Word Order and Sentence Building

The most significant difference between Samoan and English grammar is the basic sentence structure. English follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) pattern (e.g., "The man [S] reads [V] the book [O]").

Samoan, however, primarily uses a Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) structure. The verb (or action) comes first, followed by the person/thing doing the action, and then the object.

Samoan commonly uses a verb- or predicate-initial structure. With noun subjects and independent pronouns, a common basic pattern is Tense Marker - Verb - Subject - Object. Short preverbal pronouns can occur before the verb; with te, the pronoun comes before the marker, as in Ou te... and E te....

Tense Marker - Verb - Subject - Object.

Cultural Tip: In Samoan culture, the community, the action being performed, and the relationships between people are often emphasized more than the individual person. This cultural perspective is beautifully reflected in the VSO sentence structure, where the action (the verb) takes precedence and leads the conversation!

E 'ai le tama. (The child eats. - Literally: [Present] eat the child [verb-subject order].)

O lo’o moe le teine. (The girl is sleeping. - Literally: [Present Progressive] sleep the girl [verb-subject order].)

Na alu Sina i Apia. (Sina went to Apia. - Literally: [Past] went Sina to Apia.)

E fiafia 'o ia. (He/She is happy. - Literally: [Present] happy he/she.)

O lo’o faitau e Ioane le tusi. (Ioane is reading the book. - Literally: [Present Progressive] reads [by] Ioane the book.)

E inu e le tamā le vai. (The father drinks the water.)

Na kuka e Sina le i’a. (Sina cooked the fish.)

E siva le teine. (The girl dances.)

O lo’o ta’a’alo tamaiti. (The children are playing.)

Na pese le manu. (The bird sang.)

E tele i’a i le sami. (There are many fish in the sea.)

O lo’o galue lo’u tamā. (My father is working.)

Making Positive Statements

Forming a positive statement (an affirmative sentence) is straightforward once you know the VSO structure. You simply state the fact by choosing the correct tense marker, followed by the verb and the subject.

The most common tense markers you will use for simple statements are:

E (present/habitual)

O lo’o (present progressive/happening now)

Na (simple past)

E lelei le tau. (The weather is good.)

O lo’o 'ai le maile. (The dog is eating.)

Na sau o ia ananafi. (He/She came yesterday.)

E alofa 'o ia ia te a’u. (He/She loves me.)

O lo’o matamata le 'āiga i le TV. (The family is watching TV.) (The family is watching TV.)

E tautala fa’asāmoa 'o ia. (He/She speaks Samoan.)

Na moe le pēpē. (The baby slept.)

E fia alu o ia i le fale’aiga. (He/She wants to go to the restaurant.)

Making Negative Statements

To make a sentence negative, you use the negative particle lē (not). This particle usually goes after the tense marker or preverbal pronoun but before the predicate.

A common mistake for English speakers is trying to place the negative word after the verb, but in Samoan, it must stay tightly bound between the tense marker and the action.

Pattern: Tense Marker - (Negative Particle) - Verb - Subject.

E lē 'ai le tama. (The child does not eat.)

E lē fiafia 'o ia. (He/She is not happy.)

E le’i alu Sina i Apia. (Sina did not go to Apia.)

E lē moe le teine. (The girl is not sleeping.)

E le’i sau o ia. (He/She has not come yet.)

Ou te lē iloa. (I don’t know.)

E lē alu le pasi. (The bus does not go.)

E le’i 'ai le maile. (The dog has not eaten yet.)

Ou te lē malamalama. (I do not understand.)

E lē taugatā le ofutino. (The shirt is not expensive.)

E lē fia inu o ia. (He/She is not thirsty.)

E le’i amata le a’oga. (School has not started yet.)

Forming Questions

Yes/No Question Formation

For yes/no questions, the simplest method is to use a rising intonation at the end of a statement. You can also add the particle 'ea (right? / isn’t it?) to the end of a statement to confirm something.

For direct yes/no questions, you can use particles like Pe or Po o at the very beginning of the sentence to clearly indicate that a question is being asked.

E 'ai le tama? (Does the child eat?)

O lo’o moe le teine? (Is the girl sleeping?)

Na alu Sina i Apia? (Did Sina go to Apia?)

E fiafia 'o ia, 'ea? (He/She is happy, right?)

Pe e te fia 'ai? (Do you want to eat?)

E lelei le tau? (Is the weather good?)

Na sau o ia ananafi? (Did he/she come yesterday?)

Pe e te fiafia? (Are you happy?)

O lo'o timu? (Is it raining?)

Na e va'ai i le ta’avale? (Did you see the car?)

Wh-Questions

When asking for specific information (Who, What, Where, When, Why), Samoan uses specific question words that usually appear at the beginning of the sentence. The most common are O ai (Who), O le ā (What), O fea (Where), Afea (When - future), Anafea (When - past), and Aiseā (Why).

Unlike English, which often requires complex verb inversion with helping verbs like "do" or "does", Samoan places the Wh-word first, often followed by the subject or a specific particle connecting it to the rest of the VSO sentence. Note that Samoan distinguishes between asking "when" something will happen (Afea) and "when" something did happen (Anafea).

O ai lou igoa? (What is your name? - Literally: Who is your name?)

O le ā lenei? (What is this?)

O fea e te alu i ai? (Where are you going?)

Afea e te sau ai? (When will you come?)

Anafea na e taunu’u ai? (When did you arrive?)

Aiseā e te tagi ai? (Why are you crying?)

O ai le faia'oga? (Who is the teacher?)

O le ā le taimi? (What is the time?)

O fea lou fale? (Where is your house?)

Afea e amata ai le taaloga? (When does the game start?)

Anafea na tupu ai? (When did it happen?)

Aiseā na e fai ai lena mea? (Why did you do that?)

How-Questions

To ask "How" in Samoan, the word Fa’apefea is used. It is a versatile word that can function almost like a verb in the sentence structure. It is often combined with tense markers (like E or Na).

When asking how to do something, it is commonly followed by ona, which acts as a connector linking "how" to the action being asked about.

E fa’apefea mai oe? (How are you?)

E fa’apefea ona e fai lenei mea? (How do you do this?)

E fa'apefea lou aso? (How is your day?)

E fa'apefea ona taunu'u iina? (How to get there?)

E fa'apefea lona tina? (How is his/her mother?)

E fa'apefea le tau? (How is the weather?)

Na fa'apefea ona tupu? (How did it happen?)

E fa'apefea ona e iloa? (How do you know?)

E fa'apefea le a'oga? (How is school?)

E fa'apefea ona kuka le i'a? (How to cook the fish?)

E fa'apefea ona tatala lenei faitoto'a? (How to open this door?)

E fa'apefea lou 'āiga? (How is your family?)

Nouns: Gender and Number

This is a simple topic for English speakers: Samoan nouns do not have grammatical gender. Unlike languages like French or Spanish, you do not need to memorize whether a noun like "book" or "house" is masculine or feminine.

Number (singular vs. plural) is also simpler. Often, the noun itself does not change. The plural is indicated by the context, the article, or a change in the verb.

For example:

le maile means "the dog"

maile can also mean "dogs"

The plural indefinite article ni (some) indicates a plural: ni maile (some dogs).

Verbs can also show plurality:

E nofo (He/She sits)

E nonofo (They sit)

The noun tagata can mean “person” or “people” depending on number marking and context.

se uō (a friend) → ni uō (some friends)

se pua’a (a pig) → ni pua’a (some pigs)

Non-specific plurals use ni:

le ta’avale (the car) → ta’avale (the cars/cars)

le fale (the house) → fale (the houses/houses)

le lā’au (the tree) → lā’au (the trees/trees)

le tusi (the book) → tusi (the books/books)

Other nouns normally keep the same form. Specific plural noun phrases normally have no article:

lo’omatua (old woman) → lo’omātutua (old women)

teineitiiti (little girl) → teineiti (little girls)

tamaitiiti (child) → tamaiti (children)

There are a few lexical singular/plural pairs, most notably:

Articles and Determiners

Samoan articles primarily distinguish specificity rather than definiteness.

le (specific singular): le tusi (the/a specific book)

se (non-specific singular): se tusi (a/non-specific book)

ni (non-specific plural): ni tusi (some/non-specific books)

Specific plural noun phrases normally have no article: tusi (the/specific books, depending on context).

There is also a very important specific particle 'o which is used before proper nouns (names) and pronouns when they are the subject of many sentences.

'O Sina (Sina)

'O ia (He/She)

'O lo’u igoa 'o Ioane. (My name is Ioane.)

Aumai le tusi. (Bring the book.)

Aumai se tusi. (Bring a book.)

Na 'ai e le maile le i’a. (The dog ate the fish.)

Ou te fia 'ai i se apu. (I want to eat an apple.)

E iai ni tusi i luga o le laulau. (There are some books on the table.)

'O ia 'o le fōma’i. (He/She is the doctor.)

O lenei le tusi. (This is the book.)

E leai se fa'afitauli. (There is no problem.)

Practice Section

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in each blank with the correct word, letter, or form based on what you learned.

1- Aumai _________ tusi. (Hint: the singular specific article)

2- O lo’o nonofo _________. (Hint: the specific irregular plural form of "tamaitiiti")

True/False

Read each statement carefully and decide if it is True or False.

1- Samoan word order is usually Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), just like English.

2- Samoan nouns change their spelling based on grammatical gender (masculine/feminine).

Translation

Translate each English phrase or sentence into Samoan.

1- The girl is sleeping.

2- Bring a book.

3- Sina did not come.