Muaj

Muaj is a common verb in Hmong languages, typically translated as “to have” or “to possess,” and more broadly as “to exist” in existential clauses. It plays a central role in expressing possession, relationships, and the presence of objects or people. In standard Hmong word order, the possessor or subject precedes muaj, and the possessed item follows it, yielding phrases used in everyday speech to indicate ownership or association. The exact sense of muaj can shift with context, covering ownership, membership in a group, or the existence of something at a location.

Muaj is used across major Hmong dialects, including White Hmong (Hmong Daw) and Green/Blue Hmong (Hmong Njua). Tone and pronunciation vary by dialect, but the basic function remains the same. In existential or locational clauses, muaj expresses that something exists in a specified place, functioning similarly to “there is/there are” in English, though the surrounding syntax may differ from English constructions.

Negation of muaj is formed with tsis, yielding phrases such as tsis muaj to mean “not have” or “there isn’t/aren’t.” Muaj also participates in various compound expressions and can appear in different grammatical constructions, including those that resemble copular patterns in Hmong grammar. It is commonly written in the Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) and in other Hmong writing systems such as Pahawh Hmong.

As a fundamental word, muaj appears across everyday speech, education, and literature, and is typically among the first verbs learned by learners of Hmong.