What Exactly Is Groot Saying in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Movies?

Since Guardians of the Galaxy debuted on the big screen in 2014, all of the team’s members gained wider recognition by upping their game from C-list characters to some of the most popular characters Marvel has ever introduced. There’s something special about each of the Guardians, but one of the biggest fan favorites is a beloved humanoid tree known as Groot. We have all noticed how Groot doesn’t have a wide vocabulary, so in this article, we’ll try to figure out what Groot exactly says in Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Groot’s vocabulary is limited only to saying “I Am Groot.” Even though he’s saying that same sentence over and over again, no matter what he’s trying to say, his language can be understood by some other characters who are using regular vocabulary; Peter Quill, Rocket, and Thor are some of the characters who are confirmed to understand Groot’s language. His dialogues are usually written so that the character he’s talking to can explain to the audience what Groot just said, in most cases.

Since Marvel Cinematic Universe introduced Groot to the mainstream audience, he became one of those loveable non-human characters that Disney likes to have in their movies because they provide good marketing for toys and other merchandise. Groot is for MCU what Baby Yoda is for Star Wars, and let’s not forget all those characters from Disney’s animated movies like Sebastian, Mushu, Nemo, Timon, Pumba, and tons of others. Baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 only increased the character’s popularity.

Groot’s three words are worth more than a thousand

Since Groot debuted in the MCU, fans mentioned numerous times how interesting it was to cast Vin Diesel, who might not be a good dramatic actor but is one of the biggest celebrities in Hollywood, to play a character that only says one line, multiple times, in the whole movie.

Diesel’s deep voice suited adult Groot perfectly, and he still reprised the role when Baby Groot, who had a drastically different voice, debuted in the sequel. Diesel even voiced the character in the movie’s dubs in various other languages. That’s one of the advantages when you play a character that says only one line.

We first met Groot and Rocket on Xandar when they worked as bounty hunters, which eventually led them to cross paths with Star-Lord and Gamora. During the introduction scene, Groot doesn’t say a single word, and his first “I Am Groot” is heard when he, Rocket, Star-Lord, and Gamora, are booked into Kyln, a prison run by Nova Corps.

Although his first “I Am Groot” sounds like he’s just introducing himself, the moment we realize that he’s saying the same sentence repeatedly, we realize, just like Star-Lord, that something isn’t right. Thankfully, Rocket was so nice to explain to him and us that Groot’s vocabulary is limited to “I,” “am,” and “Groot.” Exclusively in that order.

While it’s not always clear what Groot is trying to say, his lines that are important for the movie’s plot are always explained through the replies of the characters who converse with him and can understand what he’s saying. In the first movie, only Rocket served as Groot’s translator, so to speak. For example, when Ravagers take Peter and Gamora, Groot says, “I am Groot,” and the Rocket immediately realizes that Groot’s idea is to save them.

While Rocket was the sole translator for Groot in the first movie, we learned in the post-credit scene of Vol. 2 that Star-Lord had also learned to understand Groot, who was already a teenager when the movie got to that part. Even though Groot grows up much faster than humans, we could’ve seen that his teenage habits aren’t that different from those of regular teenagers.

After two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, it was time for this team to join the Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War, in which we learned that Thor is also one of the characters who can understand Groot. Thor mentioned how he learned Groot’s language on Asgard, where that subject was an elective.

During Infinity War’s third act, Groot meets Steve Rogers. Since Captain America couldn’t understand Groot, he only replied: “I am Steve Rogers,” although we can’t be sure that Groot was only introducing himself. That might be the case, but we’re not sure.

Still, there are some scenes in which it’s hard to know what Groot exactly said, but it’s expected that those were made like that on purpose because James Gunn wanted to leave some things for the viewer to figure out for themselves. One of those scenes is from Infinity War, when Groot started disintegrating due to Thanos’ snap. Gunn later said that Groot said “dad” to Rocket before disappearing.

Groot is one of the most loveable and wholesome characters we’ve ever seen in superhero movies. Groot’s scenes provided us with laughs and joy but also sadness and emotions, and when a character who says only one line manages to achieve that, you know you’ve done a good job. We can’t wait to see Groot again soon in the third installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy.

Written and directed by James Gunn, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is set to be released on May 5, 2023.

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