Sāmoan Determiner


A determiner is part of speech or word class that when combined with the noun, helps to specify or reference the context of the noun.
For more information on nouns, please goto the nouns page.

ʻO + le + noun = "The" (noun)
With ʻO to start, "le" means "the" in this context.

With "ʻO" being a particle, it is the specific determiner or article "le" meaning "the" that would make the noun singular as written in this context.

Sāmoan English
ʻO  le  fale. The house.
ʻO  le  taʻavale. The automobile.
ʻO  le  maile. The dog.

ʻO + se + noun = "A" (noun)
With ʻO to start, "se" means "a" in this context.

With "ʻO" being a particle, it is the specific determiner or article "se" meaning "a" that would make the noun singular as written in this context.

Sāmoan English
ʻO  se  puaʻa. A pig.

ʻO + word = The ...s/es (plural)
With ʻO to start (without the determiner or article) and the individual word, together they form the plural noun.

An explanation to consider is that all nouns written with the particle "ʻO" are plural (as written in this context) until they have a specific article such as ʻO + le, "le" meaning "the" that would make the noun singular.

Sāmoan English
ʻO  fale. The houses.
ʻO  taʻavale. The automobiles.
ʻO  maile. The dogs.

Sāmoan determiner also know as an article. Please consider the determiner is used in combination with other particles/words such as "ʻO" to more clearly communicate the noun.

Sāmoan English
Le The
Se A, an

ʻO + le (determiner) + noun = "The" (noun)

ʻO + se (determiner) + noun = "A" (noun)

Sāmoan English (singular)
Lenei This (close)
Lea This (close)
Lenā That (close)
Lele That (not close, but within range)
Lelā That (away, at a distance)
Lale That (away, at a distance)
Sāmoan English (plural)
Nei These (close)
ia These (close)
nā Those (close)
Lelā Those (away, at a distance)

Sāmoan demonstrative determiners are words that refer to a noun word.

For more information on nouns, please goto the nouns page.

Sāmoan English
Fale House
Maile Dog
Puaʻa Pig
Taʻavale Automobile

Polynesian Languages

Sāmoan Language

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