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.
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.’ Remember from Lesson 6 that these words go right after the subject pronoun, like an adjective:
| Kwōjeḷā ke? | you-know/? | Do you know? |
| Ijeḷā | I-know | I know |
| Ijab jeḷā | I-not/know | I don’t know |
| Ijaje | I-don’t know | I don’t know |
| Iñak | I-don’t know | I don’t know |
– ‘Jeḷā’ can also mean ‘know how to’ or ‘be good at,’ and ‘jab jeḷā/jaje/ñak’ can mean ‘don’t know how to’ or ‘not be good at.’ There is also a word ‘ṃōkade’ which means ‘to be really good at’:
| Kwōjeḷā ke eọñōd? | = Do you know how to fish? or Are you any good at fishing? |
| Ijeḷā eọñōd | = I know how to fish or I am good at fishing |
| Ijeḷā eọñōd jidik | = I know how to fish a little or I am okay at fishing |
| Ilukkuun jeḷā eọñōd | = I really know how to fish or I am really good at fishing |
| Iṃōkade eọñōd | = I am really good at fishing |
| Ijab jeḷā eọñōd | = I don’t know how to fish or I am bad at fishing |
| Ijab lukkuun jeḷā eọñōd | = I don’t really know how to fish or I’m not very good at fishing |
| Ijaje/iñak eọñōd | = I don’t know how to fish or I am bad at fishing |
| Ilukkuun jaje/ñak eọñōd | = I really don’t know how to fish or I am really bad at fishing |
– If you use these same phrases with the name of a language, then ‘jeḷā’ means ‘speak’ and ‘jaje/ñak’ means ‘not speak’:
| Kwōjeḷā ke kajin ṃajeḷ? = | you-know/?/language of/Marshall | = Do you speak Marshallese? |
| Ijeḷā kajin ṃajeḷ = | I-know/language of/Marshall | = I speak Marshallese |
| Ilukkuun jeḷā kajin ṃajeḷ = | I-really/know/language of/Marshall | = I speak Marshallese really well |
| Ijaje kajin ṃajeḷ = | I-don’t know/language of./Marshall | = I don’t speak Marshallese |
– If you want to say ‘I know [Name of a Person]’ in the sense of ‘I am acquainted with,’ then you must add ‘kajjien’ before the name of the person:
| Kwōjeḷā ke kajjien Lauren? (not Kwōjeḷā ke Lauren?) | you-know/?/identity of/Lauren | = Do you know Lauren? |
| Ijeḷā kajjien Lauren (not Ijeḷā Lauren) | I-know/identity of/Lauren | = I know Lauren |
| Ijaje/iñak kajjien Lauren (not Ijaje/Iñak Lauren) | I-don’t know/identity of/Lauren | = I don’t know Lauren |
Dialogues
| A: Kwōjeḷā ke eọñōd? | A: Do you know how to fish? |
| B: Iñak. Ak kwe? | B: I don’t know how. What about you? |
| A: Ilukkuun ṃōkade eọñōd. | A: I’m really good at fishing. |
| B: Kwōṃōkade kōnke kwe riṃajeḷ. Aolep eṃṃaan in ṃajeḷ rōjeḷā. | B: You’re really good because you’re Marshallese. Every Marshallese man knows how. |
| A: Aet. Ak kwe, kwōñak kōnke kwe ripālle. Ripālle relukkuun jaje eọñōd. | A: Yes. And you don’t know how because you’re an American. Americans are terrible at fishing. |
| B: Aet, ak ña inaaj ekkatak. Ṃōttan jidik ilukkuun naaj jeḷā. | B: Yes, but I’m going to learn. Soon I’ll be really good. |
| A: Kwōjeḷā ke kajin ṃajeḷ? | A: Do you speak Marshallese? |
| B: Jidik. Kwōjeḷā ke kajin pālle? | B: A little. Do you speak English? |
| A: Ijab lukkuun jeḷā. | A: I don’t speak it very well. |
| B: Ekwe, ña inaaj katakin eok kajin pālle im kwe kwōnaaj katakin eō kajin ṃajeḷ. Eṃṃan ke? | B: Okay, I’ll teach you English and you’ll teach me Marshallese. Okay? |
| A: Eṃṃan. Ṃōttan jidik ña inaaj jeḷā kajin pālle āinwōt ripālle, im kwe kwōnaaj jeḷā kajin ṃajeḷ āinwōt riṃajeḷ. | A: Good. Soon I’ll speak English like an American, and you’ll speak Marshallese like a Marshallese person. |
| B: Elukkuun eṃṃan. | B: Great. |
Vocabulary
| etan | name of, its/his/her name, ‘um…’ (when you’re pausing to think of something while speaking) Ex. Ijaje etan = I don’t know his/her/its name Ex. Etan ‘coconut’ ilo ṃajeḷ? = How do you say ‘coconut’ in Marshallese? |
| bōlen | maybe, possibly, probably |
| baamḷe (from English) | family |
| bok (from English) | book |
| bwil | hot, get burned |
| ṃōḷo | cold (of things only) Ex. Eṃōḷo rainin = It’s cold today |
| piọ | cold (of humans only) Ex. Ipiọ = I’m cold |
| jeje | write |
| riit (from English) | read |
| aō | swim |
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
- Lesson 15: Wrapping up pronouns and tenses
- Lesson 16: Yes/No questions
- Lesson 17: Do you know?, Yes I know, No I don’t know
- Lesson 18: Can you?, Yes I can, No I can’t
- Lesson 19: Wh-questions
- Lesson 20: More about wh-questions
- Lesson 21: Definite and Indefinite Articles, and Plurals
- Lesson 22: Possessives
- Lesson 23: House of, time of, place of
- Lesson 24: With
- Lesson 25: I like, I don’t like
- Lesson 26: There is, there are, there are many
- Lesson 27: I have, you have, I don’t have, you don’t have
- Lesson 28: I have a pencil with me
- Lesson 29: I have one, I have two, I have many
- Lesson 30: Do you have?
- Lesson 31: Not yet and never
- Lesson 32: Perfect Past
- Lesson 33: Negative Perfect Past
- Lesson 34: Perfect Past Questions
- Lesson 35: Adverbs
- Lesson 36: Comparatives in Marshallese
- Lesson 37: After, before
- Lesson 38: More about questions
- Lesson 39: Which fish, what kind of fish, you and who else?
- Lesson 40: Conditionals in Marshallese
- Lesson 41: Directionals
- Practical Marshallese