Monday, August 22, 2011

Leksion Chamoru: Prefix san-

San- is called a directional prefix. However, "directional" doesn't fully explain what it does. San- marks a position rather than a relative location. In other words san- changes "above"/"upon" to "(the) top of"; "outside of" to "(the) outside of"; "behind" to "(the) back of." Here are some examples:
  • Hulo' = Up, above, on top of.
    San- + hulo' => Sanhilo' = Above (preposition), (the) top of.
  • Mo'na = Front, be first, in front of, forward.
    San- + mo'na => Sanme'na = Front side of, front of.
  • Hålom = In, into, inside, enter.
    San- + hålom => Sanhalom = Inside, interior, internal, in, into.
Just giving the definitions to the words might not help too much, so here are some examples in sentences:
  • Hu po'lo i yabi-hu gi hilo' lamasa. = I put my keys on (top of) the table.
    Hu po'lo i yabi-hu gi sanhilo' i lamasa. = I put my keys on (the) top of the table.
  • Gaige i ga'-hu ga'lågu gi me'nan guma'. = My dog is in front of the house.
    Gaige i ga'-hu ga'lågu gi sanme'nan guma'. = My dog is on the front part of the house. = My dog is in the front yard.
  • Siña hao mañodda' pugas gi halom i tenda. = You can find rice in the store.
    Siña hao mañodda' pugas gi sanhalom i tenda. = You can find rice (on the) inside (of) the store (as opposed to on the outside).
The prefix san- is only used with location words, e.g. hålom (in), mo'na (front), lågu (north--Guam, west--Saipan), etc.
San- also follows the rules of vowel harmony. Meaning that in general you "pull back" the first vowel of the root word, i.e.: å to a, o to e, and u to i.

Pålåbran 08/22/2011: Hongga

Hongga (HONG-ga): Audible; able to be heard.

Note: Some also say honggan. I believe the word is a contraction of hungok (to hear) + -(y)on (abilitative suffix) to get something like hungukon, however I, personally, have never heard hungukon.

Uses:
"Hongga i burukento gi halom i måkinan karetå-hu." = "There's an audible noise in my car's engine."
"Famatkilu fan nåya' sa' kalan ti hongga i taotao." = "Be quiet for a bit, because the person is practically inaudible."
"Hongga i essalao-na desde gi halom guma'." = "His yelling was audible from inside the house."

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Pålåbran 08/11/2010: Bisita

Bisita (bee-SEE-ta): Visit, visitor.

Note: Bisita can be use as either a verb or a noun.

Uses:
"Hu bisita i che'lu-hu giya California." = "I visited my sister in California."
"Kao en bisita si Tomås esta?" = "Have you (plural) already visited Tomas?"
"Kuåntos tiempo para un fanbisita guini?" = "How long are you going to visit here?"

"Megaggai bisitå-hu siha gi tiempon Påskua." = "I have a lot of visitors at Christmas time."
"Ti para u fåtto si Jose, sa' guåha bisitå-ña." = "Jose isn't coming, since he has a visitor."
"I bisita ilek-ña taotao Hapon gue'." = "The visitor said he is Japanese."