Chendales

Do you remember being in science class as a kid and looking at a chart of the periodic table of elements? Do you remember how all the elements are snuggled together in one chart, and then there’s like this whole other group that’s not even attached. And you thought: What’s so special about that group that they’re not even hanging out with all the other elements?

Well today we’re going to talk about the Guaraní version of those other elements. These are just off to the side in their own little clique.

They're called Chendales. These are just verbs conjugated in an entirely different way. They can also be adjectives or adverbs.

There’s some debate about whether Chendales are verbs or not. But we don’t care about that, we just want to know how to use them. The job of chendales is to usually to say that the subject, such as you, has a quality, is in a certain state or has a possession.

Let’s talk about that with ourselves, or che. The first use, to say that you have a quality, you would use an adjective, such as to say, "I’m pretty". Let’s use porã. You would start with che and then just attach che again to the verb. The pronoun, che, becomes the driver car. Che che porã. Since the che is repeated, many times it’s just left off. Che porã.

To describe a state you’re in, this is where it really gets fun. Let’s use the most popular one in Paraguay, kaigue. Kaigue translates to sluggish, as in lacking in energy. Kai is the word for burned, so I think it’s kind of like burned out. It’s 100 degrees outside and you don’t feel like doing anything. Che kaigue you might say. Or Che kaigue hína for I don’t feel like doing anything right now. Or Che kaigue che ra’a for "Dude I don’t feel like doing anything."

First let’s go through all the beginnings. They roughly follow the pattern of regular pronouns, but naturally with some curveballs thrown in.

First we had che, to say, I’m pretty. Che che porã.
The next is Nde. Nde nde kaigue. But here come the nasals, such as porã. The d in nde doesn’t want to hang out with the nasals, so when we want to say "You are pretty", we have to say nde neporã, or just Ne porã. This pattern will be followed with other pronouns, that the d will disappear with nasals.

Such as ñande. We are all pretty. Ñande ñane porã, but people will just say ñane porã. "We are all feeling lazy." Ñande kaigue.

Ore will stay the same, "Just us are lazy." Ore ore kaigue or just ore kaigue.

Peẽ is going to change a little bit and become Pende, or, with nasals, pene. Peẽ pene porã.

Or, sometimes, people will just ignore the whole nasals thing altogether and just say Pende porã and nde porã.

Now let’s talk about the beginnings for him, her and them, that ha’e and ha’ekuéra. This is super weird. The beginning for that is just an i, pronounced “E.”

Ha’e ikaigue. Karen iporã. This will change when the adjective begins with a vowel, but we are going to worry about that later.

You can use these with all the fun cabooses we’ve already learned. I’m feeling lazy already would be Che kaiguéma. “She will be pretty tonight” would be Ha’e iporãta ko pyharépe.
Now let’s look at some states of being that we might use. These are fun because people just throw them out in little bits, so you’re more likely to recognize them sooner and be able to use them easily. Che kaigue is practically the motto of Paraguay.

Another good one is to say, “I’m broke!” which is Che sogue. As I said, the correct form is Che che sogue, but I hear that so little that we’ll just do the Che sogue! How would you say, “Liam is broke already”? Liam isoguema.

Then there’s another important one, "to be hungry". This is vare’a. Che vare’áma is "I’m hungry already." Che vare’a hína is "I’m hungry!" Or you could combine the two: Che vare’áma hína. How would you say, “We all are hungry”? Ñande vare’a. What does this mean: Pauli ivare’áta. “Pauli is going to be hungry.”

If you’re feeling tired, like the tired you feel after working all day, you would use the word kane’o. After doing a bunch of chores, you might fall into a chair and say Che kane’õma. "I’m tired already."

There are other chendales that are more like action verbs. A good one is japu, which means "to lie or be a liar". You will hear this all the time when one friend is calling out another one out.

And for the last verb let’s look at, to remember, which is mandu’a. "I remember" is Che mandu’a. You’ll hear a lot, Ah, che mandu’áma. "I remember now."

Now we’re going to look at two really fun cabooses. They are ite and iterei. A lot of people who speak Guaraní say it’s much better than Spanish for expressing yourself and these are kind of part of that. They are for exaggerating your words. You will hear them all the time.

I’m was explaining this to my friend and she asked me what the equivalent was in English. For iterei, it’s so. Like "I’m sooooo tired." For this you would say Che kane’õiterei.
For ite, it’s more like totally. "I’m totally exhausted." Che kane’õite.

You can use these with regular verbs. With verbs, iterei means a lot. Amba’apoiterei means “I work a lot.”

These change a little bit, depending on in what letter the word ends. What I’m going to tell you hear isn’t the most important thing in the world, it just fits. Get the usage down first, then you can come back and perfect this part.

You are going to use ite and iterei with words that end in the strong vowel a, e, o.

But the beginning i will change to an e when the word ends with a weak vowel i,u or y.

Also, you just drop the beginning vowel if the word ends in a weak a,e, or o. Confusing, see? But just listen up for the changes. You'll be fine. Stop crying. I said stop crying.

The opposite of iterei and ite is ‘imi. This means a little bit. With adjective it can mean more or less, or kind of. To say “I’m a little bit hungry” would be Che vare’a’imi. How would you say, I’m a little tired? Che kane’õ’imi.


Soooooooooo....let's review

FYI: I will be mixing in some verbs from the first group of verbs from the previous podcast.

1. Do you remember already?
Ne mandu’áma piko?

2. He’s totally broke.
Ha’e isoguete.

3. You are going to be sluggish this afternoon.
Nde kaigueta ko ka’arúpe.

4. You’re lying
Nde japu hína.

5. I am so hungry right now.
Che vare’aiterei ko’ãga.

6. Shola was sluggish yesterday.
Shola ikaigue kuri kuehe.

7. Yesterday I bought sushi and now I am really broke.
Kuehe ajogua kuri sushi ha ko’ãga che sogueterei.

8. Dude I’m so bummin'.
Che kaigue, che ra’a.

9. Mateo’s looking for his cow.
Mateo oheka ivaka(pe). *With animals, you can use the pe, like you do with humans, or leave it off like you do with things. Maybe it depends on if you're a vegetarian or not. *

10. I was so hungry.
Che vare’aiterei kuri.

Now Guaraní first.

1. Apytase ko’ápe porque che kaigue.
I want to stay here because I’m feeling lazy.

2. Egueraha ko pizza Juliópe porque ivare’áma.
Take this pizza to Julio because he’s hungry.

3. Che avy’a porque Oscar oguahẽta ko’ára.
I’m happy because Oscar is going to arrive today.

4. Moõ piko amoĩ ra’e che pizza? Che vare’áma ha ha’use!
Where did I put my pizza? I’m hungry and I want to eat!

5. Ame’ẽ kuri che ipod Sashápe.
I gave my ipod to Sasha.

6. Mba’e piko rejogua?
What did you buy?

7. Egueraha ko pizza Spencerpe.
Take this pizza to Spencer.

8. Ejapomína la terere. Che kaigue’imi.
Please make the terere. I’m feeling a little lazy.

9. Ko’ẽro chemandu’áta.
Tomorrow I’ll remember.

10. Japracticáma
We practiced already.


New words for this episode.
1. pende/pene: peẽ beginning for chendales
2. i: chendal beginning for he/she/them
3. kaigue: to be sluggish
4. sogue: to be broke
5. vare’a: to be hungry
6. japu: to be a liar or to be lying
7. mandu’a: to remember
8. ite/ete/te: totally
9. iterei/eterei/terei: very or a lot
10. 'imi: a little bit