Athpare is spoken by some 5,000 people living in Dhankuta District in eastern Nepal.
Geminated consonants are found in verbs with stem-final [tt] and as the result of assimilation to the infinitival suffix (e.g., -ma: pap(t)- + ma -> pamma ‘to scratch’).
Athpare has an extremely complex verbal system, with both actor and undergoer being marked on the verb.
There are also several types of suffix copying, resulting in the longest suffix chains of any Kiranti language, e.g.,[2][page needed] nisee-ni-NEG-m-1/2P.A-get-v2:attain-n-NEG-et-AUX:PT-ni-NEG-m-1/2P.A-ci-3ns.U-m-1/2P.A-ma-e-ga-NML:nsni -ni -m -get -n -et -ni -m -ci -m -ma -gasee -NEG -1/2P.A -v2:attain -NEG -AUX:PT -NEG -1/2P.A -3ns.U -1/2P.A -e -NML:ns‘we (pe) had not seen them’ Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);Athpare is a verb-final language.
The following postpositions serve as case markers: Athpare is SOV word order, all modifiers precede their head.
Athpre marks natural gender with kinship terms and for larger animals.