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Lesson 45: I want you to go, let me go (The subjunctive)

In earlier lessons you learned that ‘j,’ ‘ar,’ ‘kar,’ and ‘naaj’ are markers that can be put on subject pronouns to get the present, past, and future tenses. There is one more of these markers, ‘n.’ In other books it is translated as ‘should,’ but this is not the best way to think about it…

August 26, 2025
Lesson 44: Another coconut, the other coconut, the other coconuts

In the last lesson you learned the word ‘bar’ and its many uses. There is another use of the word ‘bar’ to mean ‘other’: bar juon = or juon bar = again/one one/again = another bar ruo/jilu/emān = or ruo/jilu/emān bar = again/two,three,four two,three,four/again = two/three/four other bar jet = or jet bar = again/some…

August 19, 2025
Lesson 43: Again, back, also, else

There is an extremely useful word in Marshallese: ‘bar.’ The basic meaning is ‘again,’ and you put it before the verb: Ij bar kōṃṃane = I-PRES/again/do-it = I am doing it again Iban bar kōṃṃane = I-will not/again/do-it = I won’t do it again – With some words, we would translate it instead as ‘back’: Bar…

August 12, 2025
Lesson 42: Comparatives and superlatives

Saying sentences like ‘I am bigger,’ ‘I am bigger than you,’ ‘I am the biggest’ works very much like in English. These are the words you need: -ḷọk* -er -tata -est jān than *Not to be confused with the ‘ḷọk’ that means ‘to him/her/it/them’ or ‘hurry up and.’ For example: kilep big limo fun kilepḷọk…

August 5, 2025
Lesson 41: Directionals

– To say ‘to me,’ ‘to you,’ etc. in Marshallese, you can sometimes just say ‘ñan ña,’ ‘ñan kwe,’ etc. like in English. However, you can also use the following words: Directionals tok to me/us (towards where I am or where we are) wōj or waj to you (towards where you are) ḷọk to him/her/it/them…

May 22, 2019
Lesson 40: Conditionals in Marshallese

Lesson 40: Conditionals in Marshallese.

May 21, 2019
Lesson 39: Which fish, what kind of fish, you and who else?

There are even more ways to make questions in Marshallese. – To say ‘which ___’ or ‘what kind of ____’, use the following words after the noun: ta which? rot or rōt or tor what kind of? For example: Āne ta? = island/which = Which island? Ek rōt? = fish/what kind = What kind…

May 15, 2019
Lesson 38: More about questions

In Lesson 19 you learned some common questions words (‘who,’ ‘what,’ etc.) and learned that they can be put in many places in the sentence, not just at the beginning. There are some exceptions to this. For the words for ‘how,’ ‘how much,’ ‘how long,’ and a certain word for ‘why,’ you must put them…

May 14, 2019
Lesson 37: After, before

You can use ‘my,’ ‘your,’ etc. in yet another way in Marshallese. To say ‘after you go,’ or ‘before you go,’ you say instead ‘after your go,’ ‘before your go’.

May 13, 2019
Lesson 36: Comparatives in Marshallese

In the last lesson you learned how to make sentences like ‘I fish often’ by saying ‘it is often my fish.’ You can also do the same sort of thing with adjectives, to say things like ‘It is very good,’ ‘it is pretty good,’ etc. Here are some words you can use this way:…

May 8, 2019
Lesson 35: Adverbs

Practical Marshallese. In Marshallese, instead of saying ‘I walk fast’ you would say ‘it is fast my walk.’

May 7, 2019
Lesson 34: Perfect Past Questions

Learn how to ask questions about events that may have been completed.

May 1, 2019
Lesson 33: Negative Perfect Past

To express negative past perfect statements, you can use the word “jañin”.

April 30, 2019
Lesson 32: Perfect Past

In Marshallese the following are expressed in the same way: I am finished eating, I have eaten, I already ate, I have already eaten.

April 24, 2019
Lesson 31: Not yet and never

Marshallese has a word ‘jañin’ (or ‘jāñin’) that means ‘not yet.’ It goes before the verb or adjective.

April 23, 2019
Lesson 30: Do you have?

To make questions with ‘have’ (like ‘do you have a pencil?’ or ‘does she have any sisters?’) just add ‘ke’ after ‘ewōr’ or ‘elōñ’.

April 17, 2019
Lesson 29: I have one, I have two, I have many

In order to say ‘I have many___,’ ‘I have few___,’ ‘I have some ___,’ etc., use the words for ‘there are many,’ ‘there are few,’ ‘there are some’

April 16, 2019
Lesson 28: I have a pencil with me

In the last lesson you learned how to say ‘I have,’ ‘you have’ etc. There is another way to say these kinds of sentences. If you mean ‘I have a ___ with me’ or ‘I am carrying a ____’ (as opposed to ‘I own a ___’ or ‘There is a ___ that belongs to me’),…

April 10, 2019
Lesson 27: I have, you have, I don’t have, you don’t have

The way to say ‘I have,’ ‘you have,’ etc. in Marshallese is very different from English. There is no word for ‘have.’ Instead of saying ‘I have a pencil,’ you say ‘there is my pencil.’ Instead of saying ‘I don’t have a pencil’ you say ‘there is no my pencil.’

April 9, 2019
Lesson 26: There is, there are, there are many

To say a sentence like ‘there are sharks or ‘there is a lot of breadfruit’ in Marshallese, you use the equivalent of the phrases ‘there is,’ ‘there are,’ ‘there are many,’ etc. in English.

April 3, 2019
Lesson 25: I like, I don’t like

In the last lesson you learned the words for ‘with me,’ ‘with you,’ etc. These words can also mean ‘in my opinion,’ ‘in your opinion,’ etc. You can use this meaning with the words for ‘good’ (‘eṃṃan’) and ‘bad’ (‘nana’) to make sentences like ‘I like it,’ ‘I don’t like it’

April 2, 2019
Lesson 24: With

The word in Marshallese for ‘with’ is ‘ippān.’ However, it changes when you say ‘with me,’ ‘with you,’ etc.

March 27, 2019
Lesson 23: House of, time of, place of

In Marshallese in order to say a phrase like ‘school time’ you would say instead ‘time of school’ (like in Spanish or French).

March 26, 2019
Lesson 22: Possessives

In Marshallese there are words for ‘my,’ ‘your,’ ‘his,’ ‘her,’ etc. These are called ‘possessives.’ Marshallese makes no distinction between ‘my’ vs. ‘mine,’ ‘your’ vs. ‘yours’ etc. It has the same word for both.

March 20, 2019
Lesson 21: Definite and Indefinite Articles, and Plurals

In Marshallese the word for ‘a’ or ‘an’ is the same as ‘one’: juon. Unlike in English, if you have more than one of the noun (a plural noun), the noun stays the same.

March 19, 2019
Lesson 20: More about wh-questions

If you want to ask where something or someone is, remember that you must use ‘pād’ which means ‘to be located.’

March 13, 2019
Lesson 19: Wh-questions

In this lesson you will learn how to say questions with question words like ‘who,’ ‘what,’ and ‘where.’ These are called wh-questions because they have a question word that usually starts with ‘wh.’

March 12, 2019
Lesson 18: Can you?, Yes I can, No I can’t

This lesson will introduce you to the word ‘know’ in Marshallese and its many other uses. The word for ‘know’ in Marshallese is ‘jeḷā.’ To say ‘don’t know,’ you can say ‘jab jeḷā’ or ‘jaje’ or ‘ñak.’

March 6, 2019
Lesson 17: Do you know?, Yes I know, No I don’t know

This lesson will introduce you to the word ‘know’ in Marshallese and its many other uses. The word for ‘know’ in Marshallese is ‘jeḷā.’ To say ‘don’t know,’ you can say ‘jab jeḷā’ or ‘jaje’ or ‘ñak.’

March 5, 2019
Lesson 16: Yes/No questions

Now you will learn how to make questions like ‘Are you a teacher?’ ‘Did you eat?’ and so forth. We call these ‘Yes-No’ questions because they can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ unlike questions such as ‘Where are you going?’

February 27, 2019
Lesson 15: Wrapping up pronouns and tenses

In the last ten lessons you have learned the present, past, and future tenses and three sets of pronouns. This section reviews this material.

February 26, 2019
Lesson 14: Negatives

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.

February 20, 2019
Lesson 13: The emphatic pronouns

Marshallese has yet a third set of pronouns, which does not have a close equivalent in English. These are called the ‘emphatic’ pronouns. The good news is that most of them are identical to the object pronouns, so there are only a few new ones to memorize.

February 19, 2019
Lesson 12: Object pronouns

In English, we use different pronouns before verbs than after verbs. For instance, you say ‘I like Alfred’ but you don’t say ‘Alfred likes I.’ Instead you say ‘Alfred likes me.’ The first kind of pronoun (‘I,’ ‘you,’ ‘he,’ ‘she,’ etc.) is called a ‘subject’ pronoun and the second kind (‘me,’ ‘you,’ ‘him,’ ‘her,’ etc.)…

February 13, 2019
Lesson 11: Location

When you are talking about where something is located, like in the sentences ‘He is in the church,’ or ‘You will be in the school’ you must add a special word in place of the English ‘to be.’ This word is ‘pād’ and it means ‘to be located.’ Thus, in order to say ‘He is…

February 12, 2019
Lesson 10: Near future tense

Instead of adding ‘naaj’ (or ‘nāj’ or ‘nij’), add ‘itōn.’ This is usually used for the near future, and could be translated in English as ‘about to,’ ‘intend to,’ or ‘going to.’

February 6, 2019
Lesson 9: The future tense

This lesson introduces the marker for the future tense. This marker is usually written as ‘naaj,’ but much more often pronounced ‘nāj’ or ‘nij.’ In this book it will be written as ‘naaj’ since this is the normal spelling, but bear in mind that it is usually pronounced differently.

February 5, 2019
Lesson 8: The Past Tense

In this lesson you will learn another marker that you can put onto the subject pronouns, this one for the past tense. This marker is ‘-ar.’

January 30, 2019
Lesson 7: The present tense

You can form the present tense in Marshallese by adding “-j” to subject pronouns. Unlike Spanish or French, you do not conjugate the verb.

January 29, 2019
Lesson 6: Verbs that work like adjectives

Some Marshallese verbs act like adjectives. You can make sentences with these verbs (but not most other verbs) in exactly the same way as you use adjectives.

January 23, 2019
Lesson 5: Marshallese Subject Pronouns

In Marshallese there is a set of pronouns that is very much like ‘I,’ ‘you,’ ‘he,’ ‘she,’ ‘it,’ ‘we,’ and ‘they’ in English. These are called the ‘subject pronouns.’ In this lesson and future ones, you will learn how to use these words to make many kinds of sentences.

January 22, 2019
Lesson 4: Marshallese Words from English

ver since the Marshall Islands has had contact with the outside world, it has adopted many foreign words. This makes learning Marshallese a bit easier for English speakers.

January 16, 2019
Lesson 3: Numbers, time, age, and price

Learn how to count in Marshallese.

January 15, 2019
Lesson 2: Beginning Marshallese Phrases

This lesson introduces some common phrases in Marshallese. They are not only useful for conversation, but also for practicing reading and pronouncing Marshallese. Practice pronouncing these phrases with a Marshallese person if you can.

January 8, 2019
Lesson 1: The letters and sounds of Marshallese

An overview of the Marshallese alphabet. Marshallese has two different spelling systems. Don’t worry about pronouncing all of the sounds perfectly from day one. Letters can be pronounced differently in different contexts.

January 2, 2019
Practical Marshallese

Practical Marshallese by Peter Rudiak-Gould introduces Marshallese to the beginner. It is organized into 102 lessons, with a main grammar point.

January 1, 2019
Glossary of Useful Words from Practical Marshallese

A glossary of about 1500 Marshallese words, in order of usefulness. Designed so you can sit down every day and learn a few new words.

January 1, 2019
Naan Dictionary

The Naan dictionary is useful for Marshallese speakers and learners of all levels. It comes as a Word document that can be searched by standard spelling, casual or dialectical spelling, or English word. It is somewhat slow but it serves as an amazing alternative or companion to the Marshallese-English Dictionary.

August 15, 2015
Reviewing Marshallese Resources

The purpose of the reviews of resources found in Marshallese.org is to provide the Marshallese community with a single repository of resources and an idea of their use and availability. This is meant to increase traffic to those resources and facilitate their use.

August 15, 2015