ā
The English word "what" is translated into Samoan as ā.
Meaning: what? (interrogative pronoun) (pron)
Did you know?
- The Samoan language is an Austronesian language, meaning that ā is a distant relative to words for 'what' or 'which' in languages spoken as far away as Madagascar.
- In Samoan, the word ā can be used as a marker for the future tense in certain sentence structures, meaning it does more than just ask 'what'.
- In certain family hierarchies, a younger person might use a more indirect way of asking 'what' to avoid sounding blunt or rude to an elder.
Examples in context
- O ā ni mea?What are these things?
Example conversation
Mere and Sione are discussing a gift.
- MereSione, o ā lea?Sione, what is that?
- SioneO se meaalofa mo oe.It is a gift for you.
- MereFaafetai! O ā mea o i totonu?Thank you! What things are inside?
- SioneO se mamanu fou.It is a new design.
