This post is based on Practical Marshallese by Peter Rudiak-Gould, a freely distributed, full-length textbook for learning the native language of the Marshall Islands. It has been used since 2004 as the official language manual for all volunteers in the WorldTeach Marshall Islands program, and it has formed the basis of language classes for Americans at Kwajalein Atoll. The 102 short lessons describe the grammar of the language in practical and familiar terms, and a glossary presents 1500 useful words.
I am not playing, you are not playing (Negatives)
So far you have learned how to say positive sentences (like ‘I am happy’ or ‘You go to school,’) but not negative sentences (like ‘I am not happy,’ ‘You don’t go to school’).
– To make a negative sentence add the word ‘jab,’ which means ‘not,’ ‘don’t,’ or ‘doesn’t.’ Although this word is always spelled ‘jab,’ it is usually pronounced ‘jeb.’ It goes right before the adjective, verb, or noun. For example:
Positive Sentence | Meaning | Negative Sentence | Meaning |
Iṃōṇōṇō | I am happy | Ijab ṃōṇōṇō | I am not happy |
Imeḷeḷe | I understand | Ijab meḷeḷe | I don’t understand |
Ekōṇaan | He likes | Ejab kōṇaan | He doesn’t like |
Kwōj rūkaki | You are a teacher | Kwōj jab rūkaki | You are not a teacher |
Raar iukkure | They played | Raar jab iukkure | They didn’t play |
There are a few exceptions to this:
1. If the sentence is of the type ‘ña rūkaki’ (‘I am a teacher’) or ‘kwe rijikuuḷ’ (‘You are a student’), (that is, if it has an emphatic pronoun and then a noun), then you add ‘ej jab’ before the emphatic pronoun to make the negative. You do not add ‘jab’ after the emphatic pronoun. For instance:
Correct: Ej jab ña rūkaki = Incorrect: Ña jab rūkaki | it-PRES/not/me/teacher | = I am not a teacher |
Correct: Ej jab kwe rijikuuḷ = Incorrect: Kwe jab rijikuuḷ | it-PRES/not/you/student | = You are not a student |
2. In the future tense, you do not put ‘jab’ after the future marker ‘naaj’ to say ‘will not.’ Instead you replace the ‘naaj’ with ‘ban,’ which means ‘will not’ or ‘will not be’:
Positive sentence | Meaning | Negative sentence | Meaning |
inaaj | I will | iban | I will not |
kwōnaaj | You (singular) will | koban[3] | You (singular) will not |
enaaj | He, She, or It will | eban | He, She, or It will not |
jenaaj | We(inclusive) will | jeban | We(inclusive) will not |
kōminaaj | We(exclusive) will | kōm ban | We(exclusive) will not |
koṃinaaj | You(plural) will | koṃ ban | You(plural) will not |
rōnaaj | They will | rōban | They will not |
Vocabulary
jipañ | to help |
aelōñ | atoll, single island (not part of an atoll), country |
baḷuun (from English ‘baloon’) | airplane |
aiboojoj | beautiful (of things only, not people) |
eṃ | house, building |
iien | time, time of, time for, chance, chance for Ex. Iien jikuuḷ = Time for school |
alwōj | look at, watch |
rainin | today |
ilju | tomorrow, the future |
inne | yesterday |
Language Tip
Nouns that can also be verbs
In Marshallese many nouns are also used as verbs. For instance, ‘jikuuḷ’ means ‘school’ but also ‘go to school, attend class.’ Pay attention to both ways that the word can be used, and you will quickly increase the number of ideas that you can express. If you want to know about more nouns that can be used as verbs, see Lesson 48.
Practical Marshallese
- Glossary of Useful Words from Practical Marshallese
- Lesson 1: The letters and sounds of Marshallese
- Lesson 2: Beginning Marshallese Phrases
- Lesson 3: Numbers, time, age, and price
- Lesson 4: Marshallese Words from English
- Lesson 5: Marshallese Subject Pronouns
- Lesson 6: Verbs that work like adjectives
- Lesson 7: The present tense
- Lesson 8: The Past Tense
- Lesson 9: The future tense
- Lesson 10: Near future tense
- Lesson 11: Location
- Lesson 12: Object pronouns
- Lesson 13: The emphatic pronouns
- Lesson 14: Negatives
- Practical Marshallese