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 this lesson you will learn to make commands and requests in both direct ways and more polite ways.  You will notice that some of these constructions use the subjunctive that you learned in the last lesson.  When ‘kwō’ is used, it is only for one person, and when ‘koṃ’ is used, it is for more than one person:

Very direct	Etal!	go	Go!
More polite	Kwōn etal  Koṃin etal	you-SUBJUN./go you(plur.)-SUBJUN./go	Please go
	Etal ṃōk	go/please	Please go
	Kab etal	and also/go	Please go
Very polite	Jouj im etal	kind/and/go	Be kind and go
	Kwōn jouj im etal Koṃin jouj im etal	you-SUBJUN./kind/and go you(plur.)-SUBJUN./kind/and go	Please be kind and go
	Kwōmaroñ ke etal? Koṃ maroñ ke etal?	you-can/?/go you(plur.)-can/?/go	Could you go?

– To make a negative command ‘don’t do that!’ or ‘please don’t do that,’ just add ‘jab’ before the verb.  For example:

Jab iukkure!	not/play	Don’t play!
Kwōn jab būroṃōj	you-SUBJUN./not/sad	Don’t be sad
Jouj im jab laṃōj	kind/and/not/shout	Please don’t shout

– To make suggestions, such as ‘you should,’ or ‘you should have,’ use these constructions:

Kwōj aikuj ekkatak	you-PRES/need/study	You should study
Kwōj jab aikuj ekkatak	you-PRES/not/need/study	You should not study
Eṃṃan ñe kwōj ekkatak	it-good/if/you-PRES/study	It would be good for you to study
Eṃṃan ñe kwōj jab ekkatak	it-good/if/you-PRES/not/study	It would be good for you to not study
Kwōn kar ekkatak	you-SUBJUN./PAST/study	You should have studied

– To say ‘let’s ___,’ use ‘jen’ (the subjunctive form of ‘we-inclusive’):

Jen jerbal	we-SUBJUN./work	Let’s work
Jen iukkure	we-SUBJUN./play	Let’s play

– The only exception to this is the word for ‘let’s go’:

jemoot

we(incl.)-gone

Let’s go

Vocabulary

iwōj (E: wāwōj)	go to where you are, come with you, go over to your house Ex. Ña ij iwōj = I’m coming with you
kab	cup
kōnnaan or kōnono	to talk
kajjioñ	to try (to) (in both the sense of ‘attempt to’ and ‘test something out’) Ex. Iaar kajjioñ bwiro = I tried some preserved breadruit Ex. Iaar kajjioñ tallōñ ni eo = I tried to climb the coconut tree
kien	government, government of, rule, rule of Ex. Kien Ṃajeḷ = Government of the Marshall Islands
kwaḷkoḷ	wash
laṃōj	shout
lọje	stomach, belly
kaṃool	to make sure
lọñi	mouth
ṃwil	behavior