Palåbran 07/06/09: Babui

Babui (BA-bwee): (noun) Pig, swine.

Uses:

"Meggai ga'-ña babui si Juan." = "John owns a lot of pigs."
"Na'gåsgås i kuatto-mu, sa' kalan sågan babui." = "Clean up your room, because it's like a pig sty."
"Yanggen ma puno' i babui, para ma fa'tinas fritåda lokkue'." = "When they kill the pig, they're going to make fritada also."

Leksion Chamoru: The prefix chat-

Chat- is similar to the English prefixes "dis-," "un-," "in-," "mis-," "anti-," etc., but all rolled into one. It is a prefix which gives a negative or derogatory inclination to words. Here are some examples:

• Hinasso = A thought or a memory
  Chat- + hinasso => Chathinasso = A worry or a concern.
• Fino' = To speak, to articulate.
  Chat- + fino' => Chatfino' = To curse, to bad-mouth.
• Måsa = Cooked, ripe.
  Chat- + måsa => Chatmåsa = Premature, unripened, uncooked.

There are several instances where the derived word's meaning isn't obvious:

• Li'e' = To see.
  Chat- + li'e' => Chatli'e' = To fail to see something clearly.
  But it also means:
  Chat- + li'e' => Chatli'e' = To hate, to detest, to abhor.
• På'go = Pleasant, beautiful.
  Chat- + på'go => Chatpå'go = Ugly, unpleasant, disagreeable, contrary to beauty, offensive to look upon.
• Såga = To stay, to dwell.
  Chat- + såga => Chatsåga = Difficult, hard.

The prefix chat- is another prefix which forces the primary stress of the word to fall on the first syllable. So for some of the examples above:

• Chatfino' => CHAT-fee-new'
• Chatli'e' => CHAT-lee'-ee'
• Chatsåga => CHAT-suh-gah'
  

Palåbran 07/03/09: Respetayon

Respetayon (res-peh-TA-dzon): (adjective) Respectful, polite, respectable, honorable, attentive, courteous, gentlemanly, mannerly.

Uses:

"Respetayon gue' na biha." = "She's a respectable old lady."
"Kuentusi i mañaina-mu gi respetayon na palåbras." = "Talk to your elders with polite words."
"Ti respetayon gue' sa' tairespetu." = "He's not respectable, because he is disrespectful."

Leksion Chamoru: I mas fondamento na estrukturan Chamoru (The most basic Chamorro structure)

One of the most basic of all sentence structures in Chamorro is what I will call a "simple description." These are just sentences with a subject and a description:

• The house is big.
• The car is red.
• The chair is wide.
• The kid is tall.

In Chamorro we use the pattern: description + article

+ subject. (The definite article is "i".) So, here's how we would say the above simple descriptions the Chamorro way:

• Big "i" house.
• Red "i" car.
• Wide "i" chair.
• Tall "i" kid.

To say them completely in Chamorro, we'd say:

• Dånkolo i gima'.
• Agaga' i kareta.
• Fedda' i siya.
• Lokka' i patgon.

When the subject is a proper name, the structure remains the same. The only difference is that we change the article to "si." Here are some examples:

• Maria is pretty. ==> Pretty "si" Maria. ==> Bonita si Maria.
• John is skinny. ==> Skinny "si" John. ==> Dalalai si John (Juan).
• Joe is tall ==> Tall "si" Joe. ==> Lokka' si Joe (Jose).
• Rosa is sick. ==> Sick "si" Rosa. ==> Målångu si Rosa.

Leksion Chamoru: The prefix an-

An- is used to indicate the leftovers or even refuse of whatever it's attached to. It usually indicates something that is almost useless. Here are a few examples:

• Kånno' = To eat.
  Ankånno' = Leftover food (to be thrown away).
  So ankånno' would indicate the stuff on your plate when you're completely through eating.
  
• Sopbla = Remains, left over, remainder.
  Ansopbla = Leftover of the remainder.
  Where sopbla is what's left over from something, ansopbla would mean the rubbish left over from whatever remained from another item.
• Bålle = To sweep.
  Anbålle = The remnents from sweeping.
  So anbålle is the stuff that's left over from sweeping, maybe fine dust.

The prefix forces the primary stress to fall on the first syllable. So, using the words given above:

• Ankånno => AN-cun-nu'
• Ansopbla => AN-sop-blah
• Anbålle => AN-ball-lee

Palåbran 07/02/09: Yute'

Yute' (DZOO-tee'): (verb) Throw away, dump, drop down, cast away, discard.

Uses:

"Ha yute' i katne sa' lamas." = "She threw the meat away because it was rotten."
"Ai låstima, un yute' i mangga lao ti båba." = "How wasteful, you threw away the mango, but it wasn't bad."
"Munga mayute' i yabi-mu." = "Don't throw your keys away."

Palåbran 07/01/09: Tufong

Tufong (TWO-fong): (verb) To count.

Note: Tufong is a "man" type verb, so in its general form it requires the prefix man-. This is often contracted to get the word manfong or mamfong.

Uses:

"Kao ma tufong i taotao guihi gi gipot?" = "Did they count the people at the party?"
"Mamfong yo' sålåpe'." = "I counted money."
"Ya-ña i patgon mamfong." = "The child likes to count things."