This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

Once we can talk about actions and objects, the next step is learning how to add a little more detail. In this lesson, we’ll practice expanding our sentences by describing the object of an action—for example, saying things like “I bought the big book” or “She is drinking the cold water.” These small additions help make your sentences clearer and more expressive. Through examples and guided practice, you’ll start getting comfortable adding descriptive words to the things people are doing in your sentences. Happy studying!

Contents

1. Introduction to Being More Descriptive in Chamorro
2. How to Say “Cold Water”
3. How to Say “I drank the hot coffee”
4. 📝 Study Resource: Keep Practicing on Quizlet!
5. ➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

Introduction to Being More Descriptive in Chamorro

When we want to add more detail to the objects in our sentences, this can look like saying sentences like I drank the hot coffee. You bought the expensive t-shirt. I smelled the sweet dessert.

To form these sentences, we’ll be using the Linker “na” to describe our objects (coffee, t-shirt, dessert) with adjectives (hot, expensive, sweet).

We’ll begin by first practicing basic phrases that use “na”.

How to Say “Cold Water”

When we want to be more descriptive and say things like hot coffee or cold water, we want to describe our nouns (coffee, water) with adjectives (hot, cold).

To form these phrases in Chamorro, we put the linker “na” in-between our adjective (descriptive word) and the noun.

Here’s the structure we’ll practice with:

Adjective + Na + Noun

Chamorro	English
manengheng na hånum	cold water
tristi na mubi	sad movie
taininangga na taotao	impatient person
pika na kåddu	spicy soup
yayas na påli’	tired priest

📝There Are Other Word Orders: For some of these phrases, speakers may also rearrange the order of words. One well-known example is with the phrase “spicy soup”. We’ve written it here as pika na kåddu, but you may be more familiar with kåddun pika.

In the next section, we’ll practice how to use these phrases in full sentences to express thoughts like I drank the cold water.

How to Say “I drank the hot coffee”

What if we want to turn sentences like “I drank the coffee” into “I drank the hot coffee”? We just add a descriptive word plus “na” in front of our object.

Another way to put it is that we will use our descriptive phrases from the previous section at the end of our action sentences.

Specifically, we’ll practice with this full pattern:

Hu Type Pronoun + Transitive Verb + i + [Adjective + na + Noun]

Now let’s practice with example sentences in the table below:

Chamorro	English
Hu gimen i maipe na kafe.	I drank the hot coffee.
Hu fåhan i fresko na kåtne.	I bought the fresh meat.
Hu yamak i apa’ka na plåtu.	I broke the white plate.
Hu fa’gåsi i dangkolo’ na tenidot.	I washed the big fork.
Un chule’ i gagas na båsu.	You took the clean cup.
Un sodda’ i dikike’ na kuchåla.	You found the small spoon.
Un guåsa’ i fodda’ na se’se’.	You sharpened the dull knife.
Ha båtte i chukulåti na binatte.	He beat the chocolate batter.
Ha nå’ye i ma’aksom na chugo’.	She added the sour juice.
Ha taña i pika na kå’do.	She tasted the spicy soup.
En hatsa i makkat na lamasa.	You all lifted the heavy table.
En na’gasgas i applacha na kusina.	You all cleaned the dirty kitchen.
En nginge’ i paopao na frutas.	You all smelled the fragrant fruit.
Ta na’atok i guaguan na setbesa.	We hid the expensive beer. (inclusive)
Ta na’lå’la’ i nuebu na foggon.	We turned on the new stove. (inclusive)
Ta chuda’ i manengheng na hånom.	We poured out the cold water. (inclusive)
Ma fa’tinas i taisabot na månnok.	They prepared the bland chicken.
Ma tife’ i masa na bilembinas.	They picked the ripe starfruit.
Ma huchom i tinake’ na kahon ais.	They closed the rusted refrigerator.
In figo’ i fetgon na tu’åya.	We wrung out the wet towel. (exclusive)
In chachak i betde na gollai.	We chopped the green vegetable. (exclusive)
In tinu i dangkolo’ na guihan.	We barbequed the big fish. (exclusive)

📝 Study Resource: Keep Practicing on Quizlet!

In this lesson, we learned how to add more detail the objects in our past tense sentences. We used the na linker to describe our objects with adjectives, and used those phrases in our past tense sentences.

If you want more practice with the example sentences in this lesson, use this Quizlet Flashcard deck as a supplementary study tool.

➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

When you are ready, click the link below to continue to the next lesson, where you will learn how to talk about current actions:

How to Say “I Am Drinking The Coffee” in Chamorro – Talking in Present Tense With Transitive Verbs