Convenience Store

1. Moõpa oĩ peteĩ despensa ko'ápe?

   Mo-õ-pa o-ĩ pe-te-ĩ des-pen-sa ko-'á-pe

   Is there a small shop around here?

   Usage

   The Paraguayan street-corner shop is the "despensa", a family-run grocery. In Asunción, 24-hour chains such as Biggie have spread fast in recent years. Most Paraguayans speak Guaraní, but shop signage and price tags are in Spanish.

   Grammar Note

   Questions are formed with the suffix "-pa", which attaches even to question words: moõ + pa = where? "Oĩ" is the existential verb, carrying the third-person prefix "o-".

2. Reipotápa peteĩ vosa?

   Rei-po-tá-pa pe-te-ĩ vo-sa

   Do you want a bag?

   Usage

   Said by staff. "Vosa" is Spanish "bolsa" respelled to Guaraní orthography. Paraguay began phasing out plastic bags in 2019 and more shops now charge for them.

   Grammar Note

   Guaraní verbs mark the subject with a personal prefix: a- (I), re- (you), o- (he/she). Hence aipota (I want) and reipota (you want).

3. Ikatúpa remombyaku chéve kóva?

   I-ka-tú-pa re-mom-bya-ku ché-ve kó-va

   Could you heat this up for me?

   Usage

   Chain convenience stores in Asunción have a microwave and a snack counter and will heat an empanada or a chipa for you; a village despensa normally will not. Paraguay is hot year round, so the demand for heated food is lower than in cooler countries.

   Grammar Note

   "Mbyaku" (to heat) is "haku" (hot) with the causative prefix mbo-/mo-. Guaraní is agglutinative and builds causatives and reflexives productively this way, as in monguera (to cure) and mombe'u (to tell).

4. Oĩpa y ro'ysã?

   O-ĩ-pa y ro-'y-sã

   Is there cold water?

   Usage

   Paraguayan summers regularly top 40°C, so cold water matters. Locals drink "tereré" — iced yerba mate — all day, and shops sell chilled water for it. "Y" is the single-letter Guaraní word for water.

   Grammar Note

   Guaraní "y" is a central vowel with no English equivalent, sounding between "ee" and "oo". Adjectives follow the noun, giving "y ro'ysã" (water + cold).

5. Oĩpa ielo?

   O-ĩ-pa ie-lo

   Do you have ice?

   Usage

   Bagged ice is a normal purchase at any despensa or convenience store in Paraguay — people buy it in quantity for tereré, and on hot days it can sell out by evening. "Ielo" is borrowed from Spanish "hielo".

   Grammar Note

   Everyday Paraguayan speech is "jopara", a Guaraní-Spanish blend: the grammar stays Guaraní while much of the vocabulary is Spanish. Loanwords are usually respelled to Guaraní orthography.

6. Ikatúpa apaga tarjetápe?

   I-ka-tú-pa a-pa-ga tar-je-tá-pe

   Can I pay by card?

   Usage

   Chain convenience stores and supermarkets in Asunción take cards routinely, but a rural despensa is cash only. The currency is the guaraní (₲), with large figures — 10,000 guaraníes is roughly 1.3 US dollars. For small purchases you may get sweets instead of coins as change.

   Grammar Note

   "Apaga" is a jopara hybrid: the Spanish verb "pagar" with the Guaraní first-person prefix "a-". The postposition "-pe" attaches to the noun to mark location, instrument or dative.

7. Efectivo añónte roipyhy.

   E-fec-ti-vo a-ñón-te roi-py-hy

   We only take cash.

   Usage

   Said by staff. Small Paraguayan despensas typically have no card terminal, and cash matters more the further you get from the capital — stock up on small notes before leaving Asunción.

   Grammar Note

   Guaraní distinguishes an inclusive "ñande" from an exclusive "ore" for "we". The verbal prefix "ro-" used by shop staff is the exclusive first-person plural — us, not you.

8. Nderekói cambio?

   Nde-re-kói cam-bio

   Do you not have change?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Guaraní notes come in large denominations such as 100,000 and 50,000, and small shops often run short of change. ATMs dispense big notes, so break them at a supermarket first.

   Grammar Note

   Negation uses a discontinuous morpheme wrapping the verb: "nd-…-i". So "rereko" (you have) becomes "nderekói" (you don't have), with the two parts jointly carrying the negation.

9. Moõpa oĩ baño?

   Mo-õ-pa o-ĩ ba-ño

   Where is the toilet?

   Usage

   A small despensa has no customer toilet, but 24-hour chains and service stations in Asunción do. Note that "baño" is a Spanish loanword — native Guaraní terms for a toilet are effectively absent from everyday speech.

   Grammar Note

   Guaraní has nasal vowels (ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ ỹ) and nasality spreads across the whole word. The ĩ in "oĩ" is nasal — the tilde marks nasalisation, not tone.

10. Oĩpa carga celular-pe g̃uarã?

    O-ĩ-pa car-ga ce-lu-lar-pe g̃ua-rã

    Do you have mobile top-up?

    Usage

    Selling mobile top-up is an important earner for a Paraguayan despensa. Tigo, Personal and Claro credit is loaded on the spot, starting from 5,000 guaraníes — the way travellers with a local SIM keep data running.

    Grammar Note

    "-pe g̃uarã" is a postpositional phrase meaning "for the sake of", marking purpose or beneficiary. Guaraní uses postpositions rather than prepositions: -pe (to/at), -gui (from), -rehe (about) all follow the noun.

11. Eme'ẽ chéve mokõi kóvagui.

    E-me-'ẽ ché-ve mo-kõi kó-va-gui

    Give me two of these.

    Usage

    Say this while pointing. Native Guaraní numerals run peteĩ (1), mokõi (2), mbohapy (3), irundy (4), po (5); beyond that everyday speech switches to Spanish. Prices are quoted in Spanish numbers too.

    Grammar Note

    The imperative uses the second-person prefix "e-": me'ẽ (to give) → eme'ẽ (give!). The postposition "-gui" means "from" and also marks a partitive — "of these".

12. Ndaipóri ko'ág̃a.

    Ndai-pó-ri ko-'á-g̃a

    There is none right now.

    Usage

    Said by staff. Paraguayan despensas keep small stock and restock as things sell, so an item missing today may well be back tomorrow — worth asking again another day.

    Grammar Note

    "Ndaipóri" is the irregular negative existential corresponding to "oĩ" and is extremely common in daily speech. The letter "g̃" writes a nasalised velar sound unique to Guaraní orthography.

13. Mba'e órapepa oñembotý ko despensa?

    Mba-'e ó-ra-pe-pa o-ñem-bo-tý ko des-pen-sa

    What time does this shop close?

    Usage

    Outside the capital many Paraguayan shops still observe siesta, closing during the hottest hours from around noon to three and reopening in the late afternoon until evening. Head out just after midday and you may find the shutters down.

    Grammar Note

    "Oñembotý" adds the reflexive prefix "ñe-" to "mboty" (to close), producing an intransitive "closes by itself". Combining causative "mbo-" with reflexive "ñe-" to fine-tune meaning is characteristic of Guaraní.

14. Ikatúpa acarga che celular ko'ápe?

    I-ka-tú-pa a-car-ga che ce-lu-lar ko-'á-pe

    Can I charge my phone here?

    Usage

    Asking to charge a phone at a despensa is not standard practice, though in the countryside people may happily oblige. "Carga" covers both topping up credit and charging a battery, so context disambiguates. City convenience stores and malls are more reliable.

    Grammar Note

    Possession is shown by a pronoun before the noun: che (my), nde (your), i- (his/her) — as in "che róga" (my house). Note that verbal "a-" (I) and possessive "che" are separate elements.

15. Mboýpa hepy opavave?

    Mbo-ý-pa he-py o-pa-va-ve

    How much is it all together?

    Usage

    Items in a despensa often carry no price tag, so confirming the total out loud is normal. Paraguayan prices already include VAT (IVA, standard rate 10%), so nothing is added at the register.

    Grammar Note

    "Hepy" means both "expensive" and "of value", and also serves as the noun "price". Guaraní has fluid part-of-speech boundaries, letting one word work as noun or predicate.

16. Aguyje ndéve, jajoechapeve.

    A-guy-je ndé-ve, ja-jo-e-cha-pe-ve

    Thank you, see you again.

    Usage

    The parting line at the counter. Even when the shopkeeper addresses you in Spanish, answering "Aguyje" in Guaraní reliably earns a smile. Guaraní is a constitutionally recognised official language and speaking it reads as a gesture of warmth.

    Grammar Note

    "Jajoecha" combines ja- (we) + jo- (each other) + echa (to see) — "we see one another". The reciprocal prefix "jo-" is a distinctive Guaraní feature, as in "joayhu" (to love each other).

Browse all TravelPhrases languages