Leksion Chamoru: Gai'iyo (Possessives)

In Chamorro, we form possessives differently than we would in English. In English there are several pronouns that denote ownership, however, in Chamorro, we attach a suffix to a word.

There are only a handful of suffixes:

-hu/-ku* (my)
-mu (your singular)
-ña (his/hers/its) (sometimes pronounced/written -na)

-ta (our, including the listener)
-måmi (our, excluding the listener)
-miyu (your plural)
-ñiha (their) (sometimes pronounced/written -niha)

Here are some examples of how to use the suffixes:

• kåretå-hu (my car)
• lepblo-ku (my book)
  
• fino'-mu (your (singular) words/language)
• gimen-ña (his/her drink)
• eskuelå-ta (our school, as well as the listener's)
  
• familian-måmi (our family, but not the listener's)
• guma'-miyu (your (plural) house)
  
• atungo'-ñiha (their acquaintance)

One thing to remember when attaching possessive suffixes, is that the plurals (except the 1st person, inclusive) have a little catch to them: if the root ends in a vowel, you add an "n" to the end of the word, then add the suffix. If there is a consonant at the end of the root word, you simply add the suffix, like you would in the singular case.

Hopefully, some examples will clarify the concept:

• familia + -miyu ==> familiån-miyu (your (plural) family)
  
• kåreta + -ñiha ==> kåretån-ñiha (their car)
  
• guma' + -måmi ==> guma'-måmi (our house, not the listener's)
  
• såga + -ñiha ==> sågån-ñiha (the place where "they" stay)
  
• nåna + -måmi ==> nånan-måmi (our mother, not the listener's)
• eskuela + -miyu ==> eskuelån-miyu (your (plural) school)

While Chamorro does have possessive pronouns (e.g.: iyo-ku (mine), iyon-miyu (yours, plural)), this is the way those pronouns are actually formed.

*the difference between -hu and -ku is just that you use -ku when there is a consonant cluster in the word, but you can probably get away with just using -hu and no one would say anything ;-)