At the beginning of our learning, we can be focused on a lot of small sentences. Up until now these are the sentences we’ve learned how to make, sentences like “I am tired”; “They are students”; “We are tired students.” Now we are going to start making our thoughts a little longer by linking these short sentences with the word “because.” So instead of many small, disconnected thoughts we can start to smooth out our speech with sentences like “I am tired because I am a student.” In this post we will learn about the word sa’ in Chamorro and how to use it. Happy studying!

Contents
Introduction to Because in Chamorro Example Sentences: “I am tired because I am hungry” Make Your Own Sentences Wrapping Up: Keep Practicing on Quizlet! Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

Introduction to Because in Chamorro

In Chamorro, the word sa’ means “because”. Using this word is an easy way to start connecting thoughts together and make longer sentences. Let’s explore why:

At this point we have learned how to make short, descriptive sentences such as “I am tired” or “I am hungry.” We have also learned how to talk more about who we are, with sentences like “I am a student”, “I am a teacher” or “I am a mother.” And finally, we have also learned how to make negative statements such as “I am not hungry” or “I am not a student.”

Using the word sa’ in our speech is a great way to start connecting these short sentences together. Instead of saying “I am tired” and “I am hungry”, we can use sa’ to say “I am tired because I am hungry.”

Pronunciation Note for Sa’: When you say the word sa’, you say it with the same “a” sound as you find in the words “cat” or “sat.” Don’t pronounce it with an “ah” sound.

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Example Sentences: “I am tired because I am hungry”

Now let’s practice using sa’ to combine our sentences. We will be combining sentences such as “I am tired”, “The food is delicious”, or “It is expensive” with sa’. We will follow this basic structure:

Basic Sentence + sa’ + Basic Sentence

Now let’s look at some example sentences with sa’:

Yayas yu’ sa’ ñålang yu’.	I am tired because I am hungry.
Matuhok yu’ sa’ maipe i klema.	I am sleepy because the weather is hot.
Magof yu’ sa’ månnge’ i nengkånno’.	I am happy because the food is delicious.
Lalålo’ yu’ sa’ guaguan.	I am angry because it is expensive.
Maolek yu’ sa’ ti mappot i che’cho’.	I am good because the work is not difficult.
Atrasao i lahi sa’ ñateng i bas.	The man is late because the bus is slow.
O’sun i patgon sa’ ti maolek i huegu.	The child is bored because the game is not good.
Triste i palao’an sa’ chattao i dueñu.	The woman is sad because the owner is stingy.
Må’o i fafa’cho’chu’ sa’ maipe i diha.	The worker is thirsty because the day is hot.
Yåfai i nana sa’ malångu i neni.	The mother is exhausted because the baby is sick.

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Make Your Own Sentences

We have practiced with some example sentences in this post, but try to make your own! If you don’t know where to get started, check out the word lists on the blog.

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Wrapping Up: Keep Practicing on Quizlet!

In this lesson we have learned the word sa’, which means “because”, and we have used it to link our basic sentences together to create longer thoughts.

If you want more practice with the example sentences in this lesson, use this Quizlet Deck to practice your ability recall these sentences and produce them in Chamorro.

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Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

And that concludes this lesson! Click the link below to read part 8 in this blog series, and we will continue to learn how to connect sentences together to make longer thoughts:

Lesson 08: How to Connect Ideas in Chamorro with “Because”, “Not” and Questions