How to Express Likes and Dislikes in Chamorro

Learning how to express likes and dislikes is a great way to show your fluency in Chamorro. To do this you say ya followed by a possessive pronoun. For example, -hu is the possessive pronoun “my” in Chamorro and usually follows a word. For example, “my car” is kareta-hu. The verb “to like” is somewhat irregular in Chamorro as it requires you to use a possessive pronoun as demonstrated below.

Ya-hu.            I like.

Ya-mu.           You like.

Ya-ña.             He or she likes.

Ya-ta.              We like. (inclusive)

Yan-måmi.    We like. (exclusive)

Yan-miyu.      You (all) like.

Yan-ñiha.        They like.

To say you like an object, you simply use one of the phrases and then the object.

Ya-hu    +     OBJECT

To say “I like eggs”, you would say: Ya-hu chåda’.

Here are more examples:

Ya-ña si Maria åbas.
Maria likes guava.

Kao ya-mu titiyas?
Do you like titiyas?

To say that you like doing something, you would again use one of the phrases and then say use the completed form of a verb.

Ya-hu bumaila.
I like to dance.

Ya-hu umegga’ Netflix.
I like to watch Netflix.

Ya-hu chumochu.
I like to eat.

Kao ya-mu kumånta?
Do you like to sing?

Dislikes

To say that you don’t like something, you simply have to add the negator ti at the beginning of your statement.

Ya-hu pån. 
I like bread.

Ti ya-hu pån.
I don’t like bread.

More Examples

Ya-hu maigo’. 
I like to sleep.

Ti ya-ña si George manestudia.
George does not like to study.

Ti yan-ñiha manekungok.
They do not like to listen

Kao ya-mu yu’?
Do you like me?