Names of natural objects, as men, trees, animals, are mostly primitive nouns, as ‘O le la, the sun; ‘o le tagata, the man; ‘o le talo, taro; ‘o le i‘a, the fish; also manufactured articles, as matau, an axe, va‘a, canoe, tao, spear, fale, house, etc.

Some nouns are derived from verbs by the addition of either ga, saga, taga, maga, or ‘aga: as tuli, to drive; tuliga, a driving; lulu‘u, to fill the hand; lu‘utaga, a handful; anu, to spit; anusaga, spittle; tanu, to bury; tanumaga, the part buried. These verbal nouns have an active participial meaning; as ‘O le faiga o le fale, the building of the house. Often they refer to the persons acting, in which case they govern the next noun in the genitive with a; ‘O le faiga a fale, contracted into ‘o le faiga fale, those who build the house, the builders. In some cases verbal nouns refer to either persons or things done by them: ‘O le faiga a talo, the getting of taro, or the party getting the taro, or the taro itself which has been got. The context in such cases decides the meaning. Sometimes place is indicated by the termination; as tofa, to sleep; tofaga, a sleeping-place, a bed. ‘O le ta‘elega is either the bathing-place or the party of bathers. The first would take o after it to govern the next noun, ‘O le ta‘elega o le nu‘u, the bathing-place of the village; the latter would be followed by a, ‘O le ta‘elega a teine.

Sometimes such nouns have a passive meaning, as being acted upon; ‘O le taomaga a lau, the thatch that has been pressed; ‘o le faupu‘ega a ma‘a, the heap of stones, that is, the stones which have been heaped up. Those nouns which take ‘aga are rare, except on Tutuila; gata‘aga, the end; ‘amata‘aga, the beginning; ola‘aga, lifetime; misa‘aga, quarrelling. Sometimes the addition of ga makes the signification intensive; as ua, and timu, rain; uaga, and timuga, continued pouring.

The simple form of the verb is sometimes used as a noun: tatalo, to pray; ‘o le tatalo, a prayer; poto, to be wise; ‘o le poto, wisdom.

The reciprocal form of the verb is often used as a noun; as ‘O le fealofani, ‘o femisaiga, quarrellings (from misa), fe‘umaiga; e.g., E lelei le fealofani, mutual love is good.

A few diminutives are made by reduplication, as Paapaa, small crabs; pulepule, small shells; liilii, ripples.

Adjectives are made into abstract nouns by adding an article or pronoun; as lelei, good; ‘o le lelei, goodness; silisili, excellent; ‘o lona lea silisili, that is his excellence.

Many verbs may become participle-nouns by adding ga; as sau, come, sauga, ‘O lona luai sauga, his first coming; mau to mauga, ‘O le mauga muamua, the first dwelling.

Gender is sometimes expressed by distinct names:—

‘O le ali‘i, a chief. ‘O le tamaila‘i, a lady. ‘O le tane, a man. ‘O le fafine, a woman. ‘O le tama, a boy. ‘O le teine, a girl. ‘O le toa, a cock. ‘O le matua moa, a hen. ‘O le po‘a, a male animal. ‘O le manu fafine, a female animal.

When no distinct name exists, the gender of animals is known by adding po‘a and fafine respectively. The gender of some few plants is distinguished by tane and fafine, ‘o le esi tane; ‘o le esi fafine. No other names of objects have any mark of gender.

The singular number is known by the article with the noun; as ‘o le tama, a boy.

Properly there is no dual. It is expressed by omitting the article, and adding e lua for things, e toalua, two, for persons; as ‘o fale e lua, two houses; ‘o le nu‘u e toalua, two persons.

The plural is known—1. By the omission of the article; ‘o ‘ulu, breadfruits. 2. By particles denoting multitude, as ‘au, vao, mou, and moíu, and such plural is emphatic; ‘o le ‘au i‘a, a shoal of fishes; ‘o le vao tagata, a forest of men, i.e., a great company; ‘o le mou mea, a great number of things; ‘o le motu o tagata, a crowd of people. These particles cannot be used indiscriminately; motu could not be used with fish, nor ‘au with men. 3. By lengthening, or more correctly doubling, a vowel in the word; tuafafine, instead of tuafafine, sisters of a brother. This method is rare.

This is indicated by particles and prepositions.

The Nominative case is shown by the particle ‘o; as ‘O le fale tou te ulu atu ai, the house which ye shall enter. It is used before proper names; as ‘O Tahiti. It is omitted when the nom, follows the verb; Ua alu le va‘a, the canoe is gone. But, in the verbal form, ona followed by ai lea, the noun and pronoun may either take the ‘o or omit it; as Ona alu ai lea ‘o le tamaloa; Ona fai atu lea lo latou tuafafine.

This is indicated by the prepositions a or o soft). As to which of these should be used, as well as the pronouns lou, lau, lona, lana, lo and la matou, etc., it is difficult for a foreigner to know. There is no general rule which will apply to every case. The governing noun decides which should be used; thus ‘O le poto ‘o le tujuga, the wisdom of the builder; ‘O le amio a le tama, the conduct of the boy; upu o Fagono, words of Fagono (a kind of narrative and song); but upu a tagata, words of men.

The following hints may serve in some measure to guide as to which some classes of nouns govern:— I.

O is used with—

Mo and ma governing this case, usually signify for; as au mai lea ma a‘u, give that for, or to, me. Ma also means, on account of, because; sau i fale ma le la, come in, because of the sun. The same rules govern the use of mo and ma, as o and a in the genitive: ‘O le sui mo outou, a substitute for you.

Some adjectives are primitive, as umi, long; poto, wise. Some formed from nouns by the addition of a, like y in English; as word, wordy; thus, ‘ele‘ele, dirt; ‘ele‘elea, dirty; palapala, mud; palapala, muddy. Others are formed by doubling the noun; as pona, a knot; ponapona, knotty; fatu, a stone; fatufatua, stony. Others are formed by prefixing fa‘a to the noun; as ‘o le tu fa‘asamoa, a Samoan custom. Like ly in English, the fa‘a often expresses similitude; ‘o le amio fa‘apua‘a, swinish conduct. In one or two cases a is prefixed; as apulupulu, sticky, from pulu, resin; avanoa, open; from va and noa.

Verbs are also used as adjectives: ‘o le ala faigata, a difficult road; ‘o le vai tafe, a river, flowing water; ‘o le la‘au ola, a live tree; also the passive: ‘o le ali‘i mata‘utia.

Ma is the prefix of condition, sae, to tear; masae, torn; as, ‘O le i‘e masae, torn cloth; Goto, to sink; magoto, sunk; ‘o le va‘a magoto, a sunken canoe.

A kind of compound adjective is formed by the union of a noun with an adjective; as ‘o le tagata lima malosi, a strong man, lit. the stronghanded man; ‘o le tagata loto vaivai, a weak-spirited man.

Nouns denoting the materials out of which things are made are used as adjectives: ‘o le mama auro, a gold ring; ‘o le fale ma‘a, a stone house. Or they may be reckoned as nouns in the genitive. (See Syntax.)

Adjectives expressive of colours are mostly reduplicated words; as sinasina, white; uliuli, black; samasama, yellow; ‘ena‘ena, brown; mumu, red, etc.; but when they follow a noun they are usually found in their simple form; as ‘o le ‘ie sina, white cloth; ‘o le pua‘a uli, a black pig. The plural is sometimes distinguished by doubling the first syllable; as sina, white; plural, sisina; tele, great; pl. tetele. In compound words the first syllable of the root is doubled; as maualuga, high; pl. maualuluga. Occasionally the reciprocal form is used as a plural; as lele, flying; ‘o manu felelei, flying creatures, birds.

Comparison is generally effected by using two adjectives, both in the positive state; thus e lelei lenei, ‘a e leaga lena, this is good—but that is bad, not in itself, but in comparison with the other; e umi lenei, a e puupuu lena, this is long, that is short.

The superlative is formed by the addition of an adverb, such as matua, tasi, sili, silisili‘ese a‘ia‘i, na‘ua; as ‘ua lelei tasi, it alone is good—that is, nothing equals it. ‘Ua matua silisili ona lelei, it is very exceedingly good; ‘ua tele na‘ua, it is very great. Silisili ese, highest, ese, differing from all others.

Naua has often the meaning of “too much”; ua tele naua, it is greater than is required.

The cardinals are:—

E mano is the utmost limit. The natives do not say, e lua mano, but all beyond mano is manomano, ilu; that is, innumerable.

Hazlewood, in his Fijian Grammar, regards the particle e as a kind of article. It would seem rather to be the verbal particle, because the numerals take ua and sa, instead of e; as, ua valu, there are eight. When joined to nouns of time e is omitted before the numeral: ‘E po fitu, seven nights, but, E fitu o matou po, our nights are seven.

“Numerals in the Melanesian languages are used as nouns, adjectives, and verbs.” (Codrington, p. 237.) E sefulu, it is tenned; here it is a verb.

‘O le muamua, or ‘o le ulua‘i, first.

‘O le lua, second.

‘O le tolu, third, etc.

Months are counted differently after the second—

‘O le toluga masina, the third month.

O le faga masina, the fourth month, etc., up to the ninth, after which the ordinary counting is followed.

The numeral adverbs, once, twice, etc., are expressed by atu; as O le atu tasi, once; ‘O le atu lua, twice, etc.

Another method is by prefixing fa‘a; as Ua ‘ou sau fa‘alua, I have come twice.

Distributives are formed by prefixing ta‘i; as ta‘itasi, one by one, one at a time; ta‘ilima, five each, or by fives. To‘a is added in counting persons; as ta‘ito‘alua, two at a time, or in pairs.

Thicknesses of things doubled, or folds, are expressed by prefixing to the cardinal number sautua; as sautualua, doubled; sautuatolu, threefold, etc.

Very many things are counted each in its own peculiar way. A knowledge of this is absolutely necessary, as being always used by the natives, and also to prevent mistakes; thus, to say, ‘o i‘a e lualau, instead of meaning two hundred, would mean only two.

The following are the principal forms:—

Men are counted by prefixing to‘a: e to‘atasi, one; e to‘atinoagafulu, ten.

Young pigs and cocoa-nuts by affixing oa, or in couples; as e luaoa, four; e fagaoa, eight. The odd one being expressed separately; thus, o popo e onogaoa ma le popo e tasi, thirteen.

These are declined by means of the same particles and prepositions as the noun, except the accusative, which takes the preposition used with proper names, and in addition an euphonic particle te, as Ia te a‘u, ia te ‘oulua. That it is merely euphonic seems proved by its absence in kindred dialects; e.g., Tahitian and Niuean. The first and third persons, dual aud plural, in every case take i before the pronoun; as ‘o i maua.

The dual is formed from lua, usually by eliminating the l, and prefixing ta, ma, ‘ou, la; as taua, maua, ‘oulua, laua.

The plural is formed from tou, a contraction of tolu, which appears in Niue and Tongan, mautolu. To this is prefixed the particles, ta, ma, ‘ou, la; as tatou, matou, ‘outou, latou. The same rules which regulate the o and a before the genitive of the noun regulate also their use with the pronoun.

The inclusive form of the pronoun is used when two or more persons speak of themselves inclusively; as Tatou te o, let us go. The exclusive form is used by two or more persons speaking of themselves to a third party not included: Ua matou o mai ia te ‘oe, we are come to you.

The sign of the nominative, ‘o, is subject to the same rules as in the nouns—except the third person. For euphony the ‘o is sometimes used after the verb: Ua alu ‘o ia, He is gone.

It is probable that these are formed from the personal pronoun by prefixing the articles le, se, and then eliding the e; as le a‘u, la‘u, se a‘u, sa‘u. The latter is an indefinite form.

In the distributive pronouns, ta‘itasi is more restricted in meaning than the English “each.” Thus, ia ta‘itasi ma sau would mean, let each one come separately.

Singular

Lo‘u and la‘u, lota and lata, my.

Most of the verbs are primitive or underived words; as tu, to stand; nofo, to sit. Compound verbs are readily formed by prefixing fa‘a or fa‘ale; as fa‘alealofa, to love but little, lit., like not loving. Others are formed by prefixing mata; as mataita, angry-looking. So also with loto; as ua lotoleaga, he is evil disposed. And so with many other words. Many nouns may be turned into verbs by adding the verbal particles: as loto, the heart; ua loto, he desires; ita, anger; ua ita o ia, he is angry; pua‘a, pig; fa‘apua‘a, swinish.

Some few verbs are formed from prepositions; as lumana‘i, from luma; tuana‘i, to have passed behind, from tua, behind; lugaluga‘i, from luga.

The reduplication of the first syllable, as with the adjective, makes the plural. The reduplication of both syllables gives a diminutive or frequentative force to the verb:—

Plural. Freq. and Dim. Folo, to swallow. fofolo. folofolo. Galu, to be rough (sea). gagalu. galugalu. I‘ati, to clap hands. papati. patipati. Velo, to dart. vevelo velovelo. Nofo, to sit. nonofo. nofonofo. ‘Emo, to wink. ‘e‘emo. ‘emo‘emo. Umi, long. uumi. umiumi

In words of three syllables, when the last, or two last, are doubled, the first vowel is usually lengthened; as manatu, to think; manatunatu; manu‘a, manunu‘a; manifi, manifinifi; savali, savalivali.

An examination of the most common verbs in the Samoan shows that the plural is formed in nine different ways, as under:—

Some examples of the first class, which is most common—viz., those which reduplicate the first syllable—have been given.

The following verbs form the plural by a reduplication of the second syllable:—

Singular. Plural. aula‘i, to be heaped up. aulala‘i. ‘aumoe, to go courting. ‘aumomoe. afi, to do up in a bundle. afifi. afio, to come, to go, etc. afifio. alaga, to call, shout. alalaga. alofa, to love. alolofa. aluga, to rest the head on a pillow. aluluga. fatai, to sit cross-legged. fatatai. fanau, to bring forth. fananau. fetuta‘i, to join by a knot. fetututa‘i. galue, to work. galulue. gape, to be broken. gapepe. ma‘ona, to be satisfied (with food). ma‘o‘ona. mafai, to be able. mafafai. malemo, to be drowned. malelemo. maliu, to die. muliliu. mata‘u, to fear. mataia‘u. salofia, to be starved. salolofia. ta‘ele, to bathe. ta‘e‘ele. ta‘olo, to lie down. ta‘o‘oto. tafao, to walk about. tafafao. ta‘alo, to sport. ta‘a‘alo.

The following form the plural by a reduplication of the third (two the fourth) syllable. It will be noticed that these are all compound words, and that the reduplication is on the second word in the compound; hence it is thrown on to the third or even the fourth syllable:—

Singular. Plural. anapogi, to fast. anapopogi. fa‘alanu, to wash off salt water. fa‘alalanu. fa‘amomo, to break in pieces. fa‘amomomo fa‘ala‘alo, to make to sport. fa‘ata‘a‘alo. fa‘ata‘oto, to lay down. fa‘ata‘o‘olo. fa‘atafa, to step aside. fa‘atatafa. fa‘atu, to set up. fa‘atutu. fa‘aiusa, to compare. fa‘atutusa. laulautu, to stand up together laulaututu. lemafai, to be unable. lemafafai. mulilua, to commit adultery. mulilulua. taumafa, to eat. taumamafa. ta‘afili, to wallow. ta‘afifili. ta‘alise, to be quick. ta‘alilise. ta‘atia, to be prostrate. ta‘atitia. ta‘avale, to roll. ta‘avavale.

The following form the plural by a reduplication of two syllables, or the entire word:—

Singular. Plural. una, to pinch. unauna. fiti, to fillip. fitifiti. matavale, to look cowardly. matamatavale. fanau, to bring forth. fanafanau.

There are several monosyllabic verbs which make the plural by reduplication, such as fo, to doctor; pl. fofo; pa, to explode; pl. papa; tu, to stand; pl. tutu.

In forming the plural the following verbs drop a syllable. But it will be seen that the singular form is reduplicated:—

Singular. Plural. fa‘aitiiti, to make smaller. fa‘aiti. fa‘aloaloa, to stretch out. fa‘aloloa. fa‘amalimali, to speak with familiarity. fa‘amamali. fa‘anevaneva, to walk about idle. fa‘aneneva. fa‘ataavalevale, to roll round. fa‘ataavavale. lagilagi, to warm. lalagi. li‘oli‘o, to surround. lili‘o. matamata, to look at. mamata. pilipili, to be near, to approach. pipili. tatala, to untie. tala. mulumulu, to rub mumulu.

These verbs form the plural by lengthening the vowel in the first syllable, but without otherwise altering the word:—

Singular. Plural. faitau, to read. faitau. faitala, to give news faitala. va‘ai, to look at. va‘ai. valu, to scratch. valu. palutu, to beat. palutu. sa‘ili, to seek. sa‘ili. savali, to walk. savali. tauivi, to wrestle. tauivi. manatu, to think. manatu.

Singular. Plural. sau, to come. o. alu, to go. o. momo‘e, to run. taufetuli and femo‘ei. nonoa, to tie. noati. palasi, to drop down. palasi. faifai, to abuse. fafai.

These are in very frequent use, and are distinguished from the passive by the pronoun being placed before the verb; thus, O‘u te alofaina o ia, I love him; Ma te manatua oe, We two will remember you.