Location markers

dukaan - shop
dukaanka - the shop
dukaankii - the shop (when are talking about the past or it's far away from you)

What about locations in and around the shop? How do you say 'inside the shop', 'outside the shop', 'in front of the shop', etc?

dukaanka dhexdiisa - inside the shop
dukaanka hortiisa - in front of the shop
dukaanka hoostiisa - under the shop
dukaanka agtiisa - near the shop
dukaanka dabadiisa - behind the shop
dukaanka korkiisa - on top of the shop
dukaanka dibadiisa - outside the shop


This is the same construction that we used to say,


wiilka buuggiisa - the boy's book
THE BOY      HIS BOOK

In English, we say 'inside the shop', but in Somali what we literally say is 'the shop's inside' or 'the shop's behind'. This is how we talk about locations around a noun.


Dukaanka hortiisa baan kugu sugayaa - I'll wait for you in front of the shop


Quick note: What does 'kugu' in the above sentence mean. Actually it is the preposition 'ku' which means 'at', fused with the object pronoun 'ku' meaning 'you'. When you fuse them together, you don't say 'kuku', you change the second 'ku' to 'gu'.


Dukaanka hortiisa buu fadhisanayey - He was sitting in front of the shop
Dukaanka korkiisa buu istaagi jirey - He used to stand on top of the shop
Dukaanka hoostiisa waxaa jiraa khasnad - Under the shop there is treasure

'Dukaan' is a masculine noun. What about feminine nouns like 'makhaayad' (restaurant)?

makhaayadda dhexdeeda - inside the restaurant
makhaayadda horteeda - in front of the restaurant
makhaayadda hoosteeda - under the restaurant
makhaayadda agteeda - near the restaurant
makhaayadda dabadeeda - behind the restaurant
makhaayadda korkeeda - on top of the restaurant
makhaayadda dibadeeda - outside the restaurant