Author: Schyuler Lujan

Learning to speak, read and write Chamorro while creating digital materials to support our worldwide learning community.

How to Say “I Have a Car” in Chamorro – Talking About What We Have And Don’t Have

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Lessons: Beginner2 Comments

This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

We talk about what we have every day—I have a meeting. I don’t have a question. Do you have a pen? In Chamorro, these everyday ideas follow a clear patter that’s straightforward and easy to apply. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say what you have, what you don’t have, and how to ask others if they have something. Step by step, you’ll practice real-life examples using common topics like cars, phones, family members, food, drinks, and pets—so you can start using these patterns in natural conversation right away. As always, we’ve included Chamorro sentence drills, English translations and Chamorro audio by Jay Che’le to support your learning. Happy studying!

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March Spring Cleaning: Beginner Series Updates and Blog Refresh

On By Schyuler LujanIn AnnouncementsLeave a comment

Håfa Adai everyone, yan Biba Mes Chamoru! I just wanted to share a few quick updates: this March, I’m doing a little “spring cleaning” on the blog! You might notice some changes: I’m tightening up post titles, standardizing beginner lesson formats, adding clearer front-and-back navigation at the bottom of lessons to make the learning path easier to follow, and updating older lessons so they match the style and clarity of our current content. I also realized that some of our first lessons are missing audio—sorry about that! We’re recording those drills and will have them up soon. On top of that, we’re designing a new landing page to make it easier to find your way around the site. All of this is part of our focus this month on completing the full beginner series, so if things look a little different as you browse, now you know why.

Thanks for following along, and happy studying! See you in the next lesson!

How to Say “Yours” and “Mine” in Chamorro – Talking In General About What Belongs to You

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Lessons: Beginner3 Comments

This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

In this fifth and final beginner lesson on Chamorro classifiers, we’ll learn how to use iyo, which is used to express general ideas of what belongs to us, such as “mine” or “yours”. It’s also often used to indicate possession of non-Chamorro words. As always, this post includes explanatory notes, practice sentences, English translations, and Chamorro audio recordings by Jay Che’le to support your learning. Happy studying!

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Mungnga Masångan by Toni Quitugua – Chamorro Lyrics and English Translation

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro SongsLeave a comment

Last Saturday, Jay led the Praktikan Pupuengi group through listening to and transcribing the love song Mungnga Masångan by Toni Quitugua. This song has long been in rotation on Jay’s Chamorro music playlist, so it felt like a full-circle moment to hear the practice group working through the lyrics together. It’s a great song for beginners—the pacing is slow and the lyrics use simple but emotional language. As always, this post includes Chamorro lyrics, an English translation and language notes. Happy listening!

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How to Say “My Dog” in Chamorro – Talking About Your Pets

On By Schyuler LujanIn Chamorro Lessons: Beginner3 Comments

This lesson is part of the Beginner Chamorro learning path.

In this lesson, you’ll learn Chamorro patterns for talking about your animals and pets in Chamorro using the special classifier ga’-. By the end, you’ll be able to say phrases like “my dog,” “your cat,” and “Juan’s dog”, and be able to recognize these phrases when they are used in speech. As always, we’ve included Chamorro practice sentences, English translations, and Chamorro audio recordings by Jay Che’le to support your learning. Happy studying!

Continue reading “How to Say “My Dog” in Chamorro – Talking About Your Pets” →