Magacaa? - What's your name?
Magacaygu waa Yuusuf - My name is Yuusuf
Yuusuf ayo? - Yuusuf who?
Yuusuf Xasan. - Yuusuf Hassan
Yuusuf, barasho wanaagsan - Yuusuf, good to know you
Barasho wanaagsan - Good to know you
Magac - name
Possesive pronoun suffixes
-ay(ga) my
-aa(ga)your
-iis(a) his
-eed(a)her
You put these suffix at the end of a noun. Hence,
Magacayga - my name
Buuggayga - my book
Gurigayga - my house
When 'magacayga' (my name) is the subject it becomes 'magacaygu'. 'Magacaa' is the shortened form of 'Magacaaga'(your name).
'Ayo' means 'who'. When you want to ask who someone is, you say 'Waa ayo?' (Who is it?).
Albaabka fur - Open the door
Waa ayo? - Who is it?
Waa Liibaan - It's Liban
Hayye - OK
I have a question, when you ask about someone's name, for example: magaciis? (which is magaciisa) Why is the A at the end of magaciisa dropped when asking "what is his name?" (magaciis?)
ReplyDeleteI think this only happens when you ask someone's name. 'Magaciis?' is a short way of saying 'Magaciisu waa maxay?'(What is his name?). I don't think there is a grammatical reason why the A is dropped, it just happened. With other nouns, I don't think you do this. By the way, you can also drop the 's' as well, 'Magacii?'.
ReplyDeleteOh ok, good to know! If you want, I have an explanation written about using miyaa in the conjugated forms.
ReplyDeletePlease let me know. I'm only a student of Somali and I was hoping that others would share their knowledge of Somali here as well.
ReplyDeletewhat's your email address so I can send you what i have put together so far?
ReplyDelete