Saturday 9 April 2011

Ninkee? (Which man?)

Ninkii ma aragtey?        - Did you see the man?
Ninkee?                        - Which man?
Ninkii baad dishey -  The man you hit.


In Somali, we use 'which' a lot. To say 'which (noun)', you take the definite article of the noun you want to inflect, and change the ending to 'ee'. So, for example,

noun meaning definite art. inflection meaning
nin man ninka ninkee? which man?
naag woman naagta naagtee? which woman?
buug book buugga buuggee? which book?
guri house guriga gurigee ? which house?
shandad suitcase shandadda shandaddee? which suitcase?
dhinac side dhinaca dhinacee? which side?









Person A:Waa ayo? (Who is it?)
Person B: Waa aniga. (It's me.)
Person A: Adigee? ( Who are you? lit: 'Which you?')





Jaamac: Shaqadii baan helay! 
              - I got the job!
Liban: Shaqadee?   - What job?
Jaamac : Shaqadii aan xaley kuu sheegeyey. 
             - I job I was talking to you about yesterday.
























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