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.