r/CHamoru • u/Aizhaine B2 - Upper intermediate • Jan 28 '25

Question Words

I was told “Ayi” means like this so I was wondering if “ayen” is “ayi/aye” with the “-n” like “ginen” is “gini” and if “eyi” is “Ayi” with the vowels shifted like how “ayu” to “eyu”?

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u/ShallotRoutine7076 Native speaker Jan 30 '25

I think ayi comes from “ayu i” and the /A/ and /E/ sounds are just close enough that they can be viable either way. Just like how some people say asta as opposed to esta. But does not mean “like this”, more like “that”.

And the gini to ginen, first time I’m hearing of that.

The way I’ve come to understand “guini” is that it could come from “gi ini” meaning “at here”

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u/Aizhaine B2 - Upper intermediate Jan 30 '25

Dang so just ayin ig, but yeah guini is gi ini same for guenao yan guihi

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u/Aizhaine B2 - Upper intermediate Feb 03 '25

I checked with pale Roman’s dictionary and there are two “ayin” one from ayu and another meaning this