Gungan (language)

For other uses, see Gungan.

I have a bad feeling about this…

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Bombastic boss — Boss Rugor Nass spoke Gungan Basic.

"Yousa cannot bees hair. Dis army of machineeks up dare tis new weesong!"

―Rugor Nass to Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi^[1]

Gungan^[2] or Gunganese, was a dialect of the Basic language that was spoken and written by the Gungans of the planet Naboo. It was distinguished by speech patterns and certain phrases that were specific to the Gungans.^[3] It was mostly derived from the Naboo settlers' language, Basic, spoken in an accent. Occasionally, a word from Old Gungan would appear in dialogue, a term usually without any obvious meaning unless translated.

Humans could usually understand it and, similarly, Gungans could understand Humans speaking Basic (even in written form). Most one-syllable words pertaining to the self would contain a suffix of -sa, for example, "We-sa" and "You-sa". Many one-syllable words ending in a consonant would end with -u.

Counting in Gunganese[]

una - one
duey - two
dee - three
foosa - four
fife - five
seeks - six
sevin - seven
ate-a - eight
ninee - nine
tenska - ten
elepensa - eleven

Common altered words[]

"Berry." - very
"Bees" - Be
"Bombad" - superior, superb or great
"Dowopee" - landspeeder
"Mesa" - I am, me, my
"Weesong" - Reason
"My" - I
"Mui" - much or a lot
"Moole" - my or mine
"Yousa" - you or you are or did you...?
"Mula" - money or credits
"New" - No
"Yu" - Objective of you
"Yous" - your or plural of you
"Hesa/Shesa" - he/she or he is/she is or did he...?/did she...?
"Wesa" - we or we are or did we...?
"Daysa" or "Desa" - they or they are or did they...?
"Dalee" (or "Daree") - there
"Them-sa" -them
"Yesa." - yes
"No" or "Nosa." - no
"Dat" - that
"Disa" or "Dis" - this
"Okeeday." - okay
"Outlaunder" - Outlander
"Looky." - look
"Smilin." - happy
"Spake." - speak or say
"Skeebeetle" - ship
"Palos." - pals or friends
"Gos." - go
"Hair." - here
"Hep." - help
"Hisen." - human
"Tello" - a story
"Nutsen" - crazy
"Longo"- long
"Hot" - cool, great
"Boyos"- Boys
"Messen" - Mess
"Maken" - Make, makes
"All-n youse" - All of you
"Machineeks" - Droids or machines
"Tis" - It is
"Nutsen" - Nuts

Known phrases[]

Gunganese — Spacer speaking Gungan Basic

"Heyo dalee!" - Hey there!
"Heyo-dalee! Mesa goen to Hoth in da bombad Star Toursa skeebeetle." - Hello! I am going to Hoth in the great Star Tours ship.^[4]^[5]
"Hidoe!" - Hello!
"How Wude!" - How Rude!
"Oie boie!" - Oh boy!
"Oyl, moole, moole." - Oh, my, my.
"My no know." - I don't know.
"Ex squeezee me." - Excuse me.
"Daysa dalee"/"Dalee daysa" - They are there/There they are
"Mesa doen nutten!" - I'm not doing anything!
"What yousa spake?" - What did you say?
"Mesa yous humbule servant." - I am your (plural) humble servant.
"Mesa luv yous." - I love you.
"Yousa cannot bees hair. Dis army of machineeks up dare tis new weesong!" - You can not be here. This army of droids up there is no reason!
"Tank yu." - Thank you.
"Mesa greeting. In peles mesa comen." - Greetings, I come in peace.
"Mesa like to visit yousa city. Can wesa goen dalee?" - I would like to visit your city. Can we go to it?
"Tanken yousa per da meal invitateon." - Thank you for the invitation to this meal.
"Oh pass pleasa da liquid." - Pass the liquid, please.
"Disa foosa isa berry good." - This is very good food.
"Fraidee frog." - Coward.
"Okee day!" - Okay.''''
"Selongabye!" - See you later!^[6]

The verb to be[]

To be (Besa):
I am - Mesa (if followed by an adjective) or *My (if followed by another verb)
You are - Yousa
He is - Hesa
She is - Shesa
It is - Isa (pronounced "izzuh")
We are - Wesa
You (plural) are - Yousas
They are - Deysa

* You would use "my" if there was a verb after the "I am", such as "I am jumping" or "I am going". For "I am going", you wouldn't say "Mesa going". But you would say "My goen" due to of this rule. (Also, the suffix -ing is replaced by -en. It's "goen", not "going".)

Behind the scenes[]

The Gungan variant of Basic was first heard in the 1999 movie Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the first installment of the prequel trilogy.^[7] Actor Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in the movie, theorized that Star Wars creator George Lucas created the Gungan language based on the way his son Jett, who was six years old at the time, processed language.^[8] After the release of The Phantom Menace, writer Ryder Windham created a Gungan glossary for internal use at Lucasfilm. This document provided English-to-Gungan translations of several common phrases and the numbering system, and also set down the rules for sentence construction.^[9]

Numerous commentators noted similarities with the so-called "Ebonics" dialect of English and considered "Gungan Basic" to be racially or ethnically insensitive towards people of African descent, particularly those of recent Caribbean extraction. Both George Lucas and actor Ahmed Best (who is African-American) refute this assertion.