Lesson 40: Spatial Nouns

This lesson teaches a set of nouns that Tongan places before other nouns to express precise spatial relationships: inside, under, on top of, in front of, and beside.

Where English uses prepositions ("inside the box," "under the table"), Tongan uses spatial nouns placed directly before the noun they locate. The spatial noun and the following noun form a tight compound, and the whole compound fits into the sentence with a preposition like ʻi (at/in) or ki (to/toward).