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.

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 (‘aikuj’ is the usual word for ‘should’).  It is better to think of it as the subjunctive, similar to that of Spanish or French.  (If you know what the ‘subjunctive’ is, then it might help you with this lesson, but if you don’t, don’t worry about it.)  Putting the ‘n’ marker on the subject pronouns give you these forms:

i + n   =	in	= I-SUBJUNCTIVE
kwō + n   =	kwōn	= you(singular)-SUBJUNCTIVE
e + n   =	en	= he,she,it-SUBJUNCTIVE
je + n   =	jen	= we(inclusive)-SUBJUNCTIVE
kōm + n   =	kōmin	= we(exclusive)-SUBJUNCTIVE
koṃ + n   =	koṃin	= you(plural)-SUBJUNCTIVE
re + n   =	ren	= they-SUBJUNCTIVE

– These forms can be used to make sentences like ‘I want you to work’ ‘I need you to work,’ ‘I tell you to work,’ etc.  Use the word ‘bwe’ before the subjunctive form of the pronoun:

Ikōṇaan bwe kwōn jerbal  =	I-want/that/you-SUBJUN./work	= I want you to work
Ij aikuj bwe ren jerbal       =	I-PRES/need/that/they-SUBJUN./work	= I need them to work
Rej kajjitōk bwe in jerbal   =	they-PRES/ask/that/I-SUBJUN./work	= They ask me to work
Kwaar ba bwe ren jerbal   =	you-PAST/tell/that/they-SUBJUN./work	= You told them to work
Ij kōṃṃan bwe ren jerbal  =	I-PRES/make/that/they-SUBJUN./work	= I make them work

– If you make the same kind of sentence with ‘lale’ (‘watch’) then it means ‘make sure that ___’:

Lale bwe kwōn jab wōtlọk =

watch/that/you-SUBJUN./not/fall

= Make sure you don’t fall

– The same kind of construction can mean ‘so that’:

Ij ba ñan kwe bwe kwōn jeḷā  =	I-PRES/say/to/you/so that /you-SUBJUN./know	= I am telling you so that you know
Iaar bōke bwe ña in maroñ     = kōjerbale	I-PAST/take-it/so that/me /I-SUBJUN./can/use-it	= I took it so that I could use it

– If the word ‘bwe’ is used without the subjunctive after it, it means ‘because’:

Ij eọñōd bwe iṃōṇōṇō    =	I-PRES/fish/because/I-happy	= I am fishing because I am happy
Ij eọñōd bwe in ṃōṇōṇō =	I-PRES/fish/so that/I-SUBJUN./happy	= I am fishing so that I will be happy

– If you say ‘ña in’ (‘me/I-SUBJUNCTIVE’) by itself it means ‘let me ___’:

Ña in kōṃṃane  =	me/I-SUBJUN./do-it	= Let me do it
Ña in lale            =	me/I-SUBJUN./look at	= Let me look at it or Let me see

Vocabulary

to	to get off (a boat, car, etc.), to come down, to climb down
tōpar or tōprak	to reach (a place), to get to (a place), to arrive at (a place) Ex. Raar tōpar Majuro inne = They got to Majuro yesterday
turun māj	face
aetok	long, tall (of people)
kadu (E: kanu)	short, brief
buḷōn mar or buḷōn wojke or buḷōn jungle	jungle, forest
aujpitōḷ (from English)	hospital
bwilọk	snapped, broken (of long thin hard objects, like pencils)
aorōk	important, precious, valuable
kwalọk	to show

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Pronunciation Practice – ‘k’

In the last two Pronunciation Practices you learned that Marshallese ‘t’ sounds like English ‘d’ and Marshallese ‘p’ sounds like English ‘b’ when they are right between two vowels.  A similar thing happens with Marshallese ‘k.’  Have a Marshallese person say the word ‘kiki.’  The first ‘k’ sounds like an English ‘k,’ but the second one sounds more like English ‘g’ as in ‘go.’  Usually, Marshallese ‘k’ sounds like English ‘k,’ but if it is surrounded on both sides with vowels, it sounds like English ‘g’ as in ‘go.’

Practice with these words:

Sounds like English ‘k’		Sounds like English ‘g’ in ‘go’
kiki	‘sleep’	kiki	‘sleep’
koko	‘chocolate’	koko	‘chocolate’
kuku	‘ride piggyback’	kuku	‘ride piggyback’
lukkuun	‘very’	roñjake	‘listen’
kakkije	‘to rest’	ālikin	‘after’
ak	‘but’	pako	‘shark’
ek	‘fish’	jikin	‘place’