Convenience Store

1. Ng tela a cheral tiang?

   Ng te-la a che-ral ti-ang?

   How much does this cost?

   Usage

   Shopping in Palau is conducted almost entirely in English. From the big stores in Koror — WCTC, Surangel's — down to the smallest corner shop, staff are often Filipino, Chinese or Bangladeshi and may not speak Palauan at all. Using Palauan is nonetheless warmly received by locals.

   Grammar Note

   The sentence-initial ng is a 3rd-person subject particle and opens a great many Palauan sentences. Cheral carries a built-in possessive ending ("its price"). Note that the digraph ch spells a glottal stop, not an English "ch", so cheral sounds closer to "a-RAL".

2. Ke ousbech a bag?

   Ke ous-bech a bag?

   Do you need a bag?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Palau takes environmental protection seriously — it was the first country to ban reef-toxic sunscreen ingredients in 2019 — and reusable shopping bags are encouraged. In practice the question usually arrives as a one-word English "Bag?".

   Grammar Note

   The subject is carried by a pronominal particle before the verb: ak (I), ke (you), ng (he/she/it). The a preceding a noun introduces the noun phrase — roughly article-like, but in Palauan it appears before nearly every noun.

3. Ak ousbech a bag.

   Ak ous-bech a bag.

   I need a bag

   Usage

   The customer's version — swapping ke for ak turns the staff's question straight into your answer.

   Grammar Note

   Palauan verbs do not inflect for the person of the subject; only the preceding subject particle changes. Negation places diak before the verb and does alter the verb form: Ak diak kousbech (I don't need one).

4. Cash me a lechub e ng card?

   Cash me a le-chub e ng card?

   Cash or card?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Palau uses the US dollar, which spares visitors any currency exchange. Card acceptance, though, is limited to larger stores, hotels and dive shops — small shops and the outer islands are cash-only, and mobile payment is essentially absent. Always carry cash.

   Grammar Note

   "A me a lechub e ng B" is the fixed Palauan frame for "A or B" — the whole string, not a single word, carries the meaning. Palauan slots English loanwords in unchanged, so real conversation is often heavily code-mixed.

5. Ke melai a credit card?

   Ke me-lai a cre-dit card?

   Do you take credit cards?

   Usage

   The customer's version. Even where cards are taken there may be a surcharge or a minimum spend. If you are heading to outer islands such as Peleliu or Angaur, draw all the cash you will need while still in Koror.

   Grammar Note

   Melai is the basic verb "to take" in its object-taking form. Palauan verbs alternate in shape depending on whether an object is present, and some pairs look quite different from one another.

6. Ke ousbech a receipt?

   Ke ous-bech a receipt?

   Do you need a receipt?

   Usage

   Said by staff. Larger stores print a till receipt; small shops often issue nothing. Palau depends on imports, so prices run high — many items cost one and a half to two times what they would in Japan or the US.

   Grammar Note

   "Do you need X?" is Ke ousbech a X? (for example Ke ousbech a ngeso? = "Do you need help?"). Ousbech means "need; use". There is no word for "receipt", so the English is left as is, English being an official language of Palau. Palauan also borrows heavily from Japanese - daiziob (from daijōbu, "all right") and denki (electricity) are everyday words. It is one of the few Pacific languages that still carries a substantial Japanese layer from the administration period of 1914-1945.

7. Ng soak a mekelekolt el ralm.

   Ng so-ak a me-ke-le-kolt el ralm.

   I would like cold water

   Usage

   Palau is hot and humid year-round, so staying hydrated matters. Tap water quality varies by location, so visitors generally stick to bottled water — imported, and therefore dearer than at home.

   Grammar Note

   Soak is a possessed noun form ("my liking") that shifts with the possessor: soak (my), soam (your), soal (his/her), sorir (their). Being a nominal predicate it always takes the subject marker ng (ng soak = I want, ng soam = you want). A modifier and its noun must be joined by the linking particle el.

8. Ng soak a tang.

   Ng so-ak a tang.

   I would like one

   Usage

   Point at what you want and this does the job. Swap in erung (two) or edei (three) for more.

   Grammar Note

   Palauan numerals come in several sets depending on what is being counted — people, animals, flat things, bundles and so on each take their own series. Tang, erung, edei, euang, eim is the general-purpose set.

9. Ng ngar er ker a kall?

   Where is the food?

   Usage

   For asking where something is in the shop. Shelves in a small Palauan store are dominated by imported tinned goods, instant noodles and snacks rather than local taro, breadfruit or tuna — for those, look to the Koror market and roadside stalls.

   Grammar Note

   Ngar is the existential verb "to be located", er the preposition introducing a place or object, and ker "where" — together they form the standard location question. To state that something exists, the frame is Ng ngar er ngii a X.

10. Ng ngar er ker a toilet?

    Ng ngar er ker a toi-let?

    Where is the toilet?

    Usage

    Small shops rarely have a customer toilet; petrol stations and larger stores are the better bet. The English words toilet and bathroom serve as everyday Palauan vocabulary.

    Grammar Note

    In Palauan spelling the letter e often represents a schwa, so ker sounds closer to "kur". English loanwords keep their English spelling, so the native orthographic conventions do not apply to them.

11. Ng sebechem el omekeald er tia?

    Ng se-be-chem el o-me-ke-ald er ti-a?

    Could you heat this up?

    Usage

    Small Palauan shops generally do not offer the heat-up service familiar from Japanese convenience stores. Some do sell prepared lunch boxes or rice balls from a corner counter — often Filipino or Japanese-influenced — and there they may warm it for you.

    Grammar Note

    Sebech (to be able) takes possessive endings: sebechek (I can), sebechem (you can), sebechel (he/she can). Omekeald derives from mekeald (hot) with the causative prefix omek-, the regular Palauan way of turning a quality word into a "make it X" verb.

12. Ng sebechek el charge er a telepon er ngak er tiang?

    Ng se-be-chek el charge er a te-le-pon er ngak er ti-ang?

    Can I charge my phone here?

    Usage

    Small shops will usually say no; a hotel or café is more reliable. Mains supply follows the US standard at 120V with type A/B sockets, so Japanese plugs fit directly. For modern actions like charging, Palauan simply uses the English verb.

    Grammar Note

    Palauan expresses possession two ways: inalienable things such as body parts and kin take a suffix (sebechek, "my ability"), while alienable possessions use the frame er a X er ngak — which is what telepon er ngak follows.

13. Ng ngar er ngii a ATM er tiang?

    Ng ngar er ngii a A-T-M er ti-ang?

    Is there an ATM around here?

    Usage

    ATMs are found at Koror banks such as Bank of Guam and Bank Pacific, and at the larger stores. Since the currency is the US dollar, American accounts work directly. There are no machines at all on the outer islands, so take the cash you need before you go.

    Grammar Note

    Ng ngar er ngii a X is the set existential frame "there is an X", with ngii a 3rd-person pronoun — literally "X is at it". It pairs with Ng ngar er ker a X for asking where something is.

14. Ng soak el omechar er tia.

    Ng so-ak el o-me-char er ti-a.

    I want to buy this

    Usage

    The line for moving to the checkout. Service in Palau is unhurried and a short exchange of pleasantries with staff or other customers is normal — waiting calmly reads far better than showing impatience.

    Grammar Note

    Soak is a nominal predicate, so the subject marker is ng (cf. the example "Ng soak el melim a ralm"). A following verb takes the linker el (ng soak el omechar = I want to buy); a following noun takes a (ng soak a ralm = I want water).

15. Sulang, mechikung.

    Su-lang, me-chi-kung.

    Thank you, goodbye

    Usage

    The line for leaving after paying. Sulang (thank you) is one of the most useful words in Palau and is worth learning on its own; for a fuller thanks, say Ke kmal mesulang.

    Grammar Note

    Sulang shares its root with mesulang (to be thankful); the short form has settled in as the everyday greeting. Mechikung is a parting phrase for someone you will not see for a while, and is not normally used when you expect to meet again shortly.

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