How to Say “Which?” in Chamorro

Asking “which” comes up frequently in daily conversation—Which drink? Which do you like? Which will you buy? In this lesson, you’ll learn Chamorro patterns for asking “which” questions with månu na (“which”), starting with a basic core pattern that will be expanded upon to include asking about likes, wants, and actions in the past, present and future. As always, this post includes Chamorro sentence drills, English translations, and Chamorro audio narrations by Jay Che’le to support your learning. Happy studying!

Contents

Introduction to “Which” In Chamorro

Chamorro uses månu na to ask “which” questions about things and other non-humans, such as Which coffee? Which mango is ripe? Which dog is hungry? Which candle do you like?

We’ll learn how to use this question word to make different kinds of “which” questions. We’ll start simple and build our core pattern with månu na and different objects:

“Which coffee?”
“Which coffee is strong?“

Then we’ll start asking about likes and wants:

“Which coffee do you like?“
“Which coffee do you want?“

Finally, we’ll learn patterns for asking about past, present and future actions:

“Which coffee did you taste?”
“Which coffee are you tasting?”
“Which coffee will you taste?”

In the next section, we will start building our core pattern with månu na.

Asking “Which Coffee?”

One of the simplest ways to start using “which” is by asking about different items around you: Which coffee? Which book? Which house? To make these questions, just add a noun after månu na.

Here’s the core pattern we will practice:

Månu na + Noun

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé?	Which coffee?
Månu na lepblu?	Which book?
Månu na mångga?	Which mango?
Månu na guma’?	Which house?
Månu na dångis?	Which candle?

Use Håyi Na for People: The phrase månu na is great for asking “which” questions about non-humans, while håyi na is used for people: Håyi na taotao? Håyi na palao’an? Håyi na påtgun? (“Which person? Which woman? Which child?”)

Next, we will expand these questions by being more descriptive.

Asking “Which Coffee is Strong?”

Now let’s say you want to ask which item has a certain quality—for example, Which coffee is strong? Which mango is ripe? Which candle is scented?

To form these questions, simply take the sentence pattern from the previous section and add a descriptive word (adjective) at the end.

Here’s the full pattern we’ll practice:

Månu na + Noun + Adjective

We’ll use the sentence drills from the previous section, but with adjectives added in bold:

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé te’uk?	Which coffee is strong?
Månu na lepblu makkat?	Which book is heavy?
Månu na mångga måsa?	Which mango is ripe?
Månu na guma’ dångkulu?	Which house is big?
Månu na dångis paopao?	Which candle is scented?

Why te’uk? You may have noticed that our example sentence with “strong coffee” uses the word te’uk instead of metgut. The word te’uk is specifically used for talking about coffee that is strong, meaning that the flavor is intense and full. We’ll also see or hear te’ok used to describe liquids being thick, like a curry or stew.

Asking About Likes and Wants

When we think about everyday conversation, asking about likes and wants are sure to come up. Sometimes we need to choose amongst different options, so we might ask Which do you like? Which do you want?

In this section, we’ll build upon our core pattern with månu na to include ya- (“like”) and malago’ (“want”).

“Which Do You Like?”

Asking questions like Which do you like? Which does she like? is a simple, two-word sentence that uses månu and words like ya-mu, ya-hu, yan-ñiha (“I like, You like, They like”).

Here’s the first pattern we’ll practice:

Månu + [Ya- + Possessive Pronoun]

Our sentence drills will use all the possessive pronouns:

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? (inclusive)
Månu yan-ñiha?	Which do they like?
Månu yan-miyu?	Which do you like? (plural)
Månu yan-måmi?	Which do we like? (exclusive)

What if we want to ask about which specific item someone likes, like Which coffee do you like? Which mango do you like?

Theses questions are formed with the pattern månu na + noun as our base, with the “like” phrase at the end.

Here’s the full pattern:

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

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé ya-mu?	Which coffee do you like?
Månu na lepblu ya-mu?	Which book do you like?
Månu na mångga ya-mu?	Which mango do you like?
Månu na guma’ ya-mu?	Which house do you like?
Månu na dångis ya-mu?	Which candle do you like?

In the next section we’ll learn how to ask “want” questions with “which”.

“Which Coffee Do You Want?”

Imagine you are at a café with a friend, looking over the drink offerings. You may want to ask your friend Which coffee do you want?

This kind of sentence starts with the core pattern of Which do you want? In Chamorro, we build this by using månu with the phrase “your want”. And the phrase “your want” is formed by attaching the possessive pronoun to malagu’ (“want”).

Here’s the full pattern:

Månu + [Malagu’ + Possessive Pronoun]

Our sentence drills will practice using all of the possessive pronouns. You can learn these as questions for use in everyday conversation:

Chamoru	English
Månu malago’-hu?	Which do I want?
Månu malago’-mu?	Which do you want?
Månu malago’-ña?	Which does she/he/it want?
Månu malago’-ta?	Which do we want? (inclusive)
Månu malago’-ñiha?	Which do they want?
Månu malago’-miyu?	Which do you want? (plural)
Månu malago’-måmi?	Which do we want? (exclusive)

What if you want to be more specific and ask Which coffee do you want? We can use our core pattern from the first section, Månu na kafé and add the phrase “your want” to the end.

Here’s the full pattern we’ll practice:

Månu na + Noun + [Malago’ + Possessive Pronoun]

To keep our sentence drills focused, we’ll be using the phrase malago’-mu in all our sentences:

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé malago’-mu?	Which coffee do you want?
Månu na lepblu malago’-mu?	Which book do you want?
Månu na mångga malago’-mu?	Which mango do you want?
Månu na guma’ malago’-mu?	Which house do you want?
Månu na dångis malago’-mu?	Which candle do you want?

Asking About Actions

In this section we’ll move through the different patterns for asking about past, current and future actions, which all build upon the same core pattern.

Past Actions: “Which Coffee Did You Taste?”

Sometimes we don’t want to just ask Which coffee? but instead want to ask more detailed quetions such as Which coffee did you taste? Which coffee did you buy? Which coffee did you take?

For these sentences, we’ll still use our core pattern of månu na + noun as our base. Then we’ll add a hu type pronoun + transitive verb after it.

Here’s the full pattern:

[Månu na + Noun] + [Hu Type Pronoun + Transitive Verb]

Our sentence drills will continue to build upon the core pattern from the first section:

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé un tånña?	Which coffee did you taste?
Månu na lepblu un taitai?	Which book did you read?
Månu na mångga un fåhan?	Which mango did you buy?
Månu na guma’ un fattoigui?	Which house did you go to?
Månu na dångis un songgi?	Which candle did you burn?

Current Actions: “Which Coffee Are You Tasting?”

Now we’ll turn to asking about current actions, with questions like Which coffee are you tasting? Which coffee are you buying?

We use the same pattern as the previous section, with one small change: reduplicate the verb.

Here’s the full pattern:

[Månu na + Noun] + [Hu Type Pronoun + Reduplicated Transitive Verb]

The sentence drills below are from the previous section, with the verbs reduplicated. The verbs are shown in bold:

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé un tåtånña?	Which coffee are you tasting?
Månu na lepblu un tataitai?	Which book are you reading?
Månu na mångga un fåfåhan?	Which mango are you buying?
Månu na guma’ un fattotoigui?	Which house are you going to?
Månu na dångis un sosonggi?	Which candle are you burning?

Future Actions: “Which Coffee Will You Taste?”

Asking about future actions such as Which coffee will you taste? Which coffee will you buy? involves putting our “which” statement in front of a future tense statement.

A simple way to think of this pattern is to take our past tense sentences like Månu na kafé un tånña? and put the future marker in front of the pronoun: Månu na kafé [future marker] un tånña?

Here’s the full pattern we’ll practice:

[Månu na + Noun] + [Future Marker + Hu Type Pronoun] + Transitive Verb

To keep our sentence drills focused, the questions will be phrased as if we are talking to just one other person, a “you”:

Chamoru	English
Månu na kafé para un tånña?	Which coffee will you taste?
Månu na lepblu para un taitai?	Which book will you read?
Månu na mångga para un fåhan?	Which mango will you buy?
Månu na guma’ para un fattoigui?	Which house will you go to?
Månu na dångis para un songgi?	Which candle will you burn?

Remember that depending on who we are talking to, the future marker and pronoun combinations will change.

For a full list of the future marker and Hu type pronoun combinations, see my lesson on talking in future tense: https://lengguahita.com/2022/05/17/basic-actions-part-6-future-tense-i-will-drink-the-coffee/#future-tense-markers

Lesson Summary

In this lesson we practiced foundational sentence patterns for asking “which” questions with månu na. This included asking basic “which” questions about objects, asking about likes and wants, and inquiring about past, current and future actions.

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Documentation & Further Study

References

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

Topping, Donald M. Spoken Chamorro: With Grammatical Notes and Glossary (Second Edition). University of Hawaii Press, 1980.

Lengguahi-ta

How to Say “Which?” in Chamorro

Introduction to “Which” In Chamorro

Asking “Which Coffee?”

Asking “Which Coffee is Strong?”