Sometimes, we want to talk about what will happen to us — like saying we will be helped or corrected — but we don’t say who or what will be doing the helping or correcting. There is actually a simple pattern you can use to express when something will happen to you (or to someone else)! In this post, we’ll learn one pattern for making these statements and practice with sentence drills and basic examples such as “I will be corrected” or “They will be helped”.
As always, this post includes Chamorro example sentences, English translations, and Chamorro audio narrations voiced by Jay Che’le. We have also included interactive study tools to help you practice — you’ll find these activities under headings marked with a ⚡(lightning bolt). Happy studying!
Contents
🌱Introduction: Talking About What Will Happen to You in Chamorro
Sometimes we want to talk about what will happen to us or someone else, without saying who will do it. This includes sentences like:
- I will be helped
- You will be invited
- We will be corrected
Chamorro has different ways to make these kinds of sentences, and in this lesson we’ll be learning a pattern that uses the Passive Ma- Prefix.
To make these types of sentences in Chamorro, we will use the following:
- Transitive Verbs
- Future Markers
- Passive Ma- Prefix
- Plural Fan- Prefix
In the rest of this blog post, we will practice with a set of common transitive verbs, transform them, and then use those transformed verbs in example sentences. Let’s get going!
🌱Getting Our Verbs Ready with Ma-
Before we build our sentences, let’s make sure our verbs are in the right form. Using the Passive Ma- Prefix with our verbs is our basic building block for the thought patterns we’ll practice in this post. First, let’s learn about the Passive Ma- Prefix and how to use it.
In general, we attach the Passive Ma- Prefix to the front of transitive verbs to talk about what happened without saying who did it. For example: When we say “The door was opened” or “The phone was lost”, we state what happened without saying who opened the door or lost the phone.
Let’s practice by transforming some transitive verbs, using this basic structure:
| Passive Ma- + Transitive Verb |
❗As a reminder: If the verb begins with a vowel, put a glota ( ’ ) after the Ma- Prefix.
Now let’s apply this pattern to a selection of transitive verbs in the table below:
| Root Word | + Ma- |
|---|---|
| ayuda | ma’ayuda |
| korihi | makorihi |
| li’e’ | mali’e’ |
| kombida | makombida |
| ågang | ma’ågang |
| faisen | mafaisen |
| taggam | mataggam |
| konne’ | makonne’ |
| onra | ma’onra |
And here are some definitions of our newly transformed words:
| Chamoru | Definition* |
|---|---|
| ma’ayuda | was helped |
| makorihi | was corrected |
| mali’e’ | was seen |
| makombida | was invited |
| ma’ågang | was called |
| mafaisen | was asked |
| mataggam | was met |
| makonne’ | was caught / was taken |
| ma’onra | was honored |
*All these forms are for 1-2 people.
⚡Review It: Action Words and Ma-
Use the study tool below to learn these verbs and practice their transformation. Start in Learn Mode to get familiar with each action word and its meaning. Move to Recall Mode to check that you can produce the word. Then end in Practice Mode to start transforming the verbs with Ma-.
In the next section, we’ll review some of the core phrase chunks (I will, You will, She will) that will be used in our sentence pattern.
⚡Review It: Future Tense Phrase Chunks
If needed, use the flashcard tool below to review key phrase chunks for talking about actions that will be done in the future (i.e.: “I will”, “You will”, “She will”, etc.). We’ll be using these phrases throughout the rest of the lesson.
In the next section, we will practice using these verbs in some basic sentences.
🌱How to Say “I will be helped”
In this first set of example sentences, we will use the transformed verbs from the previous section to make some basic sentences about what will happen to us. We will be making future tense sentences, which means we will use future markers and hu type pronouns with our new verbs to make sentences like “I will be helped” or “I will be invited.”
The sentence structure we will follow is shown below:
| Future Marker + Hu Type Pronoun + [Ma- + Transitive Verb] |
To get used to this pattern, let’s start with the basic pattern of “I will be…” In these example sentences, I will be using para bai as the future marker, but you can also just use bai or bei:
| Chamoru | English |
|---|---|
| Para bai ma’ayuda. | I will be helped. |
| Para bai makombida. | I will be invited. |
| Para bai ma’ågang. | I will be called. |
| Para bai mafaisen. | I will be asked. |
| Para bai makorihi. | I will be corrected. |
Now that we have a sense of the pattern, let’s expand to using the other verbs and pronouns. We will also add locations to these sentences, for added flavor:
| Chamoru | English |
|---|---|
| Para ta mali’e’ gi ufisina. | We (2) will be seen at the office. |
| Para un mataggam gi sagan båtkon aire. | You will be picked up at the airport. |
| Para bai in makonne’ guatu gi nobena. | We (2) will be taken to the novena. |
| Para en ma’onra gi dinanña. | You (2) will be honored at the gathering. |
| Para bai makombida guatu gi gipot. | I will be invited to the party. |
Note About Number of People: In all of these sentences, they are referring to 1-2 people only. To make our sentences refer to 3 or more people, we also need to add the Plural Fan- Prefix. This will be discussed in the next section.
⚡Practice It: “I will be helped”
Use the study tool below to learn and practice these phrases. Start in Learn Mode for guided practice in building these phrases and move to Comprehension Mode to verify your understanding of the Chamorro.
In the next section, we’ll practice the patterns for talking about what will happen to 3 or more people.
🌱How to Talk About Three or More People
In the previous section, we made sentences about 1 or 2 people. But what if we want to talk about groups of 3 or more?
To talk about groups of 3 or more, we also need to use the Plural Fan- Prefix. To use this prefix, put it in front of the Passive Ma- Prefix.
Let’s practice this transformation with our transitive verbs, following the structure shown below:
| Plural Fan- + Passive Ma- + Transitive Verb |
| Base Word | +Plural Fan- Prefix |
|---|---|
| ma’ayuda | fanma’ayuda |
| makorihi | fanmakorihi |
| mali’e’ | fanmali’e’ |
| makombida | fanmakombida |
| ma’ågang | fanma’ågang |
| mafaisen | fanmafaisen |
| mataggam | fanmataggam |
| makonne’ | fanmakonne’ |
| ma’onra | fanma’onra |
Good job! In the next section, we will use these verbs in basic sentences for more contextual practice.
🌱How to Say “We will be helped”
Now let’s practice using these transformed verbs in sentences. We will follow the basic structure from our first practice sentences, but since we are talking about groups of 3 or more, the Hu Type Pronouns we use will be the Plural Hu Type pronouns (ta, in, u, en).
We will follow this basic structure:
| Future Marker + Hu Type Pronoun + [Plural Fan- + Ma- + Transitive Verb] |
To get used to this pattern, let’s first practice with the basic pattern of “We will be…”
| Chamoru | English |
|---|---|
| Para ta fanma’ayuda. | We will be helped. |
| Para ta fanmakombida. | We will be invited. |
| Para ta fanma’ågang. | We will be called. |
| Para ta fanmafaisen. | We will be asked. |
| Para ta fanmakorihi. | We will be corrected. |
Now let’s practice with the other pronouns and verbs. We will also be adding a location to these examples, for a little more variety:
| Chamoru | English |
|---|---|
| Para ta fanmali’e’ gi ufisina. | We (3+) will be seen at the office. |
| Para en fanmataggam gi sagan båtkon aire. | You (3+) will be picked up at the airport. |
| Para bai in fanmakonne’ guatu gi nobena. | We (3+) will be taken to the novena. |
| Para en fanma’onra gi dinanña. | You (3+) will be honored at the gathering. |
| Para ta fanmakombida guatu gi gipot. | We (3+) will be invited to the party. |
⚡Practice It: “We will be helped”
Use the interactive study tool below to practice talking about what will happen to 3 or more people. Start in Practice Mode to begin building the verbs for talking about 3+ people. Move to Learn Mode for guided practice in building these sentences and end in Comprehension Mode to check your understanding of the meanings.
📝Summary
In this post, we learned how to make sentences about what will happen to us or others, such as “I will be helped” or “You will be picked up at the airport.” We practiced transforming our transitive verbs with the Passive Ma- Prefix and the Plural Fan- Prefix, and then used these verbs in some basic sentences to practice the patterns.
Note About Methodology: The Chamorro sentence patterns in this post were compiled from multiple written sources. While the examples have been adapted for clarity and practice, they are based on authentic Chamorro usage across a variety of texts. This post reflects patterns I have observed and synthesized from these materials.