMeaning
nd- … -inot
a-I
guatawalk (the root)
-sewant
-vemore
-maalready

Put together, these pieces are written ndaguatasevéima. A word-for-word English version is “I already do not want to walk any more”, and natural English says “I no longer want to walk”. The accent is on é because the stressed piece -ve is the last stressed part.

The same pieces come back in other words. Aguata is “I walk”, aguatase is “I want to walk” and aguataseve is “I want to walk more”.

You do not need to take every long word apart while you listen. A good way to start is to learn a long word as one whole, such as oñembohasa “it is translated”, and take it apart later to see how it works.

Examples (5)

  1. Aguataseve.

    I want to walk more.

    The root guata has the prefix a- and the endings -se and -ve.

  2. Ndaguatasevéima.

    I no longer want to walk.

    One word holds a negative, a person, a root and three endings.

  3. Chembopukákena.

    Please, make me laugh.

    The pieces are che- “me”, mbo- “make”, puka “laugh”, then -ke and -na for a polite command.

  4. Oñembohasa.

    It is translated.

    A passive word built on the root asa “pass”: literally, it was made to cross.

  5. Ajepohéita.

    I will wash my hands.

    The pieces a- “I”, je-, po “hand”, (jo)héi “wash” and -ta “will” build a whole sentence in one word.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing the pieces of a word apart.

    a guata se
    aguatase

    Prefixes and endings join the root, so the whole word is written as one.

How It Connects

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

Words Built From PiecesFoundations