Tongan, a Polynesian language spoken by approximately 187,000 people, is the official language of Tonga. As part of the Austronesian family, it is written using the Latin alphabet and follows a VSO word order, a rare trait among the world's languages. Tongan is an analytic language, relying on word order and particles rather than inflection. Rich in oral traditions, it plays a central role in ceremonial speeches, songs, and storytelling. While English influence is increasing, Tongan remains a vital part of national identity, with ongoing efforts to preserve its linguistic heritage in education and media.
Stats
Language Family: Austronesian
Writing System: Latin
Writing System Type: Alphabet
Writing Direction: L to R
Tones / Pitch Accent: 2
Morphology: Analytic
Cases: None
Grammatical Gender / Noun Class: None
Number of Verb Tenses: 3
Word Order: VSO
Number of Vowels (Monophthongs): 5
Number of Consonants: 12
Areas Where Spoken
Tonga (official) (89.1%) (96 k)
Resources
Dictionary
Freelang Tongan-English dictionary: Downloadable Tongan-English/English-Tongan dictionary for Windows and Android
A Vocabulary of the Tonga Language: Most complete dictionary, but it’s 170 years old and uses very obsolete writing conventions
Austronesian Comparative Dictionary: 670 word dictionary for linguistics use, with really in-depth etymologies
Polynesian Lexicon Project (POLLEX): 2700+ word linguistic Tongan dictionary which is also part of a large-scale comparative dictionary
UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive: Many simple word lists with the nice addition of audio clips of native Tongan speakers saying each word
Lonely Planet: Pages 186-190 of this book have quite a few basic terms and phrases that are naturally suited to everyday use
tongantranslator.com: Inconsistent but pretty big
Lessons
Tongan for Beginners: Grammar, phrases, vocab
Literature
Social Structure, Space and Possession in Tongan Culture and Language: Interdisciplinary study that ‘investigates the relationship between culture, language and cognition based on the aspects of social structure, space and possession in Tonga’
News
rnz.co.nz: News audios
Textbooks
Faufaua! An introduction to Tongan: Textbook with 20 units of three lessons each
Website
Tāhūrangi - New Zealand Curriculum: Search up "tongan" in the search bar and a lot of resources will pop up (stories, textbooks, activities)
letslearntongan.com: A blog by a teacher. Updates every few months. Posts about langauge and culture
digitaldialects.com: Word games
Tongan Language Week resource: Words, phrases, and pronunciation, and explore aspects of Tongan culture
Introduction to the Tongan Language Peace Corps: Phrases, vocab
YouTube
Videos
Learning Tongan: Alphabet
Lets learn Tongan: Kids videos
Playlists
Learn Tongan: 9 lessons of Tongan phrases for beginners
Channels
Journey Beyond The Horizon Channel: Podcasts by a native speaker about vocab