The Complete Wermo's Guide to Huttese (and other Star Wars languages)

The Complete Wermo's Guide
to
HUTTESE

"La lova num botaffa!"
-Anakin Skywalker

Wermo (wer moh) n. 1. A stupid person, an idiot. 2. One who is pitiable, contemptible, or weak-willed. 3. Worm. 4. slang Boy.

Anakin last cleaned the fan switches on January 2, 2012

Lessons:

The following sentences created by me are lessons meant to help you slowly but surely add Huttese into your everyday vocabulary, and eventually help you become fluent in the language. For more practice, use the Dictionary to make your own sentences! If you would like to contribute lesson sentences, contact me. Enjoy!

Lesson 1:
Replace the underlined Basic words with the Huttese equivalent to get a better grasp of the language.
Friend -> Pateesa
My friend and I are going to the Mall.
My pateesa and I are going to the Mall.
Rock Band -> Banda
Alice in Chains is my favorite rock band.
Alice in Chains is my favorite banda.
Hot -> Hotsa
Please pass the hot sauce.
Please pass the hotsa sauce.
Shoulder -> Bongo
I have a dislocated shoulder.
I have a dislocated bongo.
Home -> Bunky dunko
Home is where the heart is.
Bunky dunko is where the heart is.
Space -> Doma toma
NASA is America's space program.
NASA is America's doma toma program.
Money -> Moulee-rah
I need money to buy the new line of Star Wars figures.
I need moulee-rah to buy the new line of Star Wars figures.
Where -> Konchee
Where are my keys?
Konchee are my keys?
Percent -> Luto
I have 30 percent body fat.
I have 30 luto body fat.
Time -> Tee-tocky
What time is it?
What tee-tocky is it?

Lesson 2:
Now replace two Basic words with their Huttese equivalents.
Smoke, Hazardous -> Puffee, Azalus
Second hand smoke is hazardous to your health.
Second hand puffee is azalus to your health.
Pie, Dessert -> Patogga, Lickmoomoo
I want pie for dessert.
I want patogga for lickmoomoo.
Enjoy, Sand -> Panwa, Sando
I enjoy playing in the sand.
I panwa playing in the sando.
Sleep, Bed -> Winkee, Koga
He sleeps in his bed.
He winkee in his koga.
Activate, Credit card -> Rundee, Creeta
The bank activated my credit card.
The bank rundee my creeta.
Think, Incredible -> Tinka, Inkabunga
I think Star Wars is incredible!
I tinka Star Wars is inkabunga!
Eight, Tentacles -> Hunto, Tonta
An octopus has eight tentacles.
An octopus has hunto tonta.
Price, Bargain -> Che copah, Bargon
The price on those power converters is a bargain.
The che copah on those power converters is a bargon.
When, Race -> Joppay, Hodrudda
When does the race begin?
Joppay does the hodrudda begin?
You, Smile -> Uba, Smeeleeya
You make me smile.
Uba make me smeeleeya.

Lesson 3:
Now try replacing three Basic words with their Huttese equivalents.
I, From, Planet -> Je, Tuta, Planeeto
I am from planet Earth.
Je am tuta planeeto Earth.
New, Parts, Engine -> Newpa, Pachee, Bota
I need new parts to fix my engine.
I need newpa pachee to fix my bota.
Fool, Sell, Droid -> Stupa, Dwana, Droi
That fool sold me a droid with a bad motivator.
That stupa dwana me a droi with a bad motivator.
Boy, Drool, Dancing girl -> Peedunkee, Sleemo poy, Chik youngee
The boy drooled when he saw the dancing girl.
The peedunkee sleemo poy when he saw the chik youngee.
Message, My, Boss -> Wankee, Ma, Lorda
I have a message for my boss.
I have a wankee for ma lorda.
Cake, Snack, Not bad -> Waffmula, Smak tellia, Nagoola
The cake I had for a snack was not bad.
The waffmula I had for a smak tellia was nagoola.
What, Weapon, Kill -> Haku, Punyoo, Crispo
What weapon did you use to kill the spider?
Haku punyoo did you use to crispo the spider?
Who, Going, Waste dump -> Coo, Koona, Dumpa
Who is going to the waste dump?
Coo is koona to the dumpa?
Move, Big, Hands -> Yatuka, Porko, Kapa
He moved his big hands.
He yatuka his porko kapa.
Drink, My, Meal -> Yocola, Myo, Yafulkee
I want a drink with my meal.
I want a yocola with myo yafulkee.

Lesson 4:
Replace four basic words with their Huttese equivalents.
Bounty hunter, Smuggler, Big, Ransom -> Murishani, Ulwan, Porko, Gopptula
The bounty hunter held the smuggler for a big ransom.
The murishani held the ulwan for a porko gopptula.
How much, Money, Droid, In -> Kava, Moulee-rah, Droi, Noleeya
How much money for that droid in the window?
Kava moulee-rah for the droi noleeya the window?
Ship, Power, Activate, Ejection seat -> Pankpa, Pawa, Rundee, Keejeckta
The ship does not have enough power to activate the ejection seat.
The pankpa does not have enough pawa to rundee the keejeckta.
Boy, Steal, And, Cheat -> Peedunkee, Moocha, An, Cheeska
The boy stole the answer key and cheated on his test.
The peedenkee moocha the answer key an cheeska on his test.
Wookiee, Kill, You, Joke -> Wooky, Killee, Chuba, Na joka
A Wookiee can kill you if you play a joke on him.
A Wooky can killee chuba if chuba play na joka on him.
Time, Visit, Them, Home -> Tee-tocky, Kyotopa, Hoohah, Bunky dunko
It is time to visit them at their home.
It is tee-tocky to kyotopa hoohah at their bunky dunko.
I, Search, Holonet, Kidnap -> Mi, Boska, Halapu, Jujiminmee
I am searching the Holonet for news on the kidnapping.
Mi boska the Halapu for news on the jujiminmee.
That, Slime-ball, Real, Fool -> Da wanga, Ree, Stupa
That slime-ball is a real fool.
Da sleemo is a ree stupa.
Smuggler, Late, Payoff, Boss -> Ulwan, Alay, Makacheesa, Lorda
The smuggler was late in his payoff to his boss.
The ulwan was alay in his makacheesa to his lorda.
Here is, My, Friend, From -> Vota, Ma, Pateesa, Tuta
Here is my good friend from Hoboken.
Vota ma good pateesa tuta Hoboken.

Lesson 5:
Now we can try to create our own completely Huttese sentences!
I enjoy cake and pie for dessert.
Jee panwa waffmula chone patogga che lickmoomoo.
He paid for the movie with credit.
Hees wamma holo gee creeda.
You need a permit for your gun.
Uba niboba che blastoh.
The boy slept in the big bed at naptime.
Beeska peedunkee winkee noleeya dee porko koga che hunka be.
We drink wine with a hot meal.
Jee-jee yocola gocola gee hotsa yafulkee.
My boss is a mighty idiot!
Ma lorda bu wonky koochoo!
I search the waste dump for parts for my engine.
Jee boska dumpa che pachee ma bota.
I made a bet on the race.
Jee buttmalia so hodrudda.
My friend helped me move into my new house.
Ma pateesa mi yatuka noleeya myo newpa bunky dunko.
I am going somewhere in my spaceship.
Jee bolla tchuta noleeya myo pankpa.

Transcription of all Huttese dialogue, click here!

Related Links:

1. Tommy of Escondido Alien Fonts Page
http://webspace.webring.com/people/uu/um_362/index.html
2. theforce.net
http://www.theforce.net/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechua_language

Alphabet Gallery:

The following is a picture section of different Huttese fonts and where those scripts can be seen in the
films or other sources.

Sources:

1. Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace
2. Star Wars, Episode II: Attack of the Clones
3. Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope
4. Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
5. Episode I Visual Dictionary by David West Reynolds
6. Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary by David West Reynolds
7. Classic Trilogy Visual Dictionary by David West Reynolds
8. Han Solo and the Lost Legacy by Brian Daley
9. Classic Trilogy Monopoly instruction booklet
10. theforce.net
11. Tommy of Escondido Alien Fonts Page
12. Fuzzypeg's Homepage
13. Star Wars Technical Journal of the Imperial Forces
14. Shadows of the Empire audio CD
15. Star Wars Insider#28
16. ErikStormtrooper
17. Star Wars Gaaxies by LucasArts
18. Summer (me :P)
19. starwars.com
20. Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers
21. At Star's End by Brian Daley
22. DJ
23. Return of the Jedi DVD
24. Star Wars Insider #35

Legal note: Star Wars belongs to like George Lucas and stuff so it's like copyrighted by him or something. The Complete Wermo's Guide to Huttese and Other Star Wars Languages and Star Wars Living are my creations. Please acknowledge the Star Wars code of ethics by not copying and pasting large chunks of information from my site to your own. Please credit me and link to me if you do use information from my site.
Thank you.

Boonta symbols from Episode I scrapbook. (9)

                                         Achuta! (Hello!) Welcome to the Huttese page! Here you will find:

                                               - An introduction and history of Huttese
                                               - A link to a dictionary of Huttese terms
                                               - A link to a dictionary of NON-CANON Huttese terms
                                               - Huttese number chart
                                               - A Lessons section
                                               - A link to transcription of all Huttese dialogue known to humankind
                                               - Alphabet and font gallery
                                               - Related links
                                               - Source section

                           All new material added as of the latest update will be highlighted in red for your convenience.

                                                                        Hutt One, Hutt Two!
                                              Huttese 101:

An Introduction
To those of us that are a bit more reality based, Huttese is not a real language but one designed by sound designer Ben Burtt. According to the Behind the Magic CD-Rom, Ben Burtt derived the Huttese language from the ancient Incan dialect, Quechua. He based many phrases on samples from a language exercise tape. I have found a site that gives lessons on Quechua and have found a few Quechua words used in the Star Wars saga. The first word is 'tuta.' In Episode I the phrase "Sebulba tuta Pixelito" is used meaning "Sebulba from Pixelito." The Quechua 'tuta' however used in this phrase: "Imarayku kunan tuta," means "For this night past." Another word is 'chawa.' "Neek me chawa wermo," said Sebulba: "Next time we race," but in Quechua, 'chawa' means 'uncooked.' And although 'tullpa' which means "cooking spot in a kitchen" is not an exact spelling of 'tolpa' (Tolpa da bunky dunko=Then you can go home) the pronunciation is identical. Thus we can gather that Quechua is not Huttese itself but it is a model Ben Burtt used for the style and sound of Huttese. According to some sources, the scene where Greedo encounters Han Solo at the cantina, Greedo actually says something akin to, "I love your big blue eyes."
     I believe when Ben Burtt creates Huttese for the films, and when others create it for books and video games, that they try and use words that look and sound like words in our own language, to make this foreign language more familiar to us. For example, "outman" which means 'outlander' is a combination of the words 'out' and 'man' which are very familiar to us and puts in our mind the vision of a man that is from the outside, an 'outman' or 'outmian. Also, "poodoo" is a quite obvious play on the word 'poop' or 'doodoo.' Also the following words invoke in us a familiarity between English (or Basic in the Star Wars universe) and Huttese: "parchee" for 'parts', "tonta" for 'tentacles', "sleemo" for 'slime-ball', "blastoh" for 'weapon' ie. 'blaster' and so on with many other Huttese words.
     George Lucas himself has contributed to the Huttese lexicon. For example the phrase "Bo shueda" was created by Lucas. (1) It shoud be noted that in Return of the Jedi dvd subtitles, the phrase is "Oohh shoodah." (23)
     Ben Burtt says in the Return of the Jedi DVD commentary: "In Jedi, we had quite a bit of Huttese language to create. This was the language spoken by Jabba the Hutt and all the people in his palace. It starts out with this little eye-robot that pops out the door. And we use the talents of Larry Ward who was a linguist. He was an expert at speaking many different languages and he had helped me develop the Huttese language back on New Hope. In fact Larry had done the voice for Greedo, the bounty hunter. But Larry's biggest contribution to this film was by doing the voice of Jabba the Hutt. (23)
    It is possible that Ben Burtt used more than Quechua as a basis for Huttese. On page 9 in the June 2003 issue of National Geographic magazine, there is a reference to the word 'achuta', which in Huttese means "Hello." However in Hindi, 'achuta' has a very different meaning:
     "A fifth group describes the people who are achuta or untouchable. Untouchables are outcasts - people considered too impure, too polluted to rank as worthy beings." (6)
     Another Earth language borrowed from seems to be Polish. Andrzej sends in this information: "I think you'll find it interesting to know that "toota mishka Jabba du Hutt?" is actually an only very slightly distorted sentence in Polish:"Tutaj mieszka Jabba du Hutt?" Meaning "Does Jabba du Hutt live here?"
History
For those of us who think Star Wars is real (like me), the Huttese language is taken from its namesake, the race that developed it, the Hutts. Originally from the planet Varl, Hutts colonized many other words such as Nal Hutta. Hutts have a distinct slug-like appearance and have no bones in their bodies. The Hutts are infamously known as gangsters that have a wide control of all sort of illegal activities such as smuggling and trade in the illegal substance glitterstim. The giant slug-like appearance of the Hutts only adds to their vileness.
     It is not unknown for beings, especially travelers, to be fluent in many different languages. Huttese is spoken by a wide variety of peoples in various locations. It is widely spoken on the Outer Rim planet Tatooine as well as the Hutts' colonized planet Nal Hutta in the Corellian Sector. Anakin Skywalker, a human boy, speaks it fluently with his Toydarian master Watto, as well as with the "expecially dangerous dug called Sebulba."
     "Modern Huttese goes back more than 500 standard years. Its ancient origins [as noted above] can be traced to the Hutts on their native planet Varl; the Baobab Archives have uncovered tablets in archaeological diggings on the moons of Varl showing ransom notes written in ancient Huttese at least 1,000 years ago."(1)
     As with most languages once a species develops or adopts inter-stellar space travel, the Hutt language borrowed words from other languages, most notably Standad Basic. Example: 'blastoh' from the Basic 'blaster'.
Grammar
Just as the Hutts are tricky, so too can be their language. The word order is at times similar to Basic but can also be used reversed. For example, "Kaa bazza kundee hodrudda," can be translated as "Let the challenge begin," but using the true word order it is more like "Let the begin challenge." In addition, some words are two or three words combined to make one. In the sentence "Spasteelya bookie ookie, "Spasteelya" means "by far the" so long as "bookie ookie" means "favorite today". But Huttese can also be very simple. "Me dwana no bata," a four word sentence in Huttese, is translated as a seven word sentence in Basic: "I've got some selling to do."
     Many beings try to make sense out of Huttese by comparing its grammatical structures to languages that are familiar to them like Basic. However, this is quite a task because Huttese is very chaotic in its structure. I have spent many a time wondering about how to take Huttese as a language similar to our own, not just english but any basic european language, and assign it with certain grammatical similarities in word order and I have found that it is very difficult. I feel Huttese is a complex language and has no specific grammar rules that we would find associated with a european language. For example in Ben Burtt's Travel Guide, two different words are used to mean with: 'foo' and 'gee', and in Return of the Jedi 'con' is used. I think the word 'with' is used in different instances, like perhaps if you use 'with' before one type of noun it is 'con', and if you use it before another type of noun it is 'gee' or what have you. Like in German, 'the coat' is 'der mantel' whereas 'the piano' is 'das klavier' and 'the girl' is 'die madchen'. That is three different words in german (der, das, and die) for one word in english (the). I think Huttese may use rules like this and not just with words like 'the' and 'these' but with other words like 'with' and so on.
Pronunciation
"An X in Huttese is pronounced by making a wet snap of the lips like an aggressive kissing sound." (1) Practice with this phrase which means Don't shoot!: "Ap-xmasi keepuna!"
Numbers
The Huttese numerical system is different then Basic because Hutts have eight fingers as opposed to the human finger count of ten. Thus what a Hutt calls 10, a human calls 8. This difference has led to confusion especially when dealing with price and negotiation values. So if a Hutt offers you 20 pit droids, you are really only getting 16. The Hutts have used this to their advantage and often times purposely mislead those they deal with.
     "A major cultural effect of Hutt base 8 has been the economic suppression of the Rodians by the Hutts. Rodians have ten fingers and evolved counting with base 10. When major Rodian land purchase contracts and communication franchises were set up, the Hutts took advantage of the confusion to basically squeeze out all Rodians from ownership. The result was their major financial subservience to the Hutts and the emergence of a nameless generation of Rodian lackeys."(1)
Cussing
An interesting note from Terry Brooks' novelization of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is that Watto is described as switching to Huttese because it was the only language he knew in which he could use alot of derogatory words while angry with Anakin for losing a podrace to Sebulba. So next time you're feeling a bit of the dark side, Huttese would be your best bet to let some steam off. A Huttese swear phrase can be heard in Episode V, when C-3PO is insulted by another protocol droid with the phrase "E chu ta!" which Ben Burtt goes on to say the translation is not printable in his book. (1) The most popular swear word we have heard so far though, seems to be poodoo.

                      Huttese-Basic & Basic-Huttese Dictionaries, click here!

NON-CANON Huttese-Basic & Basic-Huttese Dictionaries, click here!