In this post we will get started with some foundational sentence patterns with gaigi and taigui, two verbs used to talk about whether someone is (or isn’t) somewhere. We’ll start with simple sentence patterns and gradually build from there. We’ll practice making basic statements, talking about the present and the future, and forming simple questions. Along the way, we’ll also cover how past meaning can be understood through context, and how ideas like “here” and “there” are often implied rather than stated directly. The goal is not to cover everything at once, but to recognize and use these patterns in a clear, manageable way.

As always, we’ve included Chamorro sentence drills, English translations, language notes and Chamorro audio narrations by Jay Che’le to support your learning. Happy studying!

Contents

1. Introduction to Gaigi and Taigui
2. Basic Pattern: Expressing Presence or Absence
3. Saying Where You’re At: “I am at the party”
4. Saying Where You’ll Be: “I will be at the party”
5. Asking Questions: “Are you at the party?”
6. Saying Where You Were
7. Communicating “Here” or “There”
8. Summary
9. ➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson
10. Documentation & Further Study
    1. Notes
    2. References
    3. Further Reading

Introduction to Gaigi and Taigui

In Chamorro, the verbs gaigi and taigui are used to talk about whether someone is present or absent. These verbs show up often when talking about where people are, where they will be or whether someone is around at all.

In this lesson, we’ll start with a simple baseline meaning:

• gaigi for “present”
• taigui for “absent”

Starting here helps keep the sentence patterns clear before adding more detail.

As we move through the lesson, we’ll practice:

• making basic statements about being present or absent
• using gaigi and taigui in the present and future
• forming simple questions
• talking about past situations using context
• understanding how “here” and “there” can be implied without being stated directly

We’ll build these ideas step by step, starting with the simplest sentence patterns in the next section.

Basic Pattern: Expressing Presence or Absence

To get started, we’ll practice a foundational sentence pattern using gaigi and taigui to tell us if someone is present or absent.

In this section, we’ll treat the core meaning of our sentences as

• “[Someone] is present” (gaigi)
• “[Someone] is absent” (taigui)

Later, we’ll see that these same sentences can also be interpreted with an implied “here” or “there” and understood as “[someone] is here / there” or “[someone] is not here / there.” But for now, we’ll keep the meaning narrow and focus only on present vs. absent.

In this pattern, gaigi and taigui function as the verb, and the subject comes after them. To keep things simple, we’ll practice with our Yu’ Type Pronouns as our subjects.

Our basic word order is:

Gaigi / Taigui + Yu’ Type Pronoun

Now let’s make some basic sentences using the different Yu’ Type Pronouns. Our example sentences with gaigi are in the table below:

Chamoru	English
Gaigi yu’.	I am present.
Gaigi hao.	You are present.
Gaigi gue’.	She/He is present.
Gaigi ham.	We (2) are present. (exclusive)
Gaigi hamyu.	You (2) are present.
Gaigi hit.	We (2) are present. (inclusive)
Gaigi siha.	They (2) are present.

📝Dual in Everyday Speech: When talking about two people, Chamorro doesn’t always make that meaning obvious on its own. Because of this, you may hear some speakers add a phrase like na dos to make it clear that they are referring to two people.

For example: instead of just saying Gaigi siha, a speaker might say Gaigi siha na dos to clarify the meaning. This also applies to our basic sentences with taigui.

Learner Takeaway: You may hear or read na dos added to signal “two people.” In this lesson, we’ll keep things simple and focus only on using the pronouns in these sentences.

Now let’s practice using taigui with all of our Yu’ Type Pronouns:

Chamoru	English
Taigui yu’.	I am absent.
Taigui hao.	You are absent.
Taigui gue’.	She/He is absent.
Taigui ham.	We (2) are absent. (exclusive)
Taigui hamyu.	You (2) are absent.
Taigui hit.	We (2) are absent. (inclusive)
Taigui siha.	They (2) are absent.

❓What About 3 or More People? So far, our sentence drills have focused on one or two people. When you talk about a group of three or more, the verbs gaigi and taigui change form. To do this, we add the Plural Man- to the front of the verb:

gaigi → manggaigi
taigui → manaigui or man taigui

In this lesson we will focus our practice on gaigi and taigui, and the plural forms will be practiced more directly in a later lesson.

Now that we’ve established our foundational sentence structure, we can start expanding upon it by adding locations in the next section.

Saying Where You’re At: “I am at the party”

In this section, we’ll practice adding locations to our sentences to be more specific about where someone is (or isn’t). This allows us to say sentences like “I am at the party” or “You are not at school”.

To make these sentences, we will use our phrases from the previous section and add gi + Location to the end.

Here is the first word order we will practice:

Gaigi + Yu’ Type Pronoun + [gi + Location]

Our sentence drills are in the table below:

Chamoru	English
Gaigi yu’ gi giput.	I am at the party.
Gaigi hao gi iskuela.	You are at school.
Gaigi siha gi gima’ Yu’us.	They (2) are at church.
Gaigi ham gi che’chu’.	We (2) are at work.
Gaigi hit gi gima’.	We (2) are at the house.

Now we will practice talking about when we aren’t somewhere by using the word taigui. All we need to do is use the pattern from the previous section and replace gaigi with taigui.

We’ll practice the syntax below:

Taigui + Yu’ Type Pronoun + [gi + Location]

Now let’s do some drills by modifying our practice sentences:

Chamoru	English
Taigui yu’ gi giput.	I am not at the party.
Taigui hao gi iskuela.	You are not at school.
Taigui siha gi gima’ Yu’us.	They (2) are not at church.
Taigui ham gi che’chu’.	We (2) are not at work.
Taigui hit gi gima’.	We (2) are not at the house.

Great job! In the next section, we will learn how to turn these into future tense sentences.

Saying Where You’ll Be: “I will be at the party”

If we want to talk about where we are going to be, such as “I will be at the party” or “She will be there”, we need to use future markers and Hu Type Pronouns in front of our verbs gaigi or taigui.

Before we make full sentences, let’s learn some key phrase chunks for talking in the future tense.

The first group of phrase chunks with the verb gaigi are in the table below:

Chamoru	English
para bai hu gaigi / bei gaigi	I will be at
para un gaigi	You will be at
para u gaigi	She/He/It will be at
para ta gaigi	We (2) will be at (inclusive)
para en gaigi	You (2) will be at
para bai in gaigi / bei in gaigi	We (2) will be at (exclusive)
para u gaigi i dos*	They (2) will be at

Now we’ll make these phrase chunks with the verb taigui, which are in the table below:

Chamoru	English
para bai hu taigui / bei taigui	I will not be at
para un taigui	You will not be at
para u taigui	She/He/It will not be at
para ta taigui	We (2) will not be at (inclusive)
para en taigui	You (2) will not be at
para bai in taigui / bei in taigui	We (2) will not be at (exclusive)
para u taigui i dos*	They (2) will not be at

❓Why Did We Say i dos for Two People? In Chamorro future tense, speakers often distinguish between talking about one person, two people, and three or more people. When we’re talking about two people (ie: “They [2] will be at the party), things can feel less clear than in other cases.

Everyday Speech: In everyday speech today, many speakers simply use the same phrase used for one person—para u—even when referring to two people.¹ To make the meaning clearer, the phrase i dos—or some other clear quantifier— may also added to signal that they are talking about two people.

Older Speech Pattern: You may also come across a different pattern in older written sources. In texts like Spoken Chamorro and the 1908 Chamorro Bible, we’ll see para u ha used for talking about two people in the future tense.² While this form appears in historical materials, it may not be widely used in everyday speech today.

Main Takeaway: For learners, the main takeway is that you may see or hear more than one way of handling “two people” in the future tense. To keep things clear in this lesson, we will focus on practicing patterns with para u and i dos.

Now let’s practice making some full sentences. Each sentence begins with one of the phrase chunks we’ve already practiced, following by gi + Location.

The word order we’ll practice with is shown below:

[Future Marker + Hu Type Pronoun] + gaigi / taigui + [gi + Location]

Our practice sentences are in the table below:

Chamoru	English
Para u gaigi gi giput.	She/He will be at the party.
Bei gaigi gi iskuela.	I will be at school.
Bei in gaigi gi gima’ Yu’us.	We (2) will be at church.
Para en gaigi gi che’chu’.	You (2) will be at work.
Para u gaigi i dos gi gima’.	They (2) will be at the house.
Para un taigui gi dinanña.	You will not be at the gathering.
Para ta taigui gi fañochuyan.	We (2) won’t be at the restaurant.
Para u taigui gi gualu’.	She/He won’t be at the farm.
Bei in taigui gi metkao.	We (2) won’t be at the market.
Para un taigui gi kantun tåsi.	You won’t be at the beach.

📝Remember Future Tense Shortcuts! In everyday speech, future markers and pronouns are often shortened and contracted. This means that phrases like Para u gaigi gi giput may be spoken as Po gaigi gi giput. For a list of these contractions, see my Quick Guide to Future Tense Shortcuts.

Great job! In the next and final section we’ll practice turning our statements into questions, like “Are you at the party?” or “Will you be at the party?”

Asking Questions: “Are you at the party?”

Now we’ll turn our previous “gaigi” statements into questions by simply adding the Question Word “Kao” to the beginning of each sentence. This turns sentences like “You are at the party” or “You will be at the party” to “Are you at the party?” or “Will you be at the party?”.

Let’s first practice this word order:

Kao + Gaigi + Yu’ Type Pronoun + [gi + Location]

Now let’s make some simple questions:

Chamoru	English
Kao gaigi hao gi giput?	Are you at the party?
Kao gaigi hamyu gi iskuela?	Are you (2) at school?
Kao gaigi siha gi gima’ Yu’us?	Are they (2) are at church?
Kao gaigi (gue) gi che’chu’?	Is she/he at work?
Kao gaigi hit gi gima’?	Are we (2) are at the house? (inclusive)

Now let’s turn our future tense statements with “gaigi” into questions. We’ll practice with the word order below:

Kao + [Future Marker + Hu Type Pronoun] + gaigi + [gi + Location]

Chamoru	English
Kao para un gaigi gi dinanña?	Will you be at the gathering?
Kao para ta gaigi gi fañochuyan?	Will we (2) be at the restaurant? (inclusive)
Kao para u gaigi gi gualu’?	Will she/he be at the farm?
Kao para en gaigi gi metkao?	Will you (2) be at the market?
Kao para u gaigi i dos gi kantun tåsi?	Will they (2) be at the beach?

❓What About “Kao Taigui”? You may have noticed that this section focuses on questions with gaigi and not kao taigui. This omission was on purpose.

From what I could find in example sentences across my sources and from the speakers I’ve listened to, it seems that these questions are usually asked in a positive way, rather than asking them in the negative.

For example: “Are you at the party?” or “Will you be at the party?” seems more common than asking in the negative (ie: “Aren’t you at the party?” or “Are you not going to be at the party?”)

Learner Takeaway: To keep things simple, focus on making question sentences with gaigi rather than taigui. Know that you can still make grammatically correct sentences with kao taigui, but it may not be necessary.

And that’s it for our sentence drills in this lesson. Great job!

Saying Where You Were

When we make past tense sentences with gaigi and taigui, we don’t make any changes to the verbs. In fact, past tense sentences with gaigi and taigui look very similar to present tense sentences. The way we know how to intpret if the sentence is in the present or past tense is by looking at how context is established.

Context can be established explicitly, by stating a time in the past, such as “last month” or “last week”. A sentence like Gaigi yu’ gi isla gi ma’pus na såkkan (“I was on the island last year”) can be interpreted in the past tense because a time in the past (last year) is included.

In other situations, a point in the past may not be explicitly stated in the sentence because context has already been established earlier in the conversation. For example:

Someone could ask, Kao un tungu’ håfa masusedi gi praktika? (Do you what happened at the practice?) And I can reply Hekkua’ sa’ taigui yu’ (I don’t know, because I wasn’t there). I could even use a complete sentence and say Hekkua’ sa’ taigui yu‘ gi pratika. (“I don’t know, because I wasn’t at the practice).

Communicating “Here” or “There”

In our foundational patterns, we learned that in sentences like Gaigi yu’ or Taigui yu’, the basic meaning conveys presence or absence.

But in real conversation, the surrounding context usually fills in the details, which allows us to understand whether the meaning is closer to “I am here” or “I wasn’t there”.

To understand how this happens, let’s look at some scenarios:

1. My family is at a party and they are not sure if I’ve arrived yet. When I arrive at the party, I can let one of them know: Gaigi yu’ → I am here.
2. We are letting our family know that someone will be able to be present at an event that we can’t attend. I could say: “Pumusipbli na u gaigi si Sandy→It’s now possible that Sandy might be there.”³
3. If someone is asking me what happened at the party last week, I could say Hekkua’ sa’ taigui yu’→I don’t know because I wasn’t there.
4. If I’m taking roll-call for a class, I could ask someone Kao gaigi si Alicia? (“Is Alicia present/here?”). A response could simply be Taigui→She’s not here.

In all those scenarios, the words for “here” or “there” were understood through context, which is common in everyday speech.

Summary

That wraps up this introductory lesson on how to use gaigi and taigui—awesome work! In this lesson we learned how to start making sentences about where someone is (or isn’t) and we covered the following topics:

• Understanding gaigi and taigui as communicating “presence” or “absence”
• Adding locations to talk about where someone is or is not
• Making future tense statements to talk about where we will be (or not be)
• Creating past tense sentences
• Understanding an implied “here” or “there” through context

➡️ Keep Learning! Continue to the Next Lesson

When you’re ready, click the link below to continue to the next lesson, where you’ll learn basic patterns for “this”, “that” and “that over there”:

How to Say “This” and “That” in Chamorro

---

Documentation & Further Study

Notes

1. Sandra Chung, Chamorro Grammar (2020), 22. ↩︎
2. Donald Topping, Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition). (University of Hawaii Press: 1980), 107. ↩︎
3. Sandra Chung, Chamorro Grammar (2020), 36. ↩︎

References

Chung, S. (2020). Chamorro grammar. http://dx.doi.org/10.48330/E2159R Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2sx7w4h5

Inetnun Kutturan Natibun Marianas/ Kkoor Aramasal Marianas (IKNM/KAM). “Revised and Updated Chamorro-English Dictionary,” November 26, 2024. https://natibunmarianas.org/chamorro-dictionary/.

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., & Dungca, B. C. “Irregular Verbs.” In Chamorro Reference Grammar, 88-89. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Topping, D. M., & Dungca, B. C. “Existensial Sentence.” In Chamorro Reference Grammar, 239. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1973.

Topping, D.M. “4.19 REPETITION DRILL. Gaige.” In Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition), 53. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.

Topping, D.M. “4.20 SIMPLE SUBSTITUTION DRILL. Gaige.” In Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition), 53-54. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1980.