Tongan for Beginners

Tonga is a group of about 170 islands in western Polynesia in the south Pacific, next to Fiji and Samoa. Archaelogists and linguistic research have shown that the first settlers came at around 1000 BC probably from New Guinea, Indonesia or Philipines. They formed many chiefdoms in the islands which have been united in 1845 into one Kingdom by the King Taufa'ahau Siaosi Tupou I. Tonga is the only country in the region which has never been a colony. Till nowadays they remain the last polynesian Kingdom, almost an absolute monarchy. There are about 110.000 Tongans living in Tonga and about 60.000 or more overseas.

The Tongan language, (a language of the austronesian group), is one of the oldest polynesian languages and the most conservative of all (the populations that settled the rest of Polynesia have begun their journey from Tonga and Samoa). It maintains more phonemes than any other and also it uses the consonants more. It is very close to the languages of Niue and Uvea (Wallis isl.), and similar to samoan, tuvaluan, tahitian, maori and hawaiian, although not mutually intelligible. It is today the mother language of about 120.000 people.

Part one of this course is only intended for absolute beginners.

Part One - The Basics

Lesson One / Lēsoni ‘Uluaki

The Tongan Alphabet / Ko e motu‘alea Tongá

Letter	Name	Sampa	IPA	Equivalence
Aa	a	[ A, a ]	[ɑ ,a ]	as a in English "father" or like the Spanish a
Ee	e	[ e, E ]	[e, ɛ ]	as e in English "end" or like the Spanish e
Ff	fā	[ f ]	[ f ]	as f in English "fool"
Hh	hā	[ h, x ]	[ h,x ]	as h in English "horse" but more deep in the throat, something between ح and خ in Arabic
Ii	i	[ i ]	[ i ]	as ee in English "beep" or like the Spanish i
Kk	kā	[ k ]	[ k ]	as k in English "kill"
Ll	lā	[ l ]	[ l ]	as l in English "left" but sometimes like r
Mm	mā	[ m ]	[ m ]	as m in English "man"
Nn	nā	[ n ]	[ n ]	as n in English "no"
Ng ng	ngā	[ N ]	[ ŋ ]	as ng in English "singer", not like in "finger" (see notes)
Oo	o	[ Q, o ]	[ ɒ, o ]	as o in English "odd" or like the Spanish o
Pp	pā	[ p ]	[ p ]	as p in English "pen" or like in French or in Spanish, unaspirated
Ss	sā	[ s ]	[ s ]	as s in English "see"
Tt	tā	[ t ]	[ t ]	as t in English "too" or like in French or in Spanish, unaspirated
Uu	u	[ u ]	[ u ]	as oo in English "boot", or like the Spanish u
Vv	vā	[ v ]	[ v ]	as vin English "van"
‘	fakau‘a	[ - ]	[ - ]	glottal stop (see notes)

So the Tongan alphabet has seventeen letters. It seems small but it is still the biggest Polynesian alphabet. For instance the Sāmoan has fifteen and the Hawai‘ian only thirteen letters!

Don’t ever forget to count the fakau‘a as a letter. For example the word "fakau‘a" has 7 letters, while when we say "the first letter of the word "‘io" we mean the fakau‘a and not the "i"

Notes

1. In Tongan there are no consonants’ clusters. That means we will never see two clusters together not separated by a vowel. The letter "ng" is considered one single letter in Tongan, so it is not an exception. Also, all words end with a vowel.

2. The vowels’ clusters: In Tongan there are no diphthongs. That means that in a vowels’ cluster each vowel maintains its original pronunciation. Clusters like "ee" are pronounced eh-eh, "oo" is pronounced oh-oh etc: tatau (ta-ta-oo), toutou (to-oo-to-oo), sai (sa-ee), faingofua (fa-ee-ngo-foo-a), engeenga (e-nge-e-nga)

3. The vowels can all be lengthened. When they are lengthened they are written with a macron ("macron" = "long" in Greek) over them: ā, ē, ī, ō, ū. Thus their duration, the time they are pronounced, is doubled. Attention: The macron is not a stress. That means that a vowel with a macron is doubled in duration but it is not stressed as well.

The macron never exists at the penultimate, unless if there is a macron on the ultimate too. When there is a word ending in a vowel with a macron, and it has to take a suffix which will have as a result having the vowel with the macron to be the penultimate, it is doubled and the macron is lifted: fakahā + suffix ‘i --> fakahaa‘i and not fakahā‘i.

4. All Tongan words are stressed on the penultimate. The only exception is if there is a macron on the ultimate. Then the stress falls on the ultimate (ex. fenetā, muikū, pehē, pongatō…). When the words are preceded by some specific articles, adjectives and tense signs their intonation changes and the stress falls on the ultimate. Then this is noted by a stress: Tongá, vaká, tohí, onongó etc. We will mention that when we will talk about these words. If they precede a word with a macron on the utimate, the vowel with the macron is doubled and the stress falls on the second of the two same vowels: fenetaá, muikuú, peheé, pongatoó etc. We will say more about these later also.

5. When we have macrons on both the penultimate and the ultimate syllables, the stress falls on the ultimate. Examples mālō, mālōlō: the stress falls on the last "ō".

6. The letter "ng" is pronounced like in "sing", "singer" and not like in "finger". Thus there is only one single sound produced, not a compound one (n-g). The sound comes from deep in the throat. It was written as "G" formerly and it still is in other Polynesian languages like Sāmoan, Tuvaluan, Futunan, and recently in Māori, but it is the same sound. Its pronunciation can be difficult in some words, but it’s all a matter of practice.

7. The glottal stop (fakau‘a) is a weird sound for the Hindoeuropeans but it is not so exotic since it exists also in Arabic, Hebrew and many other languages. It’s a stoppage of the breath by the closure of the glottis, that is to say, the opening between the vocal hords. It is not a totally new sound though. We all execute a glottal stop when we exclaim "Uh uh!". The grunting sensation that comes between those two words is the glottal stop. It’s very important not to ommit it when talking because the meaning of the word can change.

Greetings, Farewells

These are some of the most common greeting, goodwill, farewell etc expressions in Tongan:

Mālō e lelei	hello (lit. congrat. on being well, the being in good health is worthy of gratitude)
Fēfē hake?	how are you? (fēfē means how, hake is idiomatic with fēfē)
Sai pē	just fine
Sai	to be good, to be alright, to be well
Mālō e lava mai	welcome (lit. thanks for coming)
‘Io, mālō e tau mo eni	response to mālō e lava mai
Ko hai ho hingoá?	What’s your name? (ko is an equivalent of the verb to be, hai means which and ho means your. We’ll talk about these later)
Ko _____ au	I am _______
Ko hoku hingoá ko _____	My name is _______
‘Alu ā ē	Goodbye (to the person leaving) (lit. go on)
Nofo ā ē	goodbye (to the person staying) (lit. stay there)
Mou ō ā ē	goodbye (to the persons leaving, plural form of ‘alu ā ē)
Mou nofo ā ē	goodbye (to the persons staying, plural form of nofo ā ē)
Faka‘au ā ē	goodbye (to one person leaving, formal)
Mou faka‘au ā ē	goodbye (to many persons leaving, formal)
Kātaki	please, excuse me (lit. have patience)
Mālō	thank you, congratulations
Mālō ‘aupito	thanks a lot
‘Aupito	a lot, much
Fakamolemole	please, excuse me (lit. to apologize)
‘Ofa atu	best wishes (lit. love to you. ‘Ofa means love. It’s much used at the end of letters)

Note: The expressions ending in ā ē are read as one word, the stress falls on ā but there is a rising of the voice on ē. It’s like the rising of the intonation of the word "man" in the English "Go away man!" The ē can be ommited. Those ā and ē are just interjections with no specific meaning.

When one has to say "I am fine, thanks, how are you?", like saying "what about you" he/she has to say fēfē hake koe? Koe is a postponed pron. which means Thou (you singular) and we will talk about it later.

Don’t worry about learning the meaning of each single word in the above expressions because we shall learn them in the next lesson.

That is all for the first lesson. It was a bit long because we had to mention everything about pronunciation. You don’t have to memorize all notes about pronunciation; I just want them to be here so that you can look after them anytime you need to in the future.

‘Ofa atu

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Lesson Two / Lēsoni Ua

Notes

As you have noticed the verbs "to go" and "to come" have different forms for the singular persons and the plural persons. This doesn’t happen with the rest of the verbs though, so don’t panic! We could call these verbs "irregular" if this term can apply in Polynesian languages.

Pē is a very common word in Tongan. It is impossible to find an exact equivalent in English. Often it is used as "just": sai pē – just fine, inu pē – just drink. Other meanings include "merely, exactly, however, after all, nevertheless". Sometimes it is used indiscriminately, usually after the verb, and it should be untranslatable.

Grammar

The Imperative

Every verb in Tongan is used also as the singular imperative form without any changes. Thus we have:

‘Alu!	Go!
Mohe!	Sleep!
Ha‘u!	Come!

The plural is formed by adding the "mou" before the verb:

Mou mohe!	Sleep! (all of you)
Mou ui!	Call out! (all of you)
Mou mālōlō!	Rest! (all of you)

Attention:

Mou ō!	Go! (all of you)
Mou ō mai!	Come! (all of you)

In order to say let’s we use the pronouns ta and tau before the verb. We use ta when two persons are included to the action which will take place and tau when the persons are three or more:

Ta ō!	Let’s go (us two)
Tau ō!	Let’s go (us three, four…)

Ta and tau are preposed pronominal pronouns about which we will start talking in the next lesson.

More Greetings

Some more greetings, goodwill, apologies etc

Mālō e lelei ki he pongipongí ni	Good morning (lit. gratitude for being well this morning)
Mālō ‘etau lava ki he efiafí ni	Good afternoon (lit. gratitude for we reached this afternoon)
Mālō ‘etau lava ki he poó ni	Goodnight
Mohe ā	Sweet dreams
Mālō e ‘ofa	Thanks for your kindness
‘Āua!	Sure! Exactly!
Ko au	response when somebody’s called your name
Ē?	Isn’t it? Not so?
Ē!	Hey!
Ō?	Sorry?
Tulou	excuse me (when you are about to pass in front of)
Mālie	good, splendid, wonderful, well done

And finally a very common interjection which shows surprise, both of happiness and sadness (depending on the way you will say it), is ‘oiauē! It’s like the English wow, oh! It’s the same Māori "auē"

You can find all these Tongan greetings, farewells and other common expressions at the wiki at the address http://home.unilang.org/main/wiki2/index.php/Tongan_greetings_and_common_expressions

Mālō e lelei Sione	Hi John (Sione = John)
‘Io, mālō e lelei	Hi
Fēfē hake?	How are you?
Sai pē, mālō, fēfē hake koe?	I am fine thanks, how are you?
Sai pē, mālō ‘aupito	I am fine, thanks a lot
Ta inu?	Shall we drink?
‘Io, ta inu pē	Yes, let’s drink

That’s enough for the second lesson. In the next lesson I will start adding some exercises in the lessons.

‘Ofa atu

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Lesson Three / Lēsoni Tolu

Notes

1. Don’t forget that there are no diphthongs in Tongan. Thus, the word "ou" is pronounced oh-oo.

2. We learned in the previous lesson the verb ako – to study, to go to school. Here we see that with the word fale – house in front of it we form the word "school", that is "house of studying". Thus we have "house of eating" (kitchen), "house of goods" (shop) (koloa - goods) etc. We will find more "fale’s" in the future.

Grammar

The Present Tense

In Tongan there are only four tenses. Now we will learn the present tense. It’s the equivalent of both the Simple Present and the Present Continuous in English.

In Tongan a verb never changes. There is only one form for each verb. In English for instance the verb "call" can be found as "called", "calling" etc., but in Tongan the equivalent verb, "ui" doesn’t have any other types. It is always ui. So, since verbs are unchangeable, in order to show their tense we put before them other words, which are called tense signs. The tense sign of the present is the ‘oku.

After the tense sign comes the pronominal pronoun, that is the words for "I, thou, he, she, it, we, you, they". In this lesson we will learn only the first person singular pronominal pronoun which is ou. Just keep in mind that the first singular pronominal pronoun has different forms for the four tenses; we will see that later. The rest of the pronominal pronouns are standard for all tenses.

In order to say "I am coming" we have to put first the tense sign (‘oku), then the pronominal pronoun (ou) and then the verb (ha‘u): ‘Oku ou ha‘u

Thus we have:

‘Oku ou ‘alu	I am going / I go
‘Oku ou mohe	I am sleeping / I sleep
‘Oku ou inu	I am drinking / I drink
‘Oku ou ui	I am calling / I call
‘Oku ou ako	I am studying / I study etc.

You must confess this was easy… Tongan conjugation is very easy because the verb doesn’t change at all and because there are only 4 tenses. We will learn all of them soon.

You can find a full conjugation of a Tongan verb here http://home.unilang.org/main/wiki2/index.php/Tongan_verb_conjugation, but it will be a bit confusing for you now. It will be useful in next lessons though.

The Locational Preposition "ki"

Ki means to, towards. Thus, ‘oku ou ‘alu ki matātahi, means "I am going to the beach", ‘oku ou ha‘u ki ‘api, "I am coming to the house", ‘oku ou ‘alu ki ‘Eulope, "I am going to Europe" etc. Ki shows the sense of the movement towards something.

In Tongan when we want to ask someone where he/she is going we say ‘alu ki fē? Fē means "where". It is a very common question when we meet a friend, or even a stranger in the street, and it is an evidence of friendly interest and not of inquisitiveness. After this specific question we usually answer starting with 'Alu ki... We don't use the 'Oku ou here. It's just an idiomatic expression.

Mālō e lelei Mele!	Hello Mary (Mele means Mary)
‘Io, mālō e lelei!	Hello
‘Alu ki fē?	Where are you going?
‘Alu ki kolo	I am going to the town
Sai. ‘Alu ā ē	Nice. Goodbye (go there!)
Nofo ā	Bye bye

In the next lesson we will learn the rest of the pronominal pronouns and also how to make questions.

'Ofa atu

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Lesson Four / Lēsoni Fā

Grammar

More Pronominal Pronouns

We learned in the previous lesson the pronominal pronoun ou for the first singular in the present tense. The second singular pronoun is ke and the third is ne. When ‘oku precedes them, its stress falls on the ultimate and it becomes ‘okú:

‘Okú ke ‘alu	you (sing.) are going
‘Okú ne ‘alu	he/she/it is going

The pronominal pronouns for the plural are:

Tau	we, inclusive.	This one is used when both the speaker and the listener are included in its sense. When one says "we are going" and he means "me and you are going" (he includes the listener to the action) he must use the tau: ‘oku tau ō
Mau	we, exlusive.	This is used when the listener is NOT included in the "we". When one says "we are going" and he means "me and the others, not you, are going" he must use the mau: ‘oku mau ō
Mou	you (plural).	We already learned that in the imperative: ‘oku mou ō – you are going
Nau	they: ‘oku nau ō - they are going	The stress of the ‘oku doesn’t change here

These are all for the singular and the plural. They are the same in the rest of the tenses that we will learn later. Only the first singular (ou) has a different form for the other tenses. In Tongan there is also the dual number, which has four more persons that we will learn in another lesson.

Asking

In Tongan in order to ask a question one doesn’t have to make any changes in the sentence. The question is shown just with the intonation.

‘Okú ke mohe?	Are you (sing.) sleeping?
‘Ikai, ‘oku ou mālōlō pē	No, I am just resting
‘Oku mou ō mai mei kolo?	Are you (pl.) coming from the town ?
‘Io, ‘oku mau ō mai mei kolo	Yes, we are coming from the town

'Ofa atu

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Lesson Five / Lēsoni Nima

Notes

The prepositions ki and mei become kia and meia before names of persons:

Kia Mele	to Mary
Meia Sione	from John

Note that in meia the accent falls on ei as if it was a single sound, and not on i.

Grammar

The Verb "To Be"

In Tongan as well as in the rest of the Polynesian languages there is no exact equivalent of the verb "to be". When we want to say that someone is something we don’t use any verb:

‘Oku ou mālohi	I am strong
‘Okú ne faka‘ofo‘ofa	she is pretty

Other Prepositions

We have learned till now the prepositions ki (kia) and mei (meia). As we said, ki denotes direction and movement and it is the equivalent of the English "to", "towards" and mei denotes origin and it is the equivalent of the English "from".

The preposition ‘i is the equivalent of the English "in" or "at". It denotes place but not movement. Examples:

‘Oku ou ‘i ‘api	I am at home
‘Okὑ ke ‘i Tonga?	Are you in Tonga?

Just as the prepositions ki and mei become kia and meia before proper names, the preposition ‘i becomes ‘ia. We will find some examples soon.

The Numbers

0  Noa  1  Taha  2  Ua  3  Tolu  4  Fā  5  Nima  6  Ono  7  Fitu  8  Valu  9  Hiva  10  Hongofulu / taha noa  11  Hongofulu mā taha / taha taha  12  Hongofulu mā ua / taha ua  13  Hongofulu mā tolu / taha tolu  14  Hongofulu mā fā / taha fā  15  Hongofulu mā nima / taha nima  16  Hongofulu mā ono / taha ono  17  Hongofulu mā fitu / taha fitu  18  Hongofulu mā valu / taha valu  19  Hongofulu mā hiva / taha hiva  20  Uongofulu / ua noa  21  Uongofulu mā taha / ua taha  22  Uongofulu mā ua / uo ua  23  Uongofulu mā tolu / ua tolu  24  Uongofulu mā fā / ua fā  30  Tolungofulu / tolu noa  40  Fāngofulu / fā noa  50  Nimangofulu / nima noa  60  Onongofulu / ono noa  70  Fitungofulu / fitu noa  80  Valungofulu / valu noa

90  Hivangofulu / hiva noa  100  Teau / taha noa noa  101  Teau mā taha / taha noa taha  102  Teau mā ua / taha noa ua  110  Teau mā hongofulu / taha taha noa  111  Teau hongofulu mā taha / Taha taha taha  120  Teau mā uangofulu / taha ua noa  130  Teau mā tolungofulu / taha tolu noa  140  Teau mā fāngofulu / taha fā noa  200  Uangeau / ua noa noa  300  Tolungeau / tolu noa noa  400  Fāngeau / fā noa noa  500  Nimangeau / nima noa noa  600  Onongeau / ono noa noa  700  Fitungeau / fitu noa noa  800  Valungeau / valu noa noa  900  Hivangeau / hiva noa noa  1000  Taha afe  1001  Taha afe mā taha / taha noa noa taha  1002  Taha afe mā ua / taha noa noa ua  1483  Taha afe fāngeau valungofulu mā tolu / taha fā valu tolu  1930  Taha afe hivangeau mā tolungofulu / taha hiva tolu noa  2005  Ua afe mā nima / ua noa noa nima  3000  Tolu afe  10.000  Taha mano  100.000  Taha kilu  200.000  Ua kilu  1.000.000  Taha miliona  2.000.000  Ua miliona

As you can see for numbers with more than one digit there two ways to be expressed. First, by adding the mā before the last part (Attention: Only before the last part), and second by naming each digit separately:

547.910 can be expressed as:

a. Nima kilu fā mano fitu afe hivangeau mā hongofulu
b. Nima fā fitu hiva taha noa

900.500 as:

a. Hiva kilu mā nimangeau
b. Hiva noa noa nima noa noa

3.104. 482 as:

a. Tolu miliona taha kilu fā afe fāngeau valungofulu mā ua
b. Tolu taha noa fā fā valu ua

Both ways are totally acceptable.

Just pay attention to the twenty which is Uongofulu and not uangofulu. Also 22 is uo ua and not ua ua, 55 is nime nima and not nima nima and 99 is hive hiva and not hiva hiva.

How To Use Them

The question "how many" is "fiha?" in Tongan. ‘Oku fiha? means "how many are there" but also "how much" when asking for a price.

The cardinal numbers almost always follow the noun and there is an ‘e (or e) between them:

Fale ‘e taha	one house
Pa‘anga ‘e hongofulu	ten pa‘anga
Sēniti e nima	five cents

The number precedes the noun when the noun denotes a period of time. Then the ‘e is ommited:
Tolu ta‘u – three years

The cardinal numbers are used as ordinal also except for the "first" which is ‘uluaki:

Taufa‘ahau Tupou fā: Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV (Tonga’s present King)
Taufa‘ahau Tupou ‘uluaki: Taufa‘ahau Tupou I

As you can see in this case the number is used without the ‘e.

In the next lesson we will learn how to use the articles.

‘Ofa atu

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Lesson Six / Lēsoni Ono

Try to memorize also the list of the self-defining nouns given in the rules below

Grammar

The Self-defining & Common Nouns

Till now we have learned the prepositions ki (= to) and mei (= from). You have noticed that we used them right before the noun they identify without any article. We said "ki kolo" and "mei kolo" (to the town, from the town). So we didn’t use any equivalent of the English "the". This doesn’t happen always though. The difference is that in Tongan, all nouns are classified into two categories: self-defining and common nouns. Self-defining nouns are used without the definite article since as their name shows, they are considered definite by themselves. We could say that "they don’t need the article to be definite". These nouns are proper names of persons or places or words which are used as if they were proper names of persons or places. So we say:

Kia Mele	to Mary (name of a person, self-defining noun)
Ki Tonga	to Tonga (name of a place, self-defining noun)
Meia Siosiua	from Joshua
Mei ‘Amelika	from America

Words which are used as proper names of persons or places: These words are identified as self-defining and are usually put without the definite article. At times they can be used with the article. Then the meaning can remain the same for some of them but it changes considerably for some others. These words are:

a) Words about sea, ocean, island, river, landing places: moana (ocean), vaha (open sea), vai (pool), tahi (sea), matātahi (beach), motu (island), mo‘unga (mountain), ‘uta (the interior of the land), lolofonua (underground), fonualahi (mainland), vaka (boat) [but not pōpao – canoe]

b) Words showing position: loto (inside), tu‘a (outside), mu‘a (front), mui (behind, beyond), ‘olunga (above), lalo (below), to‘omata‘u (right), to‘ohema (left), tokelau (north), tonga (south), hahake (east), hihifo (west)

c) Words denoting buildings, houses, rooms etc: fale, ‘api, loki, fale ako, ‘api ako, peito (kitchen), pālasi (palace), Fale Alea (Parliament), fale mahaki (hospital), hala (road), mala‘e (village green) etc

d) The names of the months

e) The words maama (world, earth), langi (sky, heaven), ‘aneafi (yesterday), ‘apongipongi (tomorrow), kō (place which is away or the place where someone lives, "my place", "your place" etc)

All these words are self-defining and usually they are not preceded by the definite article. The rest of the nouns form the second category of nouns, the common nouns, which are preceded by the definite article.

The Articles

Tongan has definite and indefinite articles like English. The definite articles are e and he and the indefinite article is ha. First about the two definite articles. The he is used immediately after the prepositions ‘e, ki, mei, ‘i. In all other cases e is used. Attention: When a word is preceded by the definite article, the stress falls on the ultimate.
Examples:

‘Oku ou lau e tohí.	I am reading the book.
‘Oku ou tala ki he tamasi‘í.	I am telling to the boy.

The indefinite article is the equivalent of the English a, an, some:

‘Oku ou lau ha tohi.	I am reading a book.
‘Oku ou tala ki ha tamasi‘i.	I am telling to a child.

In this case the stress does not fall.

The ha can be used with the meaning of "some": ‘Oku ou fiema‘u ha me‘akai = I want some food

Finally the ha is used before nouns identified with numbers:

Ha vaka ‘e taha	one boat
Ha fale ‘e ono	six houses

In daily talk when the preposition ‘i is used before the article he, the preposition is ommited:

‘Oku ou ‘i he fonó --> ‘oku ou he fonó

In some cases we can use the definite article before a word, and still not put the accent on the final. In this case there is a sense of indefiness similar to the one expressed with the indefinite ha. The difference is slight and sometimes hard to explain.

Tongan has also emotional articles. These identify nouns for which the speaker feels affection, love or pity. These articles are si‘i (definite) and si‘a (indefinite):

Te u fakata‘u si‘i pusí.	I will buy the little cat.
Te u fakata‘u si‘a pusi.	I will buy a little cat.

Here the speaker wants to show his/her love for the cat. Note that with the definite si‘i the stress falls on the ultimate again.

‘Okú ne he puhá?	Is it in the box?
‘Ikai, ‘okú ne he tohí.	No, it’s in the book.
‘Oku mou ō mai mei kolo?	Are you coming from the town?
‘Ikai, ‘oku mau ō mai mei he fonuá.	No, we are coming from the land.

Note that kolo didn’t take the definite article he, while fonua did.

'Ofa atu

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Lesson Seven / Lēsoni Fitu

Grammar

More On Articles – the focus markers – transitive and intransitive constructions

In the previous lesson we learned the structure "‘Oku ou lau e tohí" (I am reading the book). As we said, e is the definite article. In fact this is the way Tongans speak. In written form this sentence would be ‘Oku ou lau ‘a e tohí. This ‘a is the focus marker and it is usually ommited in daily talk. In the European languages, the distinction is subject-object. The subject is in the nominative, while the object in accusative, dative etc. In Tongan the distinction is different. There is the focus marker ‘a which denotes "the focus of the verb’s action". With intransitive verbs, this is the equivalent of the European "subject". See the following paradigms:

‘Oku mohe ‘a e tamasi‘í	The boy is sleeping The boy is the focus of the verb’s action.
‘Oku tangi ‘a e fefiné	The woman is crying
‘Oku ō ‘a e fānaú	The kids are going
‘Oku kaukau ‘a e fa‘eé	Mum is taking a bath
‘Oku kai ‘a Paula	Paul is eating

With transitive verbs though, the focus of the verb’s action is the object:

"The boy is reading the book" – The focus of the verb’s action is the book. The action and its consequences are lead towards the book. In this case, the ‘a will precede the word for "book". The other noun, the boy, will be preceded by another marker, ‘e. When the noun is not proper, ‘e is followed also by the definite article he:
‘Oku lau ‘e he tamasi‘í ‘a e tohí

Note that the word order is VSO. More examples:

‘Oku tauhi ‘e he fa‘eé ‘a e fānaú	The mother is taking care of the kids
‘Oku taa‘i ‘e he tangatá ‘a e ta‘ahiné	The man is beating the girl
‘Oku fai ‘e Sione ‘a e lēsoní	John is doing the lesson
‘Oku tauhi ‘e he Tu‘í ‘a e kakaí	The King takes care of the people

Note again that proper nouns, like Sione, Paula etc. are not preceded by the definite articles e and he. The word ‘Otua is not considered to be a proper noun and it takes the definite articles.

Remember that in daily talk the focus marker ‘a is ommited:

‘Oku kata e tangatá	The man is laughing
‘Oku tauhi ‘e he fa‘eé e pēpeé	The mother takes care of the baby
‘Oku talavou e fefiné	The woman is beautiful

When the object of a transitive construction is not something specific, one particular object, person etc then it comes right after the verb without any articles:

‘Oku inu vai ‘a e tamasi‘í	The boy is drinking water
‘Oku kai talo ‘a e fefiné	The woman is eating taro

You can see here that although the verbs are transitive according to the European standards, the construction in Tongan is intransitive. The focus marker ‘a remains before the subject. Contrast the following:

‘Oku inu ‘e he tamasi‘í ‘a e vaí	The boy is drinking the water (some specific quantity of water)
‘Oku kai ‘e he fefiné ‘a e taló	The woman is eating the taro (some specific piece of taro)

'Ofa atu

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End Of Part One

This is the end of part one. Now you've learned some of the basics of the Tongan language. In the future we might create a part two of this course but for now this is all.

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