← All lessonsLesson 16 of 76

Someone, anyone

A recap-and-grow day. No new grammar — just one warm, useful word for a person, people — and then we put it together with things you already own.

1 · Say this

mi ama nara (mee · AH-ma · NAH-ra) I love people.

mi is I (Lesson 1) and ama is love (Lesson 1). The new word is nara — a person, people. So mi ama nara is, plainly, I love people — and it's a lovely thing to be able to say out loud.

2 · A closer look: nara

nara is the wide, general word: a person, or people in general — humankind. You already met la, she / he / they (a particular someone). nara is the step out from one specific person to people-as-such.

Amatu Says Means
nara "NAH-ra" a person / people
la "lah" she / he / they (a specific someone)

So you can name the general thing — nara — or point at one — la:

nara li pai — people are good · la li nara — she is a person

li is the little is from earlier, and pai is good / well. Nothing new here but nara — everything else you already had.

🌏 You already know this Plenty of languages keep one word for a specific someone and another for people in general — English does it with she versus people. Amatu splits them the same way: la for the one you have in mind, nara for people at large. You already had the instinct; now you have both words.

⚠️ Watch out Both vowels in nara are the open "ah" — "NAH-ra," even and clean. Don't let the second one drift toward "uh"; Amatu never softens an unstressed vowel. And keep nara (people) distinct from la (one person) — same "ah" sound, very different jobs.

3 · Your turn

Out loud:

  1. I love people → mi ama nara
  2. People are good → nara li pai
  3. She is a person → la li nara
  4. Do you love people? → tu ama nara?

4 · Tonight's phrase

mi ama nara — I love people — your specific someone is la; everyone is nara.

30-second check

Cover the page. (1) Say I love people. (2) Say people are good. (3) Say she is a person. Three for three? You can now talk about people in general, not just one person at a time — a small word that quietly widens everything you can say.

⬅️ Back: Lesson 15 — Recap · ➡️ Next: Lesson 17 — Give and take