Learn Samoan Through Topics You Actually Care About

LingoBear creates short Samoan passages on topics you choose. Tap any word for an instant English translation and build your vocabulary as you read. Polynesian language of Samoa and American Samoa, 14-letter Latin alphabet plus apostrophe (glottal stop), VSO word order, formal vs colloquial 't' / 'k' style, ~510,000 speakers.

Tap any word for instant translation

Every word in your Samoan reading passage is clickable. Get English translations and grammar help — useful for the ergative-style 'e' particle and chiefly vocabulary.

Read about topics you choose

Type any topic and LingoBear generates a fresh Samoan reading passage — from fa'alavelave events to Manu Samoa rugby.

What is Samoan and where is it spoken?

Samoan (Gagana fa'a Sāmoa) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian family, official in Samoa and American Samoa. About 510,000 people speak it, including large diaspora communities in New Zealand, Australia and California. It is closely related to Tongan, Hawaiian and Māori, and is one of the most widely spoken Polynesian languages along with Māori.

What's distinctive about Samoan grammar and style?

Samoan uses VSO word order and an ergative-absolutive system: the subject of a transitive verb takes the particle 'e' (Ua 'ai e le teine le i'a 'The girl ate the fish'). It has inclusive vs exclusive 'we' and four numbers (singular, dual, paucal, plural). Distinctive 'tautala lelei' (formal 'good speech') uses 't' and 'n', while 'tautala leaga' (colloquial speech) replaces them with 'k' and 'ng'.