This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to give simple commands in Chamorro — things like “Stay,” “Go,” or “Go to the car.” You’ll practice how to tell someone what to do using everyday action words, and you’ll see how to add places or times to make your commands more specific. By the end of the lesson, you’ll learn the simple, foundational patterns for giving commands in the language. Happy studying!

Contents

1. Introduction to Making Commands
2. Important Exceptions: “M” to “F” Shifts
3. How to Say “Go”
4. How to Say “Go to the car”
5. How to Say “Don’t”
6. ➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson
7. References
8. Documentation & Further Study
   1. References
   2. Further Reading

Introduction to Making Commands

When we tell someone else “Go” or “Stay”, we are giving commands. In Chamorro, the foundational pattern for commands is simple: we just say the action word we want the other person to do.

In this lesson, we’ll practice making these commands with action words that don’t have objects (intransitive verbs). Specifically, we’ll do the following:

• Review a key list of verbs that take special forms for commands
• Make simple, one-word commands like “Go” or “Stay”
• Expand our commands with locations: “Go to the car” or “Stay at the house”

In the next section, we’ll review the verbs with special forms.

Important Exceptions: “M” to “F” Shifts

Some of our action words change form slightly when used as a command. These words typically start with the letter “m”, but that letter changes to an “f” when phrased as a command.

For these exceptions, for now it’s more important to just learn the words that fall under this pattern, rather than trying to memorize the “m” to “f” first letter shift as a general rule.

These verbs are shown below. The form in the right-hand column is the word we use for making commands:

Root Word	Form for Commands For 1-2 People
tå’chong	fatå’chong
pokkat	famokkat
makmåta	fakmåta
malågu	falågu
måtto	fåtto
cho’cho’	facho’cho’

📝Talking to 3+ People: To make commands to 3+ people, all verbs must take the plural fan- prefix. In this set of notes, we will be reviewing the forms needed for making commands to 1-2 people, and the plural man- prefix will be covered in a separate post.

How to Say “Go”

The simplest commands in Chamorro are just one word: the action word we want the other person to do. We’ll practice this foundational pattern below:

Intransitive Verb

Chamorro	English
Hånao.	Go.
Såga.	Stay.
Maigo’.	Sleep.
Deskånsa.	Rest.
Tohge.	Stand.
Fatå’chong.	Sit.
Famokkat.	Walk.
Fakmåta.	Wake up.
Falågu.	Run.
Fåtto.	Arrive.
Facho’cho’.	Work.

📝Talking to 3+ People: Remember that these forms are commands to 1-2 people. To make commands to 3+ people, all verbs must take the plural fan- prefix.

How to Say “Go to the car”

What if you want to expand on your command, and specify where or when someone needs to do an action? We can expand on our commands by adding a location.

In our sentences below, most of our sentences will just add gi + Location to the end. For words like hånao and famokkat, we’ll add para i + Location to indicate movement toward a place.

Intransitive Verb + gi + location

Chamorro	English
Hånao para i kareta.	Go to the car.
Såga gi gima’.	Stay in the house.
Maigo’ gi kuatto.	Sleep in the room.
Deskånsa gi såla.	Rest in the livingroom.
Tohge gi papa’ i trongku.	Stand underneath the tree.
Fatå’chong gi fi’on-hu.	Sit next to me.
Famokkat para i saddok.	Walk to the river.
Fakmåta gi oran alas sais.	Wake up at 6 o’clock.
Falågu gi kanton chålan.	Run on the side of the road.
Fåtto gi egga’an.	Arrive in the morning.
Facho’cho’ gi tenda.	Work at the store.

How to Say “Don’t”

If you want to tell someone not to do something, you can simply say Mungnga which means “don’t”.

You can pair mungnga with other verbs to make more specific “don’t” statements, like “Don’t do that” and “Don’t say that.” Some useful phrases for everyday speech are shown below:

Chamorro	English
Mungnga.	Don’t
Mungnga macho’gue enao.	Don’t do that.
Mungnga masångan enao.	Don’t say that.

For more practice on the patterns with mungnga, see my lesson on How to Say “Don’t” in Chamorro:

How to Say “Don’t” in Chamorro – Saying “Don’t Do That” with Mungnga’

➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

When you are ready, click the link below to continue to the next lesson in this Beginner Chamorro series:

How to Say “I Must Stay” in Chamorro – Expressing Obligation With Intransitive Verbs

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References

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

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

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. “Munga.” In Chamorro Reference Grammar, 90. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Topping, D. M., & Dungca, B. C. “MODE.” In Chamorro Reference Grammar, 264-265. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Topping, D. M., & Dungca, B. C. “munga.” In Chamorro Reference Grammar, 267. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Topping, D.M. “14.9 REPETITION DRILL. Imperative forms.” In Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition), 206. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.