fbpx

“You” in Chamorro

You

In Chamorro, there are five ways to say you, and they differ according to whether or not you’re addressing a single person or a group and what you’re trying to say. The word you in English is used to refer to one person or a group of people. In Chamorro, you have five different ways to say you and they are grouped below according to how you use them.

The English “You”

Before we go into the different categories, here is a quick example of the two types of you in English:

1. You (singular): How are you?

2. You (plural): How are you (all) doing?

Unlike English, the word for you in Chamorro is different for the singular and the plural. The word also changes according to the pronoun category,  which are: Emphatic Pronouns, Yo’-Type Pronouns and Hu-Type Pronouns.

Emphatic Pronouns

These pronouns are called emphatic because they place emphasis on the subject. Sometimes referred to as stressed pronouns, they are often used after prepositions like yan (and/with), para (for) and sin (without).

Hågu – You (singular) – Para hågu este! This is for you!

Hamyo – You (plural) – Para hamyo este! This is for you all!

 

Maria:      Håyi para u na’gasgas i kusina?
Who is going to clean the kitchen?

Daniel:   Hågu yan si Dolores.
You and Dolores.

 

Yo’-Type Pronouns

Yo’-Type pronouns are subject pronouns and they’re used in stative sentences, or descriptive sentences. They’re also used in intransitive sentences where the action is done to a non-specific object.

Hao – You (singular)

Hamyo – You (plural)

 

Stative Sentences

Magof hao. You are hapy.

Magof hamyo. You (both) are happy.

Manmagof hamyo. You (all) are happy.

 

Intransitive Sentences

Bumaila hao. You danced.

Kao manestudia hao? Did you study?

 

Hu-Type Pronouns

These pronouns are the subject pronouns in transitive sentences involving specific objects.

Un – You (singular)

En – You (plural)

Un kanno’ i mansana. You ate the apple.

En lachai i sitbesa. You all finished the beer.

Featured Image Photo by YesManPro from Pexels.

webmagas

View more posts from this author