Fijian words for relationships

Below are some common Fijian words for various relationships in a family (vuvale). Note that in the Fijian language when referring to a possession of an item to you ends in 'qu' and referring to possession by a third person ends in 'na'. These are abbreviations of the words with the possessive adjectives 'noqu' (mine) and nona (his or hers). These possessive adjectives will expand the use of these words for various relationships.

Study the following words and then we'll look at the possessive suffixes at the end.

Family                     Vuvale
Mother                    Tina
Father                     Tama
Uncle                      Momo
Aunt                        Nei
Grandfather             Tukai
Grandmother           Bubu
Sister                      Ganena or ganequ
Brother                   Tacina or taciqu
Cousin                    Tavale    

So if you want to say 'my mother' in Fijian you say 'tinaqu' but if referring to someone else's mother then you say 'tinana'.

Exercise: Try these and comment below or on our Facebook page..

My father
My grandfather
His grandfather
My cousin
Her cousin

However some of the words above are exceptions like
My aunt is just simply 'noqu nei'
My uncle is simply 'noqu momo'