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Editor’s Note: Vinaka to the late Dr. Albert Schutz for offering visitors this primer on useful Fijian words and phrases. Schutz is the author of the best selling Say it in Fijian and Fijian Reference Grammar.
Useful Words, Phrases and concepts for the Visitor
- yes – io
- no – sega Reminder: G here represents the ng in sing.
- work – cakacaka Reminder: C here represents the th in then, not thin.
- bad – cā This is an example of a long vowel.
- beer – bia Don’t forget the m in front of the b: mb.
- big, many – levu
- bird – manumanu vuka The v-sound is close to the English v, but made with both lips.
- boy, male – tagane
- cassava, tapioca – tavioka
- child – gone
- comb – i-seru
- cup – bilo
- eat – kana
- fish – ika
- food – kākana Note the long vowel. This word has two accents.
- girl, female – yalewa
- handsome, beautiful – totoka – (toe-toe-kah)
- happy, satisfied – mārau
- house – vale
- kava – yaqona Reminder: the q is pronounced as the ng in finger.
- kava bowl – tānoa
- man – tagane
- man – tūraga
- matches – māsese
- money – ilavo
- pot – kuro
- sleeping house – bure
- small – lailai
- smart – mātai
- stone – vatu
- stupid or crazy – lialia
- taro – dalo
- tobacco – tavako
- today – nikua
- toilet – vale lailai
- tomorrow – ni mataka
- tree – vū ni kau
- village – koro
- whale’s tooth – tabua
- woman – marama
- yesterday – nanoa
(For a more comprehensive vocabulary list, scroll to the bottom of the page).
Some Useful Concepts
- killing time, fooling around – moku siga
- wandering around – gade
- go slowly, take your time – vaka malua
- eat heartily – kana vaka levu
- taboo, forbidden – tabu
- exclamation of regret or joy– isa, isa lei
- ashamed, shy – maduā
- go ahead and try – tovolea mada
- a request – kerekere
Some Useful Phrases
- Where are you going? (Interestingly enough there are no literal equivalents for ‘How are you?’ Instead, Fijians might ask a friend they see on the street this, which is as much a greeting as it is a question.) – O sā lako i vei?
- Good day (a polite greeting and one of the first Fijian phrases you will hear). – Nī bula.
- A less formal greeting (literally ‘health’ and ‘life’). – Bula.
- Good morning. – Nī sā yadra.
- Goodbye/Good night (literally, ‘sleep’). – Nī sā moce.
- Come here. – Lako mai ekē.
- Good/Thank you. – Vinaka.
- Thank you very much. – Vinaka vaka-levu.
- Where do you come from? – O nī lako mai vei?
- I come from New Zealand. – Au lako mai Niu Siladi.
- What’s this? A cava oqō?
- It’s a _____. E dua na _____.
- the kerosene is depleted – maca maca na karasini (also slang for depleted bodily fluids after sex)
Greetings
The simplest way to begin using Fijian is with the greetings, and most common is:
Ni sa bula. Bula means literally ‘health’ or ‘life*. Ni refers to a number of people, but it is also a respectful way of referring to just one person. The singular form, sa bula, can be used among close friends, rather in the same way as tu and du in French and German. You can repeat the phrase for a reply, or say la, vinaka na bula,
Other greetings and common phrases:
Ni sa yadra, which means ‘Good morning*.
(Don’t forget the n sound before the dr.)
Ni sa moce. Literally, this means ‘sleep’, but it also means ‘good-bye’ or ‘good night*. (Don’t forget that c is pronounced th.)
Vinaka means ‘good’, but it is a way of saying ‘thank you’. Vinaka vaka-levu means ‘thank you very much’.
You may notice that we haven’t used an equivalent for ‘How are you?* A much more common question is ‘Where are you going?’ and it is about as un-literal as the English ‘How are you?* or ‘How do you do?’ because they arc not primarily questions, but just greetings. In Fijian, no rudeness is intended, even though being asked this immediately sounds abrupt to a speaker of English:
O sa lako ki vei? ~ Where are you going?
Remember: b = nib; d — nd; q = ng~\~g; c ~ th (as in ‘then’); g = ng; dr — ndr.
Where?
A possible answer to the greeting O sa lako ki vei? (Where are you going?) is:
Au sa lako ki na I’m going to the:
makete market
meke dance
sitoa store
wavu wharf
koro village
ulu ni vanua mountain
vale ni yaqona bar
baravi beach
otela hotel
yanuyanu island
Other ‘Where?’ questions:
E vei na ? Where’s the ?
koro village
koro ni vuli school
koro ni vuli leva university
turaga chief
nona vale ni turaga chiefs house
gaunisala road
vale ni lotu church
vale-lailai toilet
vale ni kana restaurant
waqa boat
posit ovesi . post office
baqe bank
waqa-vuka plane
E vei ko ? Where’s ?
Vanua Levu
Beqa
Nukulau
Bau
Nadi
Cumming St.
Tamavua
Korolevu
Nausori
E vei ko ? Where’s ?
Pita Peter
Sera Seru
Sala Sala
Tevita David
Jone John
Mereoni Marian
Rusiate Rusiate
The simplest answers to the above are:
Oqo Here (by me)
Oqori There (by you)
Oya Over there
Other possible ‘where* questions and answers use directional particles. Fijian can translate the English ‘at’ in two different ways: e for the place where the speaker is. and ‘mai for any other place.
O ni lako mai vei? Au lako mai Niu Siladi.
Where do you come from? I come from New Zealand.
O ni tiko e Vei? Where do you live?
Au tiko e Viti. I live in Fiji.
Au tiko mai Ositerelia. I live in Australia.
Au tiko mai na otela I live at the hotel.
Many directionals work just like nouns — that is, they follow the directional particles. Here are a few:
wai seaward liu ahead cake up
vanua landward muri behind sobu down
dela top of tuba outside i matau right
ruku underneath loma inside i mawi left
As in English, Fijian can use directionals to indicate the past and the future. But whereas English looks back to the past, Fijian looks ahead:
Na gauna e liu = Before, the time past
(the time at ahead)
Na gauna e muri ~ Future
(the time at behind)
What?
In 1866, the Reverend W. Moore described ‘what? questions as {he key to the language. His technique — not a bad one — was to engage in a constant dialogue like this:
A cava oqo? What’s this?
oqori? What’s that (by you)?
oya? What’s this? (over there)?
E dua na . A ________________
vale house
bare sleeping house
vatu stone
tanoa kava bowl
kuro pot
tabua whale’s tooth
iseru comb
lawa net
vonu turtle
vu ni kau tree
ika fish
manumami vuka bird
Evidently, the Reverend Moore was not much concerned about politeness, for his questions do not contain the words that make them less abrupt. It is much better to use the polite words, as in the following question:
A cava beka oqo? What’s this (please)?
The word mataqali (species, kind) is used with cava to translate ‘what kind of?’
Na mataqali cava What kind of ____ is this? (beka) oqo?
ika fish
vale house
manumanu vuka bird
vonu turtle
waqa canoe
vu ni kau tree
se ni kau flower
Another variation of ‘what’ is:
A cava beka kom cakava tiko? What are you doing? The answer may be:
Au sa _________________tiko I’m__________________
moku siga cakacaka gade killing time working wandering around
gunu yaqona drinking kava resting
vakacegu resting
Who? How many? How much?
The word for ‘who?’ works just like a name and follows the proper marker ko (O when used at the beginning of a sentence). For example:
Oya ko tamaqu
O Jone John
O Sala Sala
O Rusiate Rusiate
O Viti Fiji
O cei? Who?
O cei beka na yacamuni? Who? What’s your name?
Na yacaqu ko________________ My name is_________________
O cei oya? Who’s that (over there)? .
Oya ko Rusiate That’s Rusiate
Before we can ask ‘how many?’ we have, to know Fijian
numbers. Some of them are:
dua 1
rua 2
tolu 3
vd 4
lima 5
ono 6
vitu 7
wain 8
ciwa 9
tint 10
tini ka dua 11
tini ka rua 12
ruasagavulu 20
ruasagavulu ka dua 21
duanadrau 100
dua na drau ka dua 101
dua na udolu 1,000
The word vica ‘how many?’ works just like the set of numbers.
e dua na ika, e rua na ika, e vica na ika? one fish or a fish, two fish, how many fish?
Note the two translations for the first item. E dua na can mean either (specifically) ‘one’ or (indefinitely) ‘a’.
Vica is a useful word for shoppers, for it is used to translate English ‘how much?’ when it refers to price:
E vica na kena i-sau? What’s the [its] price?
E vica na i-vodovodo? How much is the fare?
E yalima na sede. It’s 5 cents.
E yava na dola ka tini na sede. It s $4.10.
For items of great cultural importance, Fijian has words that include definite quantities. For example:
ten mats e dua na sas3 e dua na buru
ten pigs e dua na rara
ten mats e dua na sasa
ten turtles e dua na bi
ten whale’s teeth e dua na vulo
When?
Naica or na gauna cava translates English ‘when?’, and each expression is used after the particle e; Naica Hs used for days, weeks, or months; na-gauna cava is used for more specific times.
E na tekivu e na gauna cava na meke? When will the meke (dance) begin?E na va E E na va na kaloko At four o’clock.
E a lako e naica? When did he go?
E nanoa. Yesterday
Time questions and answers, make use of the particles a and na, which correspond roughly to past (or completion) and future tense. In addition, many other expressions serve to indicate time.
GENERAL:
Na gauna oqo e liu e muri makawa Now the past the future olden times
E nanoa yesterday
E daidai nikua today
ni mataka tomorrow
siga day
macawa week
vula month
yabaki year
Names of Days, Months:
The names for Monday and Tuesday were borrowed from English. In his dictionary, Hazlewood used Mode; now Moniti is used perhaps in imitation of Tongan Monite.
‘Tuesday’’ was borrowed as Tiisiti.
The names for other days are compounds:
The names for the months were also borrowed:
Janne ri January
Feperuari February
Maji March
Epereli April
Me May
June June
Jidai July
Okosita August
Sepiteba September
O koto pa October
Nove ba November
Tiseba December
Just like personal names, the names for months take the proper marker ko:
Na Vida ko Tiseba December, or, the month of December
A translation of the numerals of the year turns out to be unexpectedly long, — to speakers of English.
E dua na iidoln, e ciwa na drau, vitusagavulu ka dua — means “1971”. But then, so does ‘nineteen hundred and seventy-one’ seem long.
Top photo of Mr. Roko Nubutautau courtesy of Rob Rickman
©2022 Dr. Albert J. Schütz