This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

Being able to say what someone can do is an important step toward more natural conversation. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use siña to talk about ability in Chamorro. We’ll practice building sentences such as “I can drink the coffee” and “You can’t borrow the car” using clear patterns you can reuse in everyday situations. Happy studying!

Contents

1. Introduction to “Can” in Chamorro
2. How to Say “I Can Drink the Coffee”
3. How to Say “I Cannot Drink the Coffee”
4. How to Ask “Can You Drink The Coffee?”
5. ➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson
6. Documentation & Further Study
   1. References
   2. Further Reading

Introduction to “Can” in Chamorro

When we want to express things like “I can make the coffee” or “She can fix the car”, we are talking about a person’s ability to do something. Chamorro expresses these thoughts with the word siña, which means “can” or “to be able”.

In this lesson, we’ll learn some basic patterns for talking about what we can do. Specifically, we’ll learn the following:

• Saying what we can do: “I can drink the coffee”
• Saying what we cannot do: “I cannot drink the coffee”
• Basic question and answer practice: “Can you drink the coffee?”

How to Say “I Can Drink the Coffee”

If we want to say “I can drink the coffee”, all we do is put siña in front of a basic action sentence. Specifically, we can take a past tense sentence like Hu gimen i kafé and just put siña at the front.

The full pattern is below:

Siña + Hu Type Pronoun + Transitive Verb + i + Object

Chamorro	English
Siña hu gimen i kafe.	I can drink the coffee.
Siña un ayao i kareta.	You can borrow the car.
Siña ha håtsa i acho’.	She can lift the rock.
Siña ta ayuda i manåmko’.	We can help the elderly.
Siña ma fa’tinas i hineksa’ agaga’.	They can make the red rice.
Siña in aligao i patgon.	We can look for the child.
Siña en taitai i katta.	You (2+) can read the letter.

Next we’ll learn how to express what we cannot do.

How to Say “I Cannot Drink the Coffee”

What if we need to talk about what we can’t do, like “I can’t drink the coffee” or “You can’t borrow the car”? All we do is put the Negative Marker “Ti” to the front of our sentence.

In other words, we put the phrase “Ti Siña” at the beginning of our sentence.

The full pattern is below:

[Ti + Siña] + Hu Type Pronoun + Transitive Verb + i + Object

Chamorro	English
Ti siña hu gimen i kafe.	I can’t drink the coffee.
Ti siña un ayao i kareta.	You can’t borrow the car.
Ti siña ha håtsa i acho’.	She can’t lift the rock.
Ti siña ta ayuda i manåmko’.	We can’t help the elderly.
Ti siña ma fa’tinas i hineksa’ agaga’.	They can’t make the red rice.
Ti siña in aligao i patgon.	We can’t look for the child.
Ti siña en taitai i katta.	You (2+) can’t read the letter.

How to Ask “Can You Drink The Coffee?”

Imagine you need to ask someone a question: Can you drink the coffee? Can you borrow the car?

To turn our “can” statements into questions, just put the Question Word “Kao” in front of the sentence. You can also think about it as starting your questions with the phrase “Kao Siña”.

Here’s the full pattern:

[Kao + Siña] + Hu Type Pronoun + Transitive Verb + i + Object

In the table below, we’ll practice with this new pattern and do some question and answer practice:

Chamorro	English
Kao siña un gimen i kafe? Hunggan, siña hu gimen i kafe.	Can you drink the coffee? Yes, I can drink the coffee.
Kao siña un ayao i kareta? Åhe’, ti siña hu ayao i kareta.	Can you borrow the car? No, I can’t borrow the car.
Kao siña ha håtsa i acho’? Hunggan, siña ha håtsa i acho’.	Can she can lift the rock? Yes, she can lift the rock.
Kao siña ta ayuda i manåmko’? Hunggan, siña ta ayuda i manåmko’.	Can we help the elderly? Yes, we can help the elderly.
Kao siña ma fa’tinas i hineksa’ agaga’? Åhe’, ti siña ma fa’tinas i hineksa’ agaga’.	Can they make the red rice? No, they cannot make the red rice.
Kao siña en aligao i patgon? Hunggan, siña in aligao i patgon.	Can you (2+) look for the child? Yes, we can look for the child.
Kao siña en taitai i katta? Åhe’, ti siña in taitai i katta.	Can you (2+) read the letter? No, we cannot read the letter.

➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

And that concludes this lesson, and this blog series on making basic action sentences with transitive verbs. If you would like to continue learning how to make other types of action sentences, click the link below to start the blog series on how to use intransitive verbs:

Talking About Actions Without Objects in Chamorro – Introduction to Intransitive Verbs and Affixes

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Documentation & Further Study

References

Topping, D. M., & Dungca, B. C. Chamorro Reference Grammar (PALI Language Texts―Micronesia). University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Topping, Donald M. Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition). University of Hawaii Press, 1980.

Further Reading

Topping, D. M., & Dungca, B. C. “Siña.” In Chamorro Reference Grammar, 91. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Topping, D.M. “10.2 REPETITION DRILL.” In Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition), 148-149. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.

Topping, D.M. “10.3 VARIABLE SUBSTITUTION.” In Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition), 149. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.