Guarani/Lesson 1


 * The first letter of roots is here capitalised, to make comprehension easier

Vocabulario — Ñe’endy

 * Maitei – salutation
 * Maitei(kuéra) – salutations
 * Momaitei – to salute
 * Mba’éichapa – Hello, how are you (generic salutation)
 * Aguyje – thank you
 * che Maitei (atonic che) – my salutation
 * nde Maitei (atonic nde) – your salutation (singular)
 * iMaitei – his/her/their salutation
 * Ñande Maitei – our salutation (also yours)
 * Ore Maitei – nuestro saludo (not yours)
 * Pende Maitei – your salutation (plural)
 * Imaiteikuéra – sus saludos
 * Karai – mister
 * Che – I (tonic)
 * che (atonic prefix) – my
 * Nde (tonic) – you (singular)
 * nde (atonic prefix) – your (singular)
 * ndéve – to you
 * +pa – atonic interrogation sufix
 * +piko – atonic emphatic interrogation suffix
 * Ha – and
 * Avei – also

The distinction between "Ore" and "Ñande" is on whether the person being addressed is included or not.

Sentences

 * to G̃uahe ndéve che Maitei – may my salutations get to you
 * Che Aguijevete ndéve – thank you very much
 * Che Aguijevete ndéve nde Maitei – I thank your salutations a lot

First dialogue
One does not need to write question marks in Guarani, since suffixes already denote questions.

Dos personas se encuentran, Juan y Pedro, que no se conocen. Pedro es un hombre adulto, un Karai (señor).


 * Juan: Mba’éichapa Karai. – How are you, sir?
 * Pedro: iPorãnte, Ha Nde. – I'm fine, what about you?
 * Juan: Ha iPorãnte Avei. – I'm fine too.

Second dialogue
With "Ha'e", optional, names are asked. This word means "to be".


 * Juan: Mba'éichapa nde Réra. – What's your name?
 * Pedro: che Rera (ha’e) Pedro, Ha Nde. – My name is Pedro, and yours?
 * Juan: Che (ha’e) Juan – I'm Juan.

Third dialogue
"Piko" as a question marker and "niko" as a noun connector, meaning "to be".


 * Juan: ¡Mba’éichapa! Máva piko Nde? – Hello, how are you?
 * Pedro: Che niko Pedro, Ha Nde. – I'm Pedro, and you?
 * Juan: Ha Che niko Juan. – I'm Juan.

Notice how "Ha" is used, with the sense of addition.

Conjugation of Maitei and moMaitei
Strictly, Maitei (“saludar”) is an intransitive verb (it cannot take direct object) and moMaitei (mo+Maitei) is transitive (it must take an object).

In the present tense, we do not have to use a particle to express tense, just person and number.


 * (Che) aMaitei – I salute
 * (Nde) reMaitei – you (singular) salute
 * (Ha'e) oMaitei – he/she salutes
 * (Ñandé) ñaMaitei – we (including you) salute
 * (Oré) roMaitei – we (you not) salute
 * (Peê) peMaitei – you (plural) salute
 * (Ha’eKuéra) oMaitei – they salute

Let us see a sentence with moMaitei.


 * AmoMaitei Perupe – I salute Perupe.

If the intention is to use the future, the suffix -ta should be used.


 * ÑamoMaiteita ñande Sýpe – We (including you) will salute our (also yours) mother.
 * AMaiteita - I will salute.