tongan language 101 - hello and goodbye

Tongans are, as reputed, very friendly people. Being able to say hello and goodbye, then, is very important if you don't want to offend anybody being friendly.

Malo e leilei (Mah-low eh laylay)

Malo e leilei is how you greet people in Tongan. It is used much like hello, although it literally translates as a congratulation or giving thanks that the other person is doing well.

The e and i in leilei should be pronounced individually as eh-ee rather than ay as I have above. Tongans do this with ease, but not many palangi (foreigners) bother.

Malei (Mah-lay)

Malei is a casual version of Malo e leilei, much like saying "Hi!".

Semi e (Semi eh)

Where Semi is the Tongan way of saying Sam, Semi e is another way that someone might greet me. However, I have only ever heard the e used in this way by Tongans calling out to passing foreigners "palangi e".

Should I stay or should I go now?

No, obviously that is not Tongan. However, how you say goodbye in Tongan depends on whether the person you are saying it to is staying or going.

Nofo a e (No-fo ah eh)

Nofo is the tongan word for "to stay". You would say "Nofo a e" to somebody if you are leaving and they are staying. If more than one person is staying you add mau and say "mau nofo a e" to them.

Alu a e (Ah-loo ah eh)

Alu is the Tongan word for "to go". You would say "Alu a e" to somebody when they are leaving. If you are both leaving, you would both say "Alu a e".

Curiously, Tongan children will always say "Bye" to you when you pass them in the street or on your bike. Naively, you might thing they have "Hello" and "Bye" confused, but in fact they are just translating "Alu a e" which they would say in greeting to anybody they knew who was passing.

tongan language 101 - the alphabet

To help myself learn Tongan, and also to help readers of zerogetsamgow pronounce and read the Tongan words in posts, I have decided to publish my notes from the language classes provided as part of the in-country orientation program.

These classes were taught by Poli Faleafa and I would like to acknowledge her tuition, however any errors should be treated as my own.

I will add several entries for easy reference, starting with ...

the alphabet

Tongan is a phonetic language with an alphabet of 16 letter consisting of five vowels and eleven consonants. This makes learning how to read and pronounce Tongan very easy if you know the alphabet.

The 11 consonants are:

f h k l m n ng p s t v

The familiar letters (i.e., not ng) are pronounced much as in English. However, k is pronounced more like a g, as ga, p is proceeded by a softer b sound, so bpa, and t is closer to a d sound, da.

The ng "letter" is pronounced like na, but done so whilst keeping your tongue on the bottom of your mouth.

The consonants are quite easy to read and pronounce. The vowels cause people trouble as they try to read and pronounce them as they would in English.

The five vowels are:

a e i o u

Each vowel is pronounced in one, and only one, way. These are:

ah eh ee orh oo

For example, "a" is ah only and never ay, "e" is eh only and never ee, and "i" is ee only and never aye.

All words in Tongan end in a vowel. Also, a word may contain two consecutive vowels, but never two consecutive consonants. When vowels occur consecutively, each is pronounced.

For example, "ae" is pronounced ah-eh and "oi" is pronounced "orh-ee"

Tongan also uses two other characters of accents. The ' character, called the fakau'a, acts as a pause in words or shortens vowels. The toloi, a bar over vowels, lengthens the sound.

Poli taught us a song to help us remember the alphabet. You might like to try it yourself.

(To the tune of Freres Jacques, vowels use Tongan pronounciation.)

Ah E Fa Ha

Ah E Fa Ha

I Ka La

I Ka La

Ma Na Ng O Pa Sa

Ma Na Ng O Pa Sa

Ta U Va

Ta U Va

Fakau'a

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