Palauan Language Online: Palauan-English Dictionary

mei
/me

, v.i.

come; arrive.

mei a okedongel a chad; mei er tiei, mei me kulekoi, ka mei.

v.imp.

be a ta er a telengtengil a tekoi el mengai er a tekoi el mei; be bong, be metengel.

ble

v.past.hypothetical

mera

cont.

mei er a

merekung
/merkung

v.i.pred.

is about to come or arrive.

mermang
/meremang

v.inch.

meremang a merael mei; ngar er a omerolel el mei; dumiang er a dmuil.

mlei
/mle

v.past

came; arrived.

mlei a mla mei me ngar tiang; skoki a mlei er a tutau.
mle a melekoi er a rrekui; Bung a mle tmuu; ng mle mekerang?

mlera

cont.

mlei er a

be kbong

expr.

goodbye; I'm leaving.

me e mong

expr.

pass by; go on; "(in a direction) towards me and then keep going (past me)."

nguu el mei

expr.

bring.

ta el buil er mla me e mong

expr.

one month ago.

Examples:

Ke mla obes el kmo a Droteo a me er a klukuk?

> Have you forgotten that Droteo is coming tomorrow?

Se el sekum ng diak lsoam, e ng diak mdu er ngak me kuruul er ngii.

> If you don't like it, then don't tell me to do it.

A resoldau a nguu a ziu el omoes el di mle ta temetemir a remechas me a rengalek.

> The soldiers took rifles and shot the women and children all at once.

Mletkak, el oeak a diak lemengodech el bltkil a rengum me a ungilreng er kau.

> In your constant love and goodness, remember me.

Ng meral melemalt a lomechas me ng di mo mas er sel kired el melecholech er ngii.

> It is exactly marked and it is to cut when when we need to saw it.

Proverbs:

Ng okouik me ng obached, e a lokeuim eng diak lobached

> If it is my lunch it can be divided, if it is yours then it cannot

Two men habitually trapped fish in the same region of the lagoon. One would occasionally ask the other to join him at lunch, the other would always refuse. One day the man who refused arrived with no lunch. When the usual invitation was extended the man refused, saying that, anyway, he had no lunch. The invitation was insistently pressed until the reluctant one gave in. As they split the taro between them the one who shared made the above statement. The idiom is a mild rebuke of a retentive person

Ng ko er a Ngerechebal, el ka lsingd er a Imeliik me a ka lsingd er a Ngerekebesang.

> He's like Ngerechebal Island, which is neither closer to Imeliik nor closer to Ngerekebesang.

i.e. He's indecisive or not clearly taking sides.

Ngak a ngit me kau a ngoi?

> I receive it and you ask for it?

A man asks for and receives that which he needs from a second party. A third party, learning of this, asks the first party for it. Used as implied or generally about any unreasonable request

Ngdiak kobetik rengii recheroid e me douchi ra rebai.

> Without looking afield, it was cut down behind the house.

From the folk tale concerning Mesubed Dingal, the inventor of the Palauan kite (see also No. 73). After his wife had been kidnapped, he constructed a kite using feathers from all the birds of Palau and he needed also wood from an Edebsungel tree to fashion the body of the bird-kite. After looking all over Palau and being on the point of giving up, he found the tree he needed behind his own house. The saying may be applied to anyone who does things the hard way, or who goes far afield to find something which is close at hand.