One thing I remember clearly from my first few months learning Chamorro was the lack of comprehensive, useful word lists to study. At the time I was told to use the dictionary, and I remember burning hours of time searching for words, only to be told I was using the wrong word or using a word in the wrong context. Many times I was unable to find a word at all. This can leave a person burnt out and discouraged. I remember a friend saying, “I only have 30 minutes a day to study, and I can’t spend that 30 minutes searching for a single word!” So one thing I feel passionate about doing here on my blog is putting together as many word lists as possible, or linking to other word lists online, to help make our studying more efficient. 🙂
So here is a list of 100 adjectives in Chamorro, to get you started. Some of these adjectives are based on the beginner word list by Gabriel Wyner and some of these adjectives I added based upon what I’ve read or listened to. I also believe in the power of spaced-repetition and quality flashcards, and recommend Gabriel Wyner’s guide on how to make Simple Word Flashcards to make an effective study tool to learn these words. Also check out my post on digital flashcards to see Chamorro-specific examples of different ways to make your flashcards.
UPDATE 3/10/24 – Changed the word for “smooth” to the correct term, måhlos.
makkat: Makkat is also sometimes used to describe something that is diffult, in a metaphorical sense. ↩︎
ñaba: Jay’s family uses this word when referring to dull/blunt knives and tools, which is why we’ve put it on this list to mean “dull, blunt.” However, the dictionaries and other texts tend to use ñañu’ / ñaño’ to mean “dull.” It is possible that ñañu’ is the more widely used word and that ñaba is particular to Jay’s family or their village. So if you have not heard your family use ñaba in this context, learn ñañu’ instead. ↩︎
SYM you for putting this together! It feels like every time I have an idea for what I should study next (in this case, Gabriel Wyner’s First 625 Words to learn), I find a Lengguahita article about that exact thing!
I’m in the process of creating an Anki deck for this word list and am double checking each definition as I go through it. According to diksionariu.com and the 2024 Revised Chamorro-English Dictionary, the word ñaba (#79) means not sturdy, easily bent, or pliable. The word ñañu’ or ñaño’ looks like it’d be a better match for dull or blunt.
I understand that dictionaries can be incomplete, so I thought I’d ask: Are these words synonymous terms for native speakers, or was this a typo?
Håfa Adai! You are most welcome for the post, and thank you so much for your question! For the word “ñaba”, it absolutely carries those meanings of being “not sturdy” or being “weak” in the sense of being “easily bent or pliable.” We listed it with the definition “dull” on the vocabulary list because my partner Jay has also heard it used in his family when referring to dull knives.
But after checking the texts that I have, I’m seeing it only used to reflect the dictionary meanings you’ve listed! It’s possible that this meaning from his family is not captured in the dictionaries because it’s particular to their village or even their own family (I can’t say for sure). We’ve also seen this happen with other words and phrases. So for your purposes, I’d recommend going with the words ñañu’ or ñaño’ in your flashcard deck, since it seems to be the most widely used word.
Thank you so much for pointing this out to me! I will be making a note on the post for that word so people can be aware that it might be particular to Jay’s family and/or village, and I’ll include the word ñañu’ / ñaño’. Good luck with your Anki deck! And happy studying 🙂
Lengguahi-ta 
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SYM you for putting this together! It feels like every time I have an idea for what I should study next (in this case, Gabriel Wyner’s First 625 Words to learn), I find a Lengguahita article about that exact thing!
I’m in the process of creating an Anki deck for this word list and am double checking each definition as I go through it. According to diksionariu.com and the 2024 Revised Chamorro-English Dictionary, the word ñaba (#79) means not sturdy, easily bent, or pliable. The word ñañu’ or ñaño’ looks like it’d be a better match for dull or blunt.
I understand that dictionaries can be incomplete, so I thought I’d ask: Are these words synonymous terms for native speakers, or was this a typo?
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Håfa Adai! You are most welcome for the post, and thank you so much for your question! For the word “ñaba”, it absolutely carries those meanings of being “not sturdy” or being “weak” in the sense of being “easily bent or pliable.” We listed it with the definition “dull” on the vocabulary list because my partner Jay has also heard it used in his family when referring to dull knives.
But after checking the texts that I have, I’m seeing it only used to reflect the dictionary meanings you’ve listed! It’s possible that this meaning from his family is not captured in the dictionaries because it’s particular to their village or even their own family (I can’t say for sure). We’ve also seen this happen with other words and phrases. So for your purposes, I’d recommend going with the words ñañu’ or ñaño’ in your flashcard deck, since it seems to be the most widely used word.
Thank you so much for pointing this out to me! I will be making a note on the post for that word so people can be aware that it might be particular to Jay’s family and/or village, and I’ll include the word ñañu’ / ñaño’. Good luck with your Anki deck! And happy studying 🙂
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