This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

To wrap up this beginner series on expressing likes and dislikes in Chamorro, we’re going to look at how to ask a few more kinds of questions about what we like. You’ll get practice using question words like håfa (what), månu (which), and håfa na (why) to ask things such as “What do you like?”, “Which do you like?”, and “Why do you like it?”

This lesson includes simple sentence drills, English translations, and audio so you can hear how everything sounds in Chamorro. Happy studying!

Contents

1. How to Ask “What do you like?”
2. How to Ask, “Which do you like?”
3. How to Ask “Which coffee do you like?”
4. How to Ask “Why do you like it?”
5. How to Ask “Why do you like coffee?”
6. Negative Questions With Ti
7. Basic Conversation Practice
8. ➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson
9. Documentation & Further Study
   1. References
   2. Further Reading

How to Ask “What do you like?”

Use the basic structure to ask simple questions like, “What do you like?” For these questions, we just put the question word håfa in front of our most basic statements. Use this structure:

Håfa + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

And now for basic sentence drills:

Chamoru	English
Håfa ya-hu?	What do I like?
Håfa ya-mu?	What do you like?
Håfa ya-ña?	What does she/he/it like?
Håfa ya-ta?	What do we like?
Håfa yan-måmi?	What do we like?
Håfa yan-miyu?	What do you (all) like?
Håfa yan-ñiha?	What do they like?

How to Ask, “Which do you like?”

Finally, we can also ask questions with månu at the beginning of our sentences to ask “Which do you like?” The basic structure is:

Månu + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

Chamoru	English
Månu ya-hu?	Which do I like?
Månu ya-mu?	Which do you like?
Månu ya-ña?	Which does she/he/it like?
Månu ya-ta?	Which do we like?
Månu yan-måmi?	Which do we like?
Månu yan-miyu?	Which do you (all) like?
Månu yan-ñiha?	Which do they like?

How to Ask “Which coffee do you like?”

We can also be more specific in our “which” questions by adding a noun, to ask questions like “Which coffee do you like?” or “Which plant does she like?” To do this, just add the linking particle na and a noun after månu:

[ Månu + na + Noun ] + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

Now let’s get used to this pattern by practicing with ya-mu and different nouns:

Noun	Chamoru	English
sabot	Månu na sabot ya-mu?	Which flavor do you like?
tinekcha’	Månu na tinekcha’ ya-mu?	Which fruit do you like?
nengkånno’	Månu na nengkånno’ ya-mu?	Which food do you like?
gimen	Månu na gimen ya-mu?	Which drink do you like?

And now let’s practice with a variety of pronouns and nouns:

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé ya-hu?	Which coffee do I like?
Månu na ga’lågu ya-mu?	Which dog do you like?
Månu na kulot ya-ña?	Which color does she like?
Månu na kånton tåsi ya-ta?	Which beach do we like?
Månu na kákanta yan-måmi?	Which singer do we like?
Månu na fafa’na’gue yan-miyu?	Which teacher do you like?
Månu na guihan yan-ñiha?	Which fish do they like?

How to Ask “Why do you like it?”

Now we will start to ask more types of questions about likes and dislikes by adding håfa na, which means “why”, in front of our basic sentences. We can begin the most basic question: “Why do you like it?” Let’s use the following sentence structure:

Håfa na + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

And here are basic sentence drills with all of the pronouns. Please note that the word “it” is implied in all of them.

Chamoru	English
Håfa na ya-hu?	Why do I like it?
Håfa na ya-mu?	Why do you like it?
Håfa na ya-ña?	Why does he/she/it like it?
Håfa na ya-ta?	Why do we like it?
Håfa na yan-miyu?	Why do you (all) like it?
Håfa na yan-måmi?	Why do we like it?
Håfa na yan-ñiha?	Why do they like it?

How to Ask “Why do you like coffee?”

We can also expand on our questions with håfa na to ask about specific likes and dislikes, such as with the question, “Why do you like coffee?” Just add a noun at the end of our basic questions that use håfa na, as shown in this basic sentence structure:

Håfa na + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun + Noun ]

Chamoru	English
Håfa na ya-hu kafé?	Why do I like coffee?
Håfa na ya-mu fina’mames?	Why do you like dessert?
Håfa na ya-ña lemmai?	Why does he/she/it like breadfruit?
Håfa na ya-ta chån betde?	Why do we like green tea?
Håfa na yan-miyu kelaguen gåmson?	Why do you (all) like octopus kelaguen?
Håfa na yan-måmi dåndan?	Why do we like music?
Håfa na yan-ñiha eskuela?	Why do they like school?

Negative Questions With Ti

We can make some of our previous sentences negative by adding the negative marker ti. The first set we will make negative are the questions with håfa, to make sentences such as “What do I not like?”

Håfa + Ti + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

And here are some practice drills:

Chamoru	English
Håfa ti ya-hu?	What do I not like?
Håfa ti ya-mu?	What do you not like?
Håfa ti ya-ña?	What does she/he/it not like?
Håfa ti ya-ta?	What do we not like?
Håfa ti yan-måmi?	What do we not like?
Håfa ti yan-miyu?	What do you (all) not like?
Håfa ti yan-ñiha?	What do they not like?

We can also make our why questions negative by putting the negative marker ti after the håfa na, so we can ask questions such as “Why don’t you like it?” We’ll use this structure:

Håfa na + Ti + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun ]

And now for some sentence drills:

Chamoru	English
Håfa na ti ya-hu?	Why don’t I like it?
Håfa na ti ya-mu?	Why don’t you like it?
Håfa na ti ya-ña?	Why doesn’t he/she/it like it?
Håfa na ti ya-ta?	Why don’t we like it?
Håfa na ti yan-miyu?	Why don’t you (all) like it?
Håfa na ti yan-måmi?	Why don’t we like it?
Håfa na ti yan-ñiha?	Why don’t they like it?

And we can also put this negative marker ti in our why questions that have nouns, so we can ask questions like “Why do I like coffee?” Here is the sentence structure we’ll use:

Håfa na + Ti + [ Ya- + Possessive Pronoun + Noun ]

Here are sentence drills to practice this structure:

Chamoru	English
Håfa na ti ya-hu kafé?	Why don’t I like coffee?
Håfa na ti ya-mu fina’mames?	Why don’t you like dessert?
Håfa na ti ya-ña lemmai?	Why doesn’t he/she/it like breadfruit?
Håfa na ti ya-ta chån betde?	Why don’t we like green tea?
Håfa na ti yan-miyu kelaguen gåmson?	Why don’t you (all) like octopus kelaguen?
Håfa na ti yan-måmi dåndan?	Why don’t we like music?
Håfa na ti yan-ñiha eskuela?	Why don’t they like school?

Basic Conversation Practice

Now we will do some basic dialogue practice with these questions. For responses, we can pull from any of the example sentences from the previous posts about expressing likes and dislikes in Chamorro.

Chamorro	English
Håfa na ya-mu kafé? Ya-hu kafé sa’ mala’et.	Why do you like coffee? I like coffee because it’s bitter.
Håfa na ya-ña kelaguen mañåhåk? Ya-ña sa’ gaisabot.	Why does she like rabbitfish kelaguen? She likes it because it’s flavorful.
Håfa na ti ya-ña chån å’paka? Ti ya-ña chån å’paka sa’ matå’pang.	Why doesn’t she like white tea? She doesn’t like white tea because it’s bland.
Håfa ya-mu? Ya-hu te’ok na kafé.	What do you like? I like strong coffee.
Håfa ti ya-mu? Ti ya-hu niyok.	What do you not like? I don’t like coconut.
Månu na hugeti ya-ña? Ya-ña i alupai.	Which toy does she like? She likes the dolphin.
Månu na fina’mames ya-mu? Ya-hu i potu.	Which dessert do you like? I like the steamed rice cake.

✏️ Study Tip: If you’re still getting used to the word order, try practicing with sentences you’d actually say in real life. Take the example questions in this lesson and swap in nouns that fit your own world.

For instance, instead of Månu na fina’mames ya‑mu?, replace fina’mames with something else, like gimen or sabót. You’ll get sentences such as:

Månu na gimen ya‑mu? — Which drink do you like?
Månu na sabót ya‑mu? — Which flavor do you like?

Personalizing the drills makes the patterns easier to remember and much more fun to practice.

➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

Congratulations — you’ve reached the end of this beginner mini‑series on expressing likes and dislikes in Chamorro! When you’re ready, click the link below to move on to the next lesson, where we’ll start building basic sentences with noun subjects.

How to Say “The Woman Drank the Coffee” in Chamorro – Using Nouns as the Subject With Transitive Verbs

---

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. “9.8 QUESTION-ANSWER DRILL.” In Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition), 133-134. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.

Topping, D.M. “5. Manu “which”.” In Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition), 216. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.