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Category: Basic Marshallese Grammar

  • Lesson 25: I like, I don’t like

    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’

  • Lesson 24: With

    Lesson 24: With

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

  • Lesson 23: House of, time of, place of

    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).

  • Lesson 22: Possessives

    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.

  • Lesson 21: Definite and Indefinite Articles, and Plurals

    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.

  • Lesson 20: More about wh-questions

    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.’

  • Lesson 19: Wh-questions

    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.’

  • Lesson 18: Can you?, Yes I can, No I can’t

    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.’

  • Lesson 17: Do you know?, Yes I know, No I don’t know

    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.’

  • Lesson 16: Yes/No questions

    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?’

  • Lesson 15: Wrapping up pronouns and tenses

    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.

  • Lesson 14: Negatives

    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.

  • Lesson 13: The emphatic pronouns

    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.

  • Lesson 12: Object pronouns

    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.)…

  • Lesson 11: Location

    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…

  • Lesson 10: Near future tense

    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.’

  • Lesson 9: The future tense

    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.

  • Lesson 8: The Past Tense

    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.’

  • Lesson 7: The present tense

    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.

  • Lesson 6: Verbs that work like adjectives

    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.

  • Lesson 5: Marshallese Subject Pronouns

    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.

  • Lesson 4: Marshallese Words from English

    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.

  • Lesson 3: Numbers, time, age, and price

    Lesson 3: Numbers, time, age, and price

    Learn how to count in Marshallese.

  • Lesson 2: Beginning Marshallese Phrases

    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.

  • Lesson 1: The letters and sounds of Marshallese

    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.

  • Glossary of Useful Words from Practical Marshallese

    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.