How to Say “I Am Walking” in Chamorro – Talking in Present Tense With Intransitive Verbs

This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

In this lesson, you learn how to talk about actions that are happening right now in Chamorro — things like “I am staying,” “you are resting,” or “they are walking.” You’ll practice common action words and learn the patterns for describing what someone is doing in the present moment. By the end of the lesson, you can build simple sentences to talk about everyday actions as they happen. Happy studying!

Last Updated: March 26, 2026

Contents

Introduction to “Present Tense” in Chamorro

When we say sentences like “I am resting,” “they are walking,” or “you are standing,” we are talking about actions that are happening right now.

In Chamorro, these sentences follow a pattern you have already seen when talking about past actions. The main difference is that the action word changes slightly to show that the action is ongoing. What happens is that we reduplicate the word.

If you would like to review how reduplication works in Chamorro, see the lesson on How to Reduplicate Words in Chamorro.

In this lesson, you practice building these sentences and become familiar with how action words change when describing what someone is doing right now.

How to Say “We are walking”

In this lesson, we’ll practice patterns with our intransitive verbs, which all follow a slightly different pattern when describing actions happening right now.

Specifically, we’ll practice with the following groups of words:

The verbs that need the UM Infix
The verbs that need the MA- Prefix
The verbs that don’t need a transformation

In the next section, we’ll start with the verbs that use the UM Infix.

Using the “UM” Verbs

For the action words below, the word changes in two steps to show that the action is happening right now. The highlighted parts help you see how the pattern works.

First, we reduplicate the word, then we add the UM Infix. The word in the right-hand column is the form we use for describing actions happening right now.

Take a moment to look closely at how each word changes before moving on to the examples.

Root Word	+Reduplication	+UM Infix
hånao	håhånao	humåhånao
deskånsa	deskåkånsa	dumeskåkånsa
åsson	å‘åsson	umå’åsson
tohge	totohge	tumotohge
o’mak	o’o’mak	umo’o’mak
tånges	tåtånges	tumåtånges
såga	såsåga	sumåsåga

Now let’s practice using these words in full sentences. Below, earlier examples are rewritten so they describe actions happening now instead of actions that already happened.

Here’s the full pattern:

[ UM + Reduplicated Intransitive Verb ] + Yu’ Type Pronoun

March 2026 Note: Audio is forthcoming! Sorry for the confusion!

Chamorro	English
Humåhånao yu’.	I am going/leaving.
Dumeskåkånsa hao.	You are resting.
Umå’åsson gue.	She is lying down.
Tumotohge siha.	They (2) are standing.
Umo’o’mak hamyo.	You (2) are bathing.
Tumåtånges ham.	We (2) are crying.
Sumåsåga hit.	We (2) are staying.

Now we’ll expand these sentences slightly and add locations:

Chamorro	English
Humåhånao yu’ para i fañochuyan.	I am going to the restaurant.
Dumeskåkånsa hao gi kanton tåsi.	You are resting at the beach.
Umå’åsson gue’ gi gima’.	She is lying down at the house.
Tumotohge siha gi me’nan i tribunåt.	They (2) are standing in front of the court.
Umo’o’mak hamyo gi saddok.	You (2) are bathing in the river.
Tumåtånges ham gi gima’ Yu’os.	We (2) are crying at the church.
Sumåsåga hit giya Hågat.	We (2) are staying in Agat.

Using the “MA-” Verbs

Next, we practice with action words that follow a slightly different pattern: they use the MA- Prefix instead of the UM Infix.

First we’ll transform these words, before using them in complete sentences. Notice how each word changes, until we get to the final, “present tense” form in the right-hand column:

Root Word	+Reduplication	+MA- Prefix
cho’cho	chocho’cho	machocho’cho’
tå’chong	tå’tå’chong	matåtå’chong
udai	u’udai	ma‘u’udai
pokkat	popokkat	mamomokkat

Now let’s use these words in sentences. The structure stays the same — only the action word changes:

[ MA- + Reduplicated Intransitive Verb ] + Yu’ Type Pronoun

March 2026 Note: Audio is forthcoming! Sorry for the confusion!

Chamorro	English
Machocho’cho’ yu’.	I am working.
Matåtå’chong hit.	We (2) are sitting down.
Ma’u’udai siha.¹	They (2) are riding.¹
Mamomokkat hamyo.	You (2) are walking.

¹ I’ve kept this sentence in this form to help highlight the pattern, but in everyday speech, speakers usually mention the vehicle being ridden.

Now let’s take those same sentences and add locations to see how these sentences sound in everyday situations:

Chamorro	English
Machocho’cho’ yu’ gi tenda.	I am working at the store.
Matå’tå’chong hit gi santåtte.	We (2) are sitting at the back.
Ma’u’udai siha gi boti.	They (2) are riding on the boat.
Mamomokkat hamyo para i gipot.	You (2) are walking to the party.

Using the Remaining Verbs

Our final group of sentences are with intransitive verbs that only need to be reduplicated – they don’t need any other transformation.

First, let’s first look at how each word changes in the table below. The changes are shown in bold:

Root Word	+Reduplication
Makmåta	Makmåmåta
Maigo’	Mámaigo’
Måtai	Måmåtai
Maigo’ñaihon	Maigo’ñañaihon
Malågu	Malålågu
Måtto	Måmåtto

Now let’s place these words into sentences. As before, the sentence pattern remains the same while the action word shows that the action is happening right now.

Reduplicated Intransitive Verb + Subject

The subject is who or what is doing the action, and these sentences show several different subjects:

Chamorro	English
Makmåmåta yu’ gi oran alas siette gi egga’an.	I wake up at 7 o’clock in the morning.
Mamaigo‘ i neni.	The baby is sleeping.
Måmåtai i tinanom.	The plant is dying.
Maigo’ñañaihon si nanå-hu.	My mother is taking a nap.
Malålågu siha gi kanton tåsi.	They (2) are running on the beach.
Måmåtto i oran i finatai-hu.	The hour of my death is arriving.

➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

And that’s it for our continous / present tense sentences with intransitive verbs! Click the link below to read the lesson on how to make commands with intransitive verbs:

How to Say “I Will Stay” in Chamorro – Talking About the Future With Intransitive Verbs

⬅️ Back to Previous Lesson

📒 Back to Beginner Lessons

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.

Lengguahi-ta

How to Say “I Am Walking” in Chamorro – Talking in Present Tense With Intransitive Verbs

Introduction to “Present Tense” in Chamorro