Pålåbran 03/21/2011: Taitai

Taitai (TIE-tie): Read

Note: Taitai also can mean "pray."

Uses:
"I patgon ha taitai i lepblo." = "The child read the book."
"Ya-hu manaitai." = "I like to read."
"Manmanaitai i famagu'on lepblo." = "The children read books."

Pålåbran 03/15/2011: Pålapåla

Pålapåla (paw-la-PAW-la): Shack, hut, shanty, roof extending from house to provide shelter from sun and rain, pavillion.

Note: This definition is from Topping's dictionary, but it's not clear that only parts of the definition are generally used in some of the dialects of Chamorro. In Guam's northern dialect, the pålapåla generally only refers to a pavilion or a temporary canopy of sorts, but not a shack or hut. Whereas in Saipan's dialect of Chamorro it is more generally used to mean the shack or hut (I've heard it called a homestead).

Uses:
"Ma håtsa i palapåla para i fiesta." = "They raised (built) the canopy/shelter for the party."
"Kao guåha pålapåla, sa' sempre para u uchan." = "Is there a pavilion/canopy, because it going to rain?"
"Manmatåtå'chong i manamko' gi papa' i palapåla, sa' maipe i semnak." = "The elders are sitting beneath the canopy, because the heat of the sun."

Leksion Chamoru: Prefix mina'-

Mina'- is a very simple prefix, it is an "ordinal marker." That just means that it takes a "cardinal" number (2, 3, 4...) and changes it to an ordinal (2nd, 3rd, 4th...).

• Dos (two) => Mina'dos (second)
• Bente (twenty) => Mina'bente (twentieth)
• Katotse (fourteen) => Mina'katotse (fourteenth)

Only the number 1 is different,

• Unu (one) => Fine'na/Finene'na/Fine'nana (first)

Fine'na/Finene'na/Fine'nana all come from the root fo'na/mo'na (front).