In this post, we will continue learning how to use Chamorro possessive pronouns by learning about classifiers in Chamorro, which are used when we make possessive statements about food, drinks, or animals. First, we will focus on how to use the food classifier so we can say things like “my apple” or “your breadfruit.” Happy studying!

Contents
Introduction to Chamorro Classifiers The Food Classifier: na’ My Breadfruit Juan’s Food The Woman’s Food The Women’s Food (plural) Chamorro Food Pet Food Wrapping Up: Keep Practicing on Quizlet! Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson (TBD) References

Introduction to Chamorro Classifiers

In Chamorro, classifiers are specific words that must be used with our possessive pronouns in order to indicate possession of certain types of objects. This means that for some words, instead of attaching the possessive pronoun directly to the word, we must instead attach the possessive pronoun to the classifier first. Classifiers we can use in Chamorro are:

• na’ (for food)
• gimen (for drinks)
• ga’ (for animals)
• iyo- / iyon- (general usage)

In this post we will learn how to use the classifier na’ which is used for making possessive statements about food.

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The Food Classifier: na’

The food classifier na’ is what we use when we want to make possessive statements about food. In its most basic form, we can just attach a possessive pronoun to na’, as shown in this structure:

na’ + -possessive pronoun

When we use this basic structure, we are making phrases such as “my food”; “your food”; “their food.” Let’s practice using the food classifier with all the possessive pronouns:

Chamoru	English
i na’-hu	my food
i na’-mu	your food
i na’-ña	her/his/its food
i na’-ta	our food
i na’-miyu	your food
i na’-måmi	our food
i na’-ñiha	their food

Now we can use these new words in complete sentences. Here are some examples, using beginner sentence structures:

Chamoru	English
Mångge i na’-hu?	Where is my food?
Hu fa’tinas i na’-mu.	I made your food.
Kao un chule’ i na’-ña?	Did you take her food?
Hu fåhån i na’-ta.	I bought our food.
Para u tåña’ i na’-miyu.	She will try your food.
Månnge’ i na’-måmi.	Our food is delicious.
Ya-ña i na’-ñiha.	He likes their food.
Enague’ na’-mu.1	There is your food. / That’s what you get.1
Kao para un fa’tinas i na’-ta?	Are you going to make our food?
Ha kånno’ i na’-mu.	He ate your food.

¹ Enague’ na’-mu: This is a phrase that literally translates to “there is your food” but it is also a Chamorro expression referring to the result of your actions. The English equivalent would be, “That’s what you get.” So be careful if you want to use this phrase because of the cultural connotation. We also see a form of this expression used in the song Lalåhi by Pacific Cool, which is great to listen to for hearing this expression used in context.

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My Breadfruit

Now that we’ve practiced the foundational structure, let’s make possessive statements about specific foods, such as “my breadfruit” or “your dessert”. To do this, we simply add the food after our possessive statement with the classifier. We can follow this structure:

[na’ + -possessive pronoun] + food

Now let’s practice this basic structure with the word lemmai to get used to the form:

Chamoru	English
i na’-hu lemmai	my breadfruit
i na’-mu lemmai	your breadfruit
i na’-ña lemmai	his/her/its breadfruit
i na’-ta lemmai	our breadfruit
i na’-miyu lemmai	your breadfruit
i na’-måmi lemmai	our breadfruit
i na’-ñiha lemmai	their breadfruit

Now that we’ve practiced the basic pattern, let’s try this structure with different types of food:

Chamoru	English
i na’-hu tinekcha’	my fruit
i na’-mu inafuyot	your sandwich
i na’-ña kåddo’	her/his/its soup
i na’-ta fina’mames	our dessert
i na’-miyu hineksa’	your cooked rice
i na’-måmi chukulåti	our chocolate
i na’-ñiha alåguan	their porridge

Now let’s practice using those words in full sentences:

Chamoru	English
Un chule’ i na’-hu tinekcha’.	You took my fruit.
Kao siña hu kånno’ i na’-mu inafuyot?	Can I eat your sandwich?
Kao un fåhan i na’-ña kåddo’?	Did you buy her/his/its soup?
Ma tåña i na’-ta fina’mames	They tasted our dessert.
Ha yute’ i na’-miyu hineksa’.	She threw away your cooked rice.
Maloffan mames i na’-måmi chukulåti.2	Our chocolate is too sweet.2
Mampos maipe i na’-ñiha alåguan.	Their porridge is too hot.

² maloffan mames: In this construction, I am using the word maloffan in the same way as other intensifiers, such as the intensifier gof. In English we can interpret maloffan mames as “very sweet” but a literal translation can be understood as “passed sweet” which is essentially the same thing; if it has passed being sweet, then it is too sweet. We can also use maloffan with other descriptive words too. A common one I have heard and read from Ray Barcinas (taotao Luta) in his speech and writing is maloffan masåmai which is a way of saying “very beautiful.”

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Juan’s Food

Now let’s learn how to make possessive statements about a specific person’s food to say things like “Juan’s food”, “Maria’s food”, or “Lola’s food.” For this structure, we use na’-ña for everything, and then follow it with si and the person’s name:

na’-ña + si + person’s name

Let’s practice this structure with a few different names:

Chamoru	English
i na’-ña si Juan	Juan’s food
i na’-ña si Lola	Lola’s food
i na’-ña si Maria	Maria’s food
i na’-ña si Alicia	Alicia’s food
i na’-ña si Jesus	Jesus’s food
i na’-ña si Dabit	David’s food
i na’-ña si Lupe’	Chilang’s food
i na’-ña si Manet	Manuel’s food
i na’-ña si Måme’	Carmen’s food
i na’-ña si Ramón	Raymond’s food

Now let’s practice using these in full sentences. We will take from some of the sentences used previously, but feel free to also make your own sentences for additional practice:

Chamoru	English
Mångge i na’-ña si Juan?	Where is Juan’s food?
Hu tåña i na’-ña si Lola.	I tasted Lola’s food.
Kao un chule’ i na’-ña si Maria?	Did you take Maria’s food?
Hu fåhån i na’-ña si Alicia.	I bought Alicia’s food.
Manengheng i na’-ña si Jesus.	Jesus’s food is cold.
Yute’ i na’-ña si Dabit.	Throw David’s food away.
Ya-ña i na’-ña si Lupe’.	Lupe’ likes her food.
Kao ya-ña i na’-ña si Manet?	Does Manuel like his food?
Mala’et i na’-ña si Måme’.	Carmen’s food is bitter.
Kao ma kånno’ i na’-ña si Ramón?	Did they eat Raymond’s food?

We can also state specific foods, such as “Juan’s rice” or “Maria’s sandwich.” We just add the noun after the possessive pronoun:

na’-ña + noun + si + person’s name

Let’s practice the sentences above, but with specific foods:

Chamoru	English
Mångge i na’-ña hineksa’ si Juan?	Where is Juan’s rice?
Hu tåña i na’-ña titiyas si Lola.	I tasted Lola’s titiyas.
Kao un chule’ i na’-ña empanåda si Maria?	Did you take Maria’s empanåda?
Hu fåhån i na’-ña chandia si Alicia.	I bought Alicia’s watermelon.
Manengheng i na’-ña kåddo’ si Jesus.	Jesus’s soup is cold.
Yute’ i na’-ña latiya si Dabit.	Throw away David’s latiya.
Ya-ña i na’-ña kelaguen månnok si Lupe’.	Lupe’ likes her chicken kelaguen.
Kao ya-ña i na’-ña inafuyot si Manet?	Does Manuel like his sandwich.
Mala’et i na’-ña hineksa’ agaga’ si Måme’.	Carmen’s red rice is bitter.
Kao ma kånno’ i na’-ña niyok si Ramón?	Did they eat Raymond’s coconut?

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The Woman’s Food

In this next structure we will make phrases like “the woman’s food” or “the child’s food.” We use na’-ña and follow it with i + noun:

na’-ña + i + noun

Let’s practice with some different nouns:

Chamorro	English
i na’-ña i palao’an	the woman’s food
i na’-ña i patgon	the child’s food
i na’-ña i neni	the baby’s food
i na’-ña i lahi	the man’s food
i na’-ña i fafa’cho’cho’	the worker’s food

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The Women’s Food

If we want to make this plural to say things like “the women’s food” we can use na’-ñiha and then follow it with a plural noun, or use siha after the noun to make it plural:

na’-ña + i + plural noun (or noun + siha)

Let’s practice making these phrases:

Chamorro	English
i na’-ñiha i famalao’an	the women’s food
i na’-ñiha i lalåhi	the men’s food
i na’-ñiha i famagu’on	the children’s food
i na’-ñiha i ga’lågu siha	the dogs’ food
i na’-ñiha i babui siha	the pigs’ food

Now let’s practice using all of those words in complete sentences:

Chamorro	English
Kao pika i na’-ñiha i famalao’an?	Is the women’s food spicy?
Ha fa’tinas i na’-ñiha i lalåhi.	He made the men’s food.
Ti mames i na’-ñiha i famagu’on.	The children’s food is not sweet.
Kao maolek i na’-ñiha i ga’lågu siha?	Is the dogs’ food good?
Mångge i na’-ñiha i babui siha?	Where is the pigs’ food?

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Chamorro Food

The cool thing about the food classifier is that we can use it with more than just possessive pronouns. We can also attach the names for different cultures to talk about cuisines from around the world. The basic structure we can use is as follows:

na’ + Proper Noun

To see how this structure can be used, look at some of the examples below where we are talking about foods from different cultures:

Chamoru	English
i na’Chamoru	Chamorro food
i na’Hapones	Japanese food
i na’Amerikånu	American food
i na’Koreånu	Korean food
i na’Italiånu	Italian food

And here are some example sentences that use the words from above:

Chamoru	English
Sen mångnge’ i na’Chamoru.	Chamorro food is very delicious.
Ti malago’ yu’ na’Amerikånu.	I don’t want American food.
Kao malago’ hao na’Italiånu på’go na puengi?	Do you want Italian food tonight?
Ya-hu na’Hapones.	I like Japanese food.
Kao ya-mu na’Koreånu?	Do you like Korean food?

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Pet Food

We can also use the na’- classifier with other nouns to talk about other foods, such as “dog food”, “pig food”, “fish food”, etc. To use this structure, we just put the noun after the classifier na’-.

na’ + noun

Let’s make some examples with this new structure:

Chamoru	English
i na’ga’lågu	dog food
i na’guihan	fish food
i na’babui	pig food
i na’katu	cat food

Now let’s put these words into complete sentences:

Chamoru	English
Kao un fåhån i na’ga’lågu?	Did you buy the dog food?
Hu fåhån i lachi na na’guihan.	I bought the wrong fish food.
Mångge i na’babui?	Where is the pig food?
Lachai esta i na’katu.	The cat food is already run out.

Special Note About Meals: When it comes to certain Spanish loanwords such as åmotsa or sena, I’ve noticed that these don’t tend to use classifiers. Instead, speakers will attach possessive pronouns directly to these words, and say things like åmotsan-måmi or senan-måmi. But you may also read and hear things like na’ogga’an (breakfast) or na’talo’åni (lunch).

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Wrapping Up: Keep Practicing on Quizlet!

In this lesson we have learned about the Food Classifier na’ and how it is used to make statements such as “my food”, “Juan’s food”, and “the woman’s food.” We even reviewed how it is used to talk about different types of cuisines and foods, such as “Chamorro food” or “cat food.”

If you want more practice with the drills and example sentences from this post, use this Quizlet Deck as a supplementary study tool. Make sure you can understand the Chamorro, and challenge yourself by translating the English back into Chamorro.

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Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson (TBD)

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References

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

• na’ classifier : pg. 164, 223-224

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

• Food classifier : pg. 37