Samoan language

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Samoan Gagana Samoa
Spoken in:	Samoa, American Samoa
Region:	Spoken as first language on Samoa and American Samoa, with substantial communities of speakers on neighboring islands, and the USA
Total speakers:	370,337 total speakers
Language family:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP Central-Eastern MP Eastern MP Oceanic Central-Eastern Central Pacific East Fijian-Polynesian Samoic Samoan
Official status
Official language of:	Samoa (199,377 speakers) and American Samoa (56,700 speakers)
Regulated by:	no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`sm`
ISO 639-2:	`smo`
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	`smo`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

The Sāmoan or Samoan language is the traditional language of Samoa and American Samoa and is an official language in both political bodies. It is a member of the Austronesian family, and more specifically the Samoic branch of the Polynesian subphylum. There are 370,337 Samoan-speakers worldwide, nearly half of them in the Samoan Islands.

1 Grammar
- 1.1 Pronouns
2 Reference
3 External links

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Pronouns

Like many Austronesian languages, Samoan has separate words for inclusive we and exclusive we, and distinguishes singular, dual, and plural. The root for the inclusive pronoun may occur in the singular, in which case it indicates emotional involvement on the part of the speaker.

Samoan personal pronouns

	singular	dual	plural
First person exclusive	a’u	mā’ua, mā	mātou
First person inclusive	tā	tā’ua, tā	tātou
Second person	’oe, ’e	’oulua	’outou, tou
Third person	ia / na	lā’ua	lātou

In formal speech, fuller forms of the roots mā-, tā-, and lā- are ’imā-, ’itā-, and ’ilā-.

English Samoan Yes Ioe No Leai Please Faamolemole Thank you Faafetai That's all right Ua lelei big / small lapoa / laititi quick / slow tope / gese early / late vave / tuai cheap / expensive taugofie / taugata near / far latalata / mamao hot / cold vevela / malulu full / empty tumu / gaogao easy / difficult faigofie / faigata heavy / light mamafa / mama open / shut tatala / tapuni right / wrong sa'o / sese old / new tuai / fou old / young matua / laititi beautiful / ugly matagofie / mataga good / bad lelei / leaga better / worse feololo / leaga tele Pronunciation Eeoeh Le-eye Fa-aah- moly-moly Fa-ah-fe-tie Oo-a lelay larpoh-ah / lar ee-tee-tee tor-peh / nge-seh varveh / two eye tar-oo-ngo-fee eh / tar-oo-nga-tar lar-tah-lar-tar / mar-mar-oh veh-veh-lar / mar-loo-loo too-moo / nga-oh-nga-oh fye-ngo-fee-eh / fye-nga-tar marmarfar / mar-mar tartarlar / tarpoo-tartarlar / tarpoo-nee sar-oh / seh-seh too-eye/foe mar-too-ah / lar-ee-tee-tee mar-tar-ngo- fee-eh / mar tar ngah leh-leh-ee / leh leh-ar-ngah fur-oh-loh-loh / leh-ar -ngah-teh leh

http://www.samoa.ws/dictionary/common-words.cfm