When you're first learning a new language, it's a good idea to memorize a few useful words and phrases that will help you to begin communicating with native speakers. The idea is to initiate a conversation so they can teach you more of their language, yeah? We call...
The Samoan Alphabet is called le pi Samoa, or le pi faitau (faitau means 'read'). Back in the day, classrooms for Samoan children always featured a beautifully illustrated, usually tall poster of the alphabet, almost always with the same word associated with each...
Referring to a specific date in Samoan is the same as in English - we say the day, the month and the year. You just need to know your numbers then, of course, the Samoan words for each month. You also need to be prepared to say long words. For example, the 'proper'...
The Samoan word for colour is lanu. When we refer to each colour in Samoan, we like to say the word lanu first and then add its description. For example, lanumūmū is the Samoan word for red. Why does mūmū describe red? Well, I know that mū is the Samoan word for burn...
In a simple, Samoan introduction, you would say hello, tell us who you are - your name - where you come from, who your parents are, and maybe a few more interesting facts about yourself. For example, you might introduce yourself in Samoan like this: Talofa! O a'u o...
Talofa! is the official greeting word in Samoan but we also say mālō in more casual settings. Samoans like to greet each other with a single kiss on the cheek, especially if you already know each other and especially if at least one of you is female. If the greeting...
The Samoan word you use to refer to your brother or your sister depends on your gender. If your sibling is the same gender as you, then he or she is your uso. For example, if I am a girl, my sister is my uso. If I'm a boy, then my brother is my uso. A girl referring...
In the Samoan language, the words you use to refer to your children depend on their gender… as well as yours. If you are a father talking about your son, you call him your atali'i. If you’re a father talking about your daughter, you call her your afafine. On the other...
The Samoan words for our days of the week are made up of two parts: the word Aso, or day, and then a second word to describe that day. For example, Aso Sā is what we call Sunday, and the word sā means sacred. As Samoa is a very Christian country with most...
Counting to 10 in Samoan is pretty straight forward: Tasi, lua, tolu, fā, lima, ono, fitu, valu, iva, sefulu. Once you know the Samoan words for the numbers 1 to 10, it's not too difficult to count to 100. Samoan numbers are very similar to those of other Polynesian...