Intermediate Actions Part 2: Making Past Tense Sentences in Chamorro With Indefinite Objects – “I bought coffee”

To build off of part 1 where we practiced transforming our transitive verbs with the indefinite man- prefix, in this post we will start using those transformed verbs in sentences. We will learn how to make simple sentences like “I bought coffee”; “I heard something”; or “I made some soup.” We will also add noun subjects to say things like “The woman bought coffee.” This post includes sentence drills in Chamorro with Chamorro audio, and English translations. Happy studying!

Intermediate Actions Part 1: Introduction to Indefinite Objects in Chamorro – “The Coffee versus A Coffee”

In this post, we’ll start our journey on learning how to talk about indefinite objects or non-specific objects in Chamorro. A couple of years ago I wrote a rather long post about using the man- prefix with transitive verbs, back when I was first working toward a clearer understanding of indefinite objects. Now I’ll be exploring the man- prefix more systematically, starting with our transitive verbs. The use of the man- prefix surfaces repeatedly in our practice groups these days, so I guess it’s finally time to dive in!

This post is meant to be an introduction to indefinite objects and how to transform verbs with the indefinite man- prefix. If you need a more general overview of transitive verbs, I suggest starting at my Intro to Transitive Verbs post before continuing. In this post, we’ll focus primarily on practicing how to transform transitive verbs with the indefinite man- prefix. We will also talk about what learners often call “the double man- prefix and when it is used. The post will conclude with notes about the transitive verbs that don’t take the indefinite man- prefix and how to transform them. It’s a fairly long post, but hopefully it will make clear a complicated and confusing topic. Happy studying!

Quick Reference: Man- Prefix for Transitive Verbs

Here is my quick reference sheet for understanding how to apply the man- prefix (both the indefinite man- prefix and the plural man- prefix) to transitive verbs. I don’t go in-depth into any grammar rules, I just give some examples for past, present, future, and imperative tense with light notes on the differences in the structures between definite and indefinite objects. In all the examples I use the root word fa’tinas which means “to make or prepare.” For a more in-depth walkthrough of the man- prefix for transitive verbs, please see this post: Man- Prefix for Transitive Verbs

Man- Prefix for Transitive Verbs

During our morning practice group this past Saturday, we talked about applying the man- prefix. There are several applications of the man- prefix, and there are slightly different ways to understand how and why it’s applied depending upon if it is applied to transitive verbs, intransitive verbs, nouns, or pronouns. It can get pretty confusing! I’ll be doing a mini-series about the man- prefix and how it is applied to different types of words. In this post I’ll be exploring the application of the man- prefix to transitive verbs and laying out my own systematic way of understanding this prefix.