Here is another Chamorro grammar post, where we will look at how to make some future tense statements with intransitive verbs. We’ll cover the future tense markers, how to use intransitive verbs in this tense, and how to say sentences like “I will stay in Yigo” or “They will walk to the party.” As always, this post includes sentence drills and audio narrations for the Chamorro by Jay Che’le. Happy studying!

Updated 10-19-2025: Revised language on “m” to “f” shifts for specific intransitive verbs.

Introduction to Future Tense for Intransitive Verbs

To make our sentences in the future tense, we must use future markers at the beginning of our sentences. This future marker helps us say sentences like “I will be staying in Yigo” or “They will sing at the party.” For intransitive sentences, the basic structure for future tense is as follows:

Future Marker + Hu Type Pronoun + Intransitive Verb

For future tense statements with intransitive verbs, there are a few important things to note:

• Pronouns: We use the Hu type pronouns, which differs from present and past tense sentences
• Affixes: For sentences referring to 1-2 people, no UM or MA- prefix is required on the verb. In general, we can just use the verb in its root form. For sentences referring to 3+ people, the plural fan- prefix is required.
• “M” to “F” Modification: Some intransitive verbs are modified differently – they may start with an “m” in the past tense form, but for future tense that “m” is changed to an “f”. These verbs will be covered specifically.

Important Exceptions: “M” to “F” Shifts

There are some intransitive verbs in Chamorro that don’t use their root form when talking about the future, even if there’s only one or two subjects. You’ll notice a pattern with these verbs—they often begin with m- in the past tense, but that m changes to f in the future tense. These are the same verbs that typically use the ma- prefix in their past tense forms.

The most common of these verbs are shown in the table below. Try to just memorize their forms:

Root Word	Future Tense (1-2 subjects)
tå’chong	fatå’chong
pokkat	famokkat
makmåta	fakmåta
malågu	falågu
måtto	fåtto
cho’cho’	facho’cho’

Future Markers

The future markers in Chamorro change, depending upon the type of pronoun used. Here is a chart for quick reference on which future marker to use:

Future Marker	Use when the Hu Pronoun is…	English
Para Bai / Bai	Hu, In	I, We (exclusive)
Para	Un, En, Ta	You, You (all), We (inclusive)
Para u	Ha, Ma	He/She/It, They

Let’s do some practice drills with intransitive verbs for each of the future markers in the chart. As a reminder, all of the sentence drills in this post will be for 1-2 subjects. Sentence drills that have 3+ subjects require the plural fan- prefix, and will be covered in a later post.

Para Bai / Bai

Let’s do some simple future tense statements with para bai or bai. This first set will just be with the basic structure of future marker + hu type pronoun + intransitive verb.

Para Bai / Bai + Hu / In + Intransitive Verb

Chamoru	English
Para bai hu hånao. / Bai hånao.	I will go.
Para bai in maigo’ñaihon.	We (2) will take a nap.
Para bai in tanges.	We (2) will cry.

And now let’s just add a little more to our sentences, to give them life:

Chamoru	English
Bai hu hånao guatu gi fañochuyan.	I will go to the restaurant.
Para bai in maigo’ñaihon gi gima’.	We (2) will take a nap at the house.
Para bai in tanges gi gima’ Yu’os.	We (2) will cry at the church.

Para

Now let’s make basic sentences with the pronouns un, en, and ta:

Para + Un / En / Ta + Intransitive Verb

Chamoru	English
Para un deskånsa.	You will rest.
Para en o’mak.	You (2) will bathe.
Para ta såga.	We (2) will stay.
Para ta fatå’chong.	We (2) will sit.
Para en famokkat.	You (2) will walk.
Para un fakmåta.	You will wake up.

And now let’s add some detail with locations or time:

Chamoru	English
Para un deskånsa agupa’.	You will rest tomorrow.
Para en o’mak gi saddok.	You (2) will bathe at the river.
Para ta såga giya Hågat.	We (2) will stay in Agat.
Para ta fatå’chong gi santåtte.	We (2) will sit at the back.
Para en famokkat para i gipot.	You (2) will walk to the party.
Para un fakmåta gi oran alas siette gi egga’an.	You will wake up at 7 o’clock in the morning.

Para u

And now for the final set of sentence drills with the para u future marker. For this final set of future tense drills, we will only be using para u or para u ha because these sentences are referring to 1-2 subjects. To refer to 3+ subjects, we need to transform the verb with the plural fan- prefix, which will be covered in another lesson. We will use this sentence structure:

Para + u / u ha + Intransitive Verb

When using para u, we actually have a distinction between making future statements for 1 subject, 2 subjects, and 3 or more subjects. Follow this table below to see which combination of future markers and pronouns to use:

Hu Pronoun	Subjects	Pronoun is	Future Marker
Ha	1	Dropped	Para u
Ha	2	Kept	Para u ha
Ma	3+	Dropped	Para u fan-

Now let’s try out some sentence drills. As a reminder, in these drills we will be making sentences about 1-2 subjects only. Making sentences about 3+ subjects will be covered in a separate post.

Chamoru	English
Para u åsson.	She will lie down.
Para u maigo’.	He will sleep.
Para u ma’udai gi kareta.	She will ride in the car.
Para u ha falågu.	They (2) will run.
Para u ha fåtto.	They (2) will arrive.
Para u ha facho’cho’.	They (2) will work.

Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

And that concludes our lesson on future tense sentences with intransitive verbs! Click the Read Next button below to learn how to make commands with intransitive verbs:

Lesson 22: Giving Commands in Chamorro With Intransitive Verbs – “Stay”

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References

Topping, D. M., & Ogo, P. M. (1980). Spoken Chamorro with Grammatical Notes and Glossary (PALI Language Texts―Micronesia) (2nd ed.). University of Hawaii Press.

• Rules for Future Tense: pg. 106 – 107
• Future Tense Sentence Drills for Intransitive Verbs: pg. 109, 112-117

Topping, D. M., & Dungca, B. C. (1980). Chamorro Reference Grammar (PALI Language Texts―Micronesia). University of Hawaii Press.

• Rules for Future Tense: pg. 261 – 264