Thursday 14 April 2011

Irregular verbs : arag ( to see)

We said that verbs in Somali can be grouped into three, Conjugations 1, 2 & 3. However, some verbs don't follow these rules perfectly. These are the irregular verbs. One of them is 'arag' which means 'to see'. 


Waan arkey        - I saw
Waad aragtey      - You saw
Wuu arkey           - He saw
Wey aragtey        - She saw
Waannu aragnney - We saw
Weynu aragnney   - we saw
Waad aragteen     - You(pl) saw
Wey arkeen          - They saw


Needless to say, this is a very important verb to remember. However, in addition to its overt meaning 'to see' , the phrase 'Ma aragtey' is also often used to mean 'Do you understand?' 'OK' or 'you know'.

Waa nin xun, ma aragtey? - He's a bad man, you know?

Ma aragtey, haddaan lacag haysto, waan tegi lahaa - If I had money, I would have gone, do you see?

Af Ingriisi ma hadli karo, ma aragtey? - I can't speak English, OK?

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