How to Say “I Like You” in Chamorro – Expressing Likes to Someone

This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

In this lesson, you begin learning how to talk about likes and dislikes in Chamorro. We start with simple sentences about people, such as “I like you,” “She doesn’t like you,” or “Juan likes you.” You’ll practice using a common Chamorro word for expressing likes in Chamorro and learn how to build natural sentences to talk about who likes whom. This is the first lesson in a beginner-friendly series on expressing likes and dislikes, with more to come. Happy studying!

Last Updated: March 26, 2026

Contents

Introduction to “Likes” in Chamorro

When we want to express our likes and dislikes in Chamorro, we can use the verb ya- which means “to like.” This verb must always be used with a possessive pronoun at its end, which makes it different from most other verbs.

In this lesson, we’ll practice basic patterns for expressing likes and dislikes in Chamorro. Specifically, we’ll cover the following:

Learning the core patterns of “I like it”, “I don’t like it” and “Do you like it?”
Expanding upon the core pattern to express our likes and dislikes about others: “I like you”
Talking about who likes or dislikes someone: “Juan doesn’t like me”

Core Pattern: “I like it”

In this section, we’ll practice with our core pattern for expressing likes and dislikes. We’ll move through the following:

Practice combining “ya-” with possessive pronouns
Examine how this basic pattern expresses a complete thought: “I like it.”
Expand to expressing dislike: “I don’t like it”
Change our statements to a question: “Do you like it?”

How to Say “I like it”

Our core pattern for expressing likes and dislikes combines ya- with a possessive pronoun. This creates phrases like ya-hu (“I like it”), ya-mu (“You like it”), etc.

We’ll practice with all of the possessive pronouns, using this pattern:

Ya- + Possessive Pronoun

We’ll make all the patterns below. Please note that for the two-syllable pronouns -miyu, -måmi, and -ñiha, the ya- becomes yan-.

Chamoru	English
Ya-hu.	I like (it).
Ya-mu.	You like (it).
Ya-ña.	He/She/It likes (it).
Ya-ta.	We like (it).
Yan-miyu.	You all like (it).
Yan-måmi.	We like (it).
Yan-ñiha.	They like (it).

📝“It” is Often Implied: Even though these patterns are just a single word, they actually express the complete thought of liking “it”. That’s because “it” is usually implied in Chamorro rather than stated with another word.

How to Say “I don’t like it”

We can also make these statements negative and say things like “I don’t like it.” To do this, just add the Negative Marker “Ti” to the front of the sentences above.

Here’s the full pattern

Ti + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

Chamoru	English
Ti ya-hu.	I don’t like it.
Ti ya-mu.	You don’t like it.
Ti ya-ña.	He/She/It doesn’t likes it.
Ti ya-ta.	We don’t like it.
Ti yan-miyu.	You all don’t like it.
Ti yan-måmi.	We don’t like it.
Ti yan-ñiha.	They don’t like it.

How to Say “Do you like it?”

To turn these sentences into questions, we’ll add the Question Marker “Kao” to the front of the sentence. This allows us to make simple, short questions such as “Do you like it?”

Here’s the pattern we’ll practice:

Kao + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

Chamoru	English
Kao ya-hu?	Do I like it?
Kao ya-mu?	Do you like it?
Kao ya-ña?	Does He/She/It like it?
Kao ya-ta?	Do we like (inclusive) it?
Kao yan-miyu?	Do you like (plural) it?
Kao yan-måmi?	Do we like (exclusive) it?
Kao yan-ñiha?	Do they like it?

And those are the basics we need to know for using ya- with possessive pronouns, which forms our foundation for the rest of the lesson. In the next section, we’ll expand upon these patterns by being specific about who we like, and who likes whom.

Expressing That You Like Someone

What if we don’t just want to say we like “it”, and instead want to be more specific? In this section we’ll practice patterns for expressing sentiments such as “I like you”, “Juan likes you” and “The woman likes you.”

How to Say “I like you“

Now we are going to expand on our basic sentences and talk about who we like, such as “I like you.”

To form these statements, we add a Yu’ Type Pronoun to the end of our basic sentence. This pronoun represents who we like.

We’ll practice the pattern below:

[ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ] + Yu’ Type Pronoun

Chamoru	English
Ya-hu hao.	I like you.
Ya-mu siha.	You like them.
Ya-ña hit.	He/She/It likes us.
Ya-ta gue’.	We like her.
Yan-miyu ham.	You all like us.
Yan-måmi hamyo.	We like all of you.
Yan-ñiha yu’.	They like me.

How to Say “The woman likes you”

We can also expand on our basic sentences above and indicate more specifically who likes or dislikes someone, such as “The woman likes you” or “The baby likes me”.

When it’s just one person (the woman, the baby), we start our sentences with ya-ña (“he/she likes”). If it’s more than one person, we start the sentence with yan-ñiha (“they like”).

The pronoun that comes after the “like” statement represents who the person likes. The specific person doing the liking (the woman, the baby) comes at the end of the sentence.

Here’s the pattern:

[ Ya-ña / Yan-ñiha ] + Yu’ Type Pronoun + [ i + Noun ]

Chamorro	English
Ya-ña yu’ i neni.	The baby likes me.
Yan-ñiha hamyo i famagu’on.	The children like all of you.
Ya-ña hao i palao’an.	The woman likes you.
Ya-ña siha i patgon.	The child likes them.
Ya-ña hao i neni.	The baby likes you.
Yan-ñiha hit i famalao’an.	The women like us.
Ya-ña ham i ga’lågu.	The dog likes us.

Notice how the order is flipped from the English. For a phrase like “The woman likes you,” the literal order in Chamorro is “Likes you the woman.” Also remember that the word after “i” must follow vowel harmony rules.

How to Say “Juan likes you”

We can even modify that sentence structure slightly to indicate a person, by name. This allows us to say things like, “Paula likes you” or “Juan doesn’t like him.”

These sentences start with ya-ña (“he/she likes”). A Yu’ Type pronoun comes next, which represents who the person likes. The name of the person who is doing the liking comes at the end of the sentence.

Here’s the pattern we’ll practice:

Ya-ña + Yu’ Type Pronoun + [ si + Person’s Name ]

Chamoru	English
Ya-ña yu’ si Juan.	Juan likes me.
Ya-ña hamyo si Maria.	Maria likes all of you.
Ya-ña hit si Kiko’.	Kiko’ likes us.
Ya-ña siha si Sabet.	Sabet likes them.
Ya-ña ham si Kika’.	Kika’ likes us.
Ya-ña gue’ si Jesus.	Jesus likes him.
Ya-ña hao si Ramon.	Ramon likes you.

Putting it All Together

This section is meant for additional practice, to mix-and-match the example sentences from the previous sections with the different elements we learned about.

Negative Statements

Now we can take all our previous sentences and express them in the negative by adding the negative marker ti to the front of our sentences. To practice, here are all the previous sentences in the negative:

Chamoru	English
Ti ya-hu hao.	I don’t like you.
Ti ya-mu siha.	You don’t like them.
Ti ya-ña hit.	He/She/It doesn’t like us.
Ti ya-ta gue’.	We don’t like her.
Ti yan-miyu ham.	You all like us.
Ti yan-måmi hamyo.	We don’t like all of you.
Ti yan-ñiha yu’.	They don’t like me.
Ti ya-ña yu’ i neni.	The baby doesn’t like me.
Ti yan-ñiha hamyo i famagu’on.	The children don’t like all of you.
Ti ya-ña gue’ i palao’an.	The woman doesn’t like him.
Ti ya-ña siha i patgon.	The child doesn’t like them.
Ti ya-ña hao i palao’an.	The woman doesn’t like you.
Ti yan-ñiha hit i famalao’an.	The women don’t like us.
Ti ya-ña ham i ga’lågu.	The dog doesn’t like us.
Ti ya-ña yu’ si Juan.	Juan doesn’t like me.
Ti ya-ña hamyo si Maria.	Maria doesn’t like all of you.
Ti ya-ña hit si Kiko’.	Kiko’ doesn’t like us.
Ti ya-ña siha si Sabet.	Sabet doesn’t like them.
Ti ya-ña ham si Kika’.	Kika’ doesn’t like us.
Ti ya-ña gue’ si Jesus.	Jesus doesn’t like him.
Ti ya-ña hao si Ramon.	Ramon doesn’t like you.

Asking Questions

We can also turn the above sentences into questions by adding the question marker kao to the front of our sentences. First, let’s add them to our positive statements, such as “I like you” and make them into questions like “Do you like me?”

Chamoru	English
Kao ti ya-hu hao?	Do I not like you?
Kao ti ya-mu siha?	Do you not like them?
Kao ti ya-ña hit?	Does she not like us?
Kao ti ya-ta gue’?	Do we not like him?
Kao ti yan-miyu ham?	Do you all not like us?
Kao ti yan-måmi siha?	Do we not like them?
Kao ti yan-ñiha yu’?	Do they not like me?
Kao ti ya-ña yu’ i neni?	Does the baby not like me?
Kao ti yan-ñiha hamyo i famagu’on?	Do the children not like all of you?
Kao ti ya-ña gue’ i palao’an?	Does the woman not like you?
Kao ti ya-ña siha i patgon?	Does the child not like them?
Kao ti ya-ña hao i palao’an?	Does the baby not like you?
Kao ti yan-ñiha hit i famalao’an?	Do the women not like us?
Kao ti ya-ña ham i ga’lågu?	Does the dog not like us?
Kao ti ya-ña yu’ si Juan?	Does Juan not like me?
Kao ti ya-ña hamyo si Maria?	Does Maria not like all of you?
Kao ti ya-ña hit si Kiko’?	Does Kika not like us?
Kao ti ya-ña siha si Sabet?	Does Sabet not like them?
Kao ti ya-ña ham si Kika’?	Does Kika’ not like us?
Kao ti ya-ña gue’ si Jesus?	Does Jesus not like him?
Kao ti ya-ña hao si Ramon?	Does Ramon not like you?

Question and Answer Practice

Now to put everything together, let’s use these sentences in question and answer drills for some basic dialogue practice. Remember, we can also use the words hunggan (yes) and åhe’ (no) in our responses. To add emphasize, try also adding gof (very) to the replies.

Chamorro	English
Kao ya-mu? Hunggan, ya-hu.	Do you like it? Yes, I like it.
Kao ya-ña? Åhe’, ti ya-ña.	Does she like it? No, she doesn’t like it.
Kao ya-ña yu’? Hunggan, ya-ña hao!	Does he like me? Yes, she likes you!
Kao ya-ña siha si Maria? Åhe’, ti gef ya-ña siha si Maria.	Does Maria like them? No, Maria doesn’t really like them.
Kao ya-mu yu’? Hunggan, gof ya-hu hao.	Do you like me? Yes, I really like you.
Kao ti ya-ña hao si Juan? Åhe, ti ya-ña yu’.	Does Juan not like you? No, he doesn’t like me.
Kao ya-ña hit i neni? Hunggan, ya-ña hit i neni.	Does the baby like us? Yes, the baby likes us.
Kao ti ya-ña siha i palao’an? Åhe’, ti ya-ña siha.	Does the woman not like them? No, she doesn’t like them.
Kao yan-ñiha hao i famalao’an? Åhe’, ti yan-ñiha yu’ i famalao’an.	Do the women like you? No, the women don’t like me.
Kao ti ya-mu? Åhe’, gof ti ya-hu.	Do you not like it? No, I really don’t like it.

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

How to Say “I Like Coffee” in Chamorro – Expressing Likes in Sentences

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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 Like You” in Chamorro – Expressing Likes to Someone

Introduction to “Likes” in Chamorro