The use of 'baa'

We saw before that when you want to make simple declarative sentences 'This is a ..' you use 'waa'


Kani waa buug - This is a book


Here I want to introduce 'baa'. 'Baa' is a focus word, it acts in a similar way to 'waa' but it focuses on a word and stresses it.


Anigu         caanaha         baan            cabbey 

(SUBJECT)  (OBJECT) (FOCUS-WORD) (VERB)

     I              the milk                              drank

Here, the focus word emphasizes the noun that comes before it (in this case 'caano'),in other words what is stressed is that the subject drank the milk (not orange juice or another drink).


As with 'Ma' and 'waa', 'baa' can be fused with verbal pronouns.


       baan           -  I
       baad           - You
       buu             - He
baa bey              - She
       baannu        - We(exclusive)
       beynu          - We(inclusive)
       beydin/baad - You(plural )
       bey              - They