In Chamorro, we can express our wants with the word malago‘. To get started using malago’, in this post we will go over how to express basic wants for things, such as “I want coffee” or “I want the coffee.” We will also use este, enao, and eyu to express wants like “I want this coffee.” Finally, we will also cover how to express all of those statements in the negative, such as “I don’t want coffee” and how to ask basic questions about what you want, such as “Do you want coffee?”, “What do you want?” or “Which do you want?”

Contents
Introduction to Malago’ Malago’ – I want coffee Manmalago’ – Adding the plural man- prefix Ti Malago’ – I don’t want coffee Kao Malago’ – Do you want coffee? Håfa Malago’-mu? – What do you want? Månu Malago’-mu? – Which do you want? Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson References

Introduction to Malago’

The word malago’ means “want” or “desire” and is a word we can use to express wants or to ask people what they want. When using the word malago’ in speech, we generally pair this word with yu’ type pronouns to make basic statements. We can also pair it with possessive pronouns and question words like håfa or månu to make basic questions such as “What do you want?” or “Which do you want?”

The rest of these notes will outline some basic sentence structures with the word malago’.

Malago’ – I want coffee

To make a basic statement such as “I want coffee” we can use the following sentence structure:

Malago’ + Yu’ Type Pronoun + Noun

Note that in this sentence type, we are expressing that we want a non-specific object (i.e.: I want coffee) rather than a specific object (i.e.: I want the coffee). And we are also only using nouns as the objects, rather than pronouns or proper names.

Chamorro	English
Malago’ yu’ kafé.	I want coffee.
Malago’ hao nengkånnu’.	You want food.
Malago’ gue’ fina’mámes.	She wants dessert.
Malago’ siha hånom.	They (2) want water.
Malago’ ham inaflíton hinéksa’.	We (2) want fried rice.
Malago’ hamyu kåddun månnuk.	You (2) want chicken soup.
Malago’ hit tinála’ kåtni.	We (2) want dried meat.

Special Note: In the examples above, I am sticking to simple objects such kafé or hånom. But you can also make your objects more descriptive, such as Malago’ yu’ te’ok na kafé = I want strong coffee or Malago’ siha manengheng na hånom = They (2) want cold water.

I want the coffee

To express wants for specific objects (i.e.: “I want the coffee” rather than “I want coffee”) we simply add ni in front of our noun. Please note that ni is a contraction of nu i so you may hear both used in speech. Remember that vowel harmony rules must be applied to the words that follow ni.

Here is the basic sentence structure to follow:

Malago’ + Yu’ Type Pronoun + Ni + Noun

Chamorro	English
Malago’ yu’ ni kafé.	I want the coffee.
Malago’ hao ni nengkånnu’.	You want the food.
Malago’ gue’ ni fina’mámes.	She wants the dessert.
Malago’ siha ni hanom.	They (2) want the water.
Malago’ ham ni inaflíton hinéksa’.	We (2) want the fried rice.
Malago’ hamyu ni kaddun månnuk.	You (2) want the chicken soup.
Malago’ hit ni tinála’ kåtni.	We (2) want the dried meat.

I want this / that coffee

We can also use the words este, enao, and eyu (this, that, that over there) to make our statements more specific. If you would like to review how to use these words, see my post on This and That in Chamorro.

Use the following sentence structure to practice using este, enao and eyu with malago’:

Malago’ + Yu’ Type Pronoun + Nu + Este / Enao / Eyu

Chamorro	English
Malago’ yu’ nu este.	I want this.
Malago’ siha nu enao.	They (2) want that.
Malago’ hit nu eyu.	We (2) want that (over there).

We can also expand those statements with este, enao and eyu by following them with na + noun to express wants for “this coffee” or “that dessert.” Here’s the sentence structure:

Malago’ + Yu’ Type Pronoun + [ Nu + Este / Enao / Eyu ] + Na + Noun

Chamorro	English
Malago’ yu’ nu este na kafé.	I want this coffee.
Malago’ hao nu enao na nengkånnu’.	You want that food.
Malago’ gue’ nu eyu na fina’mámes.	She wants that dessert (over there).
Malago’ siha nu enao na hånom.	They (2) want that water.
Malago’ ham nu este na inaflíton hinéksa’.	We (2) want this fried rice.
Malago’ hamyu nu eyu na kåddun månnuk.	You (2) want that chicken soup (over there).
Malago’ hit nu enao tinála’ kåtni.	We (2) want that dried meat.

Manmalago’ – Adding the plural man- prefix

In all the previous examples, the statements have been for 1-2 people. To make these sentences refer to 3 or more people, we must add the plural man- prefix in front of the word malago’. So malago’ becomes manmalago’. For any of the sentence drills above, to make sentences refer to 3+ people just replace the malago’ with manmalago’. Here are examples of this conversion side-by-side:

For 1-2 People	For 3+ People
Malago’ siha hånom. They (2) want water.	Manmalago’ siha hånom. They (3+) want water.
Malago’ ham inaflíton hinéksa’. We (2) want fried rice.	Manmalago’ ham inaflíton hinéksa’. We (3+) want fried rice.
Malago’ hamyu kåddun månnuk. You (2) want chicken soup.	Manmalago’ hamyu kåddun månnuk. You (3+) want chicken soup.
Malago’ hit tinála’ kåtni. We (2) want dried meat.	Manmalago’ hit tinála’ kåtni. We (3+) want dried meat.

Ti Malago’ – I don’t want coffee

We can also express our want statements in the negative by adding ti in front of malago’. For any of the sentences drills under the section Malago’ – I want coffee we can make them into negative statements by adding ti to the beginning of the sentences. Here’s the sentence structure we will practice with:

Ti Malago’ + Yu’ Type Pronoun + Noun

Here’s a small selection of sentence drills to practice:

Chamorro	English
Ti malago’ yu’ kafé.	I don’t want coffee.
Ti malago’ hao nengkånnu’.	You don’t want food.
Ti malago’ gue’ fina’mámes.	She doesn’t want dessert.
Ti manmalago’ siha hånom.	They (3+) don’t want water.
Ti malago’ ham inaflíton hinéksa’.	We (2) don’t want fried rice.
Ti manmalago’ hamyu kåddun månnuk.	You (3+) don’t want chicken soup.
Ti manmalago’ hit tinála’ kåtni.	We (3+) don’t want dried meat.

Kao Malago’ – Do you want coffee?

We can also turn our statements into questions by adding the question word kao in front of malago’. We can add kao in front of any of our previous sentence drills to turn them into questions. Here’s the sentence structure we will practice with:

Kao Malago’ + Yu’ Type Pronoun + Noun

And here are some practice drills:

Chamorro	English
Kao malago’ yu’ kafé?	Do I want coffee?
Kao malago’ hao nengkånnu’?	Do you want food?
Kao malago’ gue’ fina’mámes?	Does she want dessert?
Kao manmalago’ siha hånom?	Do they (3+) want water?
Kao malago’ ham inaflíton hinéksa’?	Do we (2) want fried rice?
Kao manmalago’ hamyu kåddun månnuk?	Do you (3+) want chicken soup?
Kao manmalago’ hit tinála’ kåtni?	Do we (3+) want dried meat?

Håfa Malago’-mu? – What do you want?

Finally, we can also use the question word håfa with malago’ to make more general questions like “What do you want?” In this sentence, rather than using a yu’ type pronoun, we attach a possessive pronoun at the end of malago’ and add the question word håfa (which means “what”) to the front:

Håfa + Malago’ + Possessive Pronoun

In the sentence drills below, please note the pronunciation change when the possessive pronouns -hu, -mu, -ña, and -ta are attached to malago’, as the ending “ooh” sound changes to an “oh” sound.

Chamorro	English
Håfa malago’-hu?	What do I want?
Håfa malago’-mu?	What do you want?
Håfa malago’-ña?	What does he/she/it want?
Håfa malago’-ta?	What do we (2) want?
Håfa malago’-míyu?	What do you (2) want?
Håfa malago’-ñíha?	What do they (2) want?
Håfa malago’-måmi?	What do we (2) want?

Adding the Plural Man- Prefix

Finally, to make these questions refer to 3 or more people, we can add the plural man- prefix in front of the word malago’ when it is paired with plural pronouns, like -ta, -miyu, -ñiha, and -måmi.

Håfa + Manmalago’ + Possessive Pronoun

Chamorro	English
Håfa manmalago’-ta?	What do we (3+) want?
Håfa manmalago’-míyu?	What do you (3+) want?
Håfa manmalago’-ñíha?	What do they (3+) want?
Håfa manmalago’-måmi?	What do we (3+) want?

Månu Malago’-mu?

We can pair our sentences with månu in place of håfa to ask “Which do you want?” Just add a possessive pronoun to the end of malago’ to make these questions:

Månu + Malago’ + Possessive Pronoun

Chamorro	English
Månu malago’-hu?	Which do I want?
Månu malago’-mu?	Which do you want?
Månu malago’-ña?	Which does he/she/it want?
Månu malago’-ta?	Which do we (2) want?
Månu malago’-míyu?	Which do you (2) want?
Månu malago’-ñíha?	Which do they (2) want?
Månu malago’-måmi?	Which do we (2) want?

And as a reminder, add the plural man- prefix in front of the word malago’ to to make this question refer to 3+ people when using plural possessive pronouns:

Chamorro	English
Månu manmalago’-ta?	Which do we (3+) want?
Månu manmalago’-míyu?	Which do you (3+) want?
Månu manmalago’-ñíha?	Which do they (3+) want?
Månu manmalago’-måmi?	Which do we (3+) want?

Note: The word amånu rather than månu is used when there are two objects in question.

Adding Objects – Which coffee do you want?

Finally, we can also add objects to our “which” questions to ask things like “Which coffee do you want?” We do this by linking månu and the object with the linking particle na. Remember to also add the plural man- prefix in front of the word malago’ when it’s used with plural pronouns if you want to make these questions for 3+ people:

Månu + na + Object + Malago’ + Possessive Pronoun

Chamorro	English
Månu na kafé malago’-hu?	Which coffee do I want?
Månu na gimen malago’-mu?	Which drink do you want?
Månu na kareta malago’-ña?	Which car does he/she/it want?
Månu na mubi malago’-ta?	Which movie do we (2) want?
Månu na fina’mames malago’-míyu?	Which dessert do you (2) want?
Månu na estoria malago’-ñíha?	Which story do they (2) want?
Månu na huegu malago’-måmi?	Which game do we (2) want?
Månu na guma’ manmalago’-ta?	Which house do we (3+) want?
Månu na kelaguen manmalago’-míyu?	Which kelaguen do you (3+) want?
Månu na dåndan manmalago’-ñíha?	Which music do they (3+) want?
Månu na tinekcha’ manmalago’-måmi?	Which fruit do we (3+) want?

Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

And that concludes our lesson on how to use the word malago’ at the beginner level! Next is a mini-series on how we can start to express likes and dislikes in Chamorro:

Basic Actions Part 17: Expressing Likes and Dislikes in Chamorro pt. 1 – “I like you.”

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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.

• Malago’: pg. 134 – 135
• Månu: pg. 216-217

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

• Malago’: pg. 87
• Question word håfa: pg. 156
• Question word månu: pg. 158 – 159