Year: 2020

Taotao gi kanton tåsi

On By Schyuler LujanIn Personal WritingLeave a comment

A few weeks ago for Chamoru class we were asked to write our own nursery rhyme. I always like to make up silly rhymes in English, so I took full advantage of the opportunity to try it out in Chamoru. The effect is something that is fun to say and very silly. I wanted to see if rhyming different words would help me remember them better, and I think it does help. I’ve modified my original verse to center around the theme of being at the beach. There’s a lot of repetition for drilling some basic grammar.

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Lesson 06: How to Turn Basic Statements into Questions – From “You are hungry” to “Are you hungry?”

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Lessons: Beginner7 Comments

Ready to start asking questions in Chamoru? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to turn any simple sentence into a yes-or-no question — like changing “You are tired” into “Are you tired?”, or “They are teachers” into “Are they teachers? To make this transformation, we will be learning about the Question Word “Kao” and how it’s used in Chamorro. Happy studying!

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Lesson 02: Describe Who You Are In Chamorro – “I am a student”

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Lessons: Beginner3 Comments

Now we will learn how to describe our yu’ type pronouns with nouns to describe who we are or who someone else is. We will learn to say sentences like “I am a student” or “She is a singer.” These types of sentences are useful for describing your profession or other characteristics about yourself. In this post we’ll be using nouns to describe our yu’ type pronouns. This post includes example sentences in Chamorro, audio pronunciations and a Quizlet deck for supplementary practice. Happy studying!

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Ti ya-hu amotsa, lao månnge’ i kamuti

On By Schyuler LujanIn Personal Writing1 Comment

Early in my language-learning journey I started keeping a journal written in Chamoru. As soon as I could form a basic sentence, I was trying to write about my day. In the first month my entries were often only a few lines, usually describing very basic parts of my day. Sentences like Mamokkat yu’ para i halom tåno’ (I walked to the forest) or Hu fåhan i mannok gi tenda (I bought the chicken at the store) dominated my journal entries. I still use very basic Chamoru in my journal entries (and still make many mistakes) but I’m learning how to use my basic grammar and vocabulary to write more. One exercise I’ve been enjoying is writing down my memories in Chamoru, particularly my memories about my grandmother. This particular memory is about breakfast time.

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Lesson 01: Start Describing Yourself in Chamorro – “I’m Hungry”, “I’m Thirsty” and More

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Lessons: Beginner6 Comments

Now that you’ve learned the pronouns (and if you need a refresher, check out Introduction to Pronouns in Chamorro), let’s start using them in basic sentences! it’s time to start using them in everyday phrases. A great way to begin is by describing yourself or others with simple sentences like “I am hungry” or “You are tired.”

These are the kinds of sentences you can use right away in real life—and they help you build vocabulary fast. In this lesson, we’ll focus on how to pair Yu’ type pronouns with adjectives to talk about feelings, conditions, and descriptions. This post includes lesson notes, example sentences with audio pronunciations, and a link to a Quizlet deck for additional practice. Happy studying!

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