Lesson 8: Articles
Nouns so far have appeared either as indefinite objects joined directly to a verb (kai mā, inu vai) or after a preposition (ki Tonga, ʻi ʻapi). This lesson introduces articles, the words placed before a noun to signal whether you mean "a" thing or "the" thing. Tongan has two articles: ha for "a," "some," or "any," and e (or he) for "the."
The word ha placed before a noun means "a," "some," or "any." It signals that the speaker does not have a specific one in mind. The noun ika (fish) is a common food word, like mā and vai from earlier lessons. The verb fiemaʻu (to want, to need) takes its object with ha when the speaker means any or some of that thing.
Lesson 7 · All 52 lessons · Lesson 9
The Tongan alphabet and pronunciation · Tongan greetings and what they mean · Tongan tense markers explained · Tongan word order · Saying "not" in Tongan · Tongan possessives · The Tongan ko pattern