Isku day - to try to ...

 Dadku maxay isku dayeen inay sameeyaan? - What were the people trying to do?


Isku day - to try


Cali: Maan sameeyn karo! - I can't do it
Safiya: Bal, isku day! - Just try!

Maxaad isku dayday inaad sameeysato? - What are you trying to do?
Muxuu isku dayay inuu sameeyo? - What is he trying to do?
Maxay isku dayday inay sameeysato - What is she trying to do?
Maxannu isku daynay inaan sameeyno? - What are we trying to do?

Turning statements into questions

Nin socoto ahi baa safar u baxay - A traveller went on a journey
Nin socoto ahi xaggee u baxay? - 


Galab ayuu yimid tuulo - He came to a village in the afternoon
Goormuu yimid tuulo? -


Tuulada duleedkeeda waxaa ku yaallay balli - There was a pond behind the village
Tuulada duleedkeeda maxaa ku yaallay? -  

Waxaa ku wareegsanaa dad aad u badan - There were many people around it(the pond)
Maxaa ku wareegsanaa? 


Dadka waxay gacmaha ku haysteen xaagimo, shabaqyo iyo ulo - The people had in their hands brooms, nets and sticks
Dadka maxay gacmaha ku haysteen?

A good way to practise making sentences, is to take a sentence and turn it into a question. Think of a sentence and then try to turn it into a question.

Somali spelling

Somali got its alphabet in 1973. However, it hasn't been standardized. That means there can be a number of different spellings for the same word. e.g.


Gabadh/Gabar - girl
shaati/shaadh - shirt
roodhi/rooti - bread , etc...


Some of these different spellings are because of different pronunciations of different dialects. For example, the example are from the Northern dialect and the Southern/Central dialect. However, sometimes, the pronunciation is the same, but the spelling just appears in different ways, etc,


Wey baxay - She went out - can also be written as,
Way baxay 
Way baxey


but all three examples are pronounced the same way. Sometimes, I also use different spellings, so be aware that -ay and -ey have the same pronuncation in Somali.

Also, do you remember wuxuu, waxay, waannu etc.  These are fusion words, a combination of the classifier waa and the subject pronouns uu, ey, aan, etc. 


Waxaan ahay nin soomaaliyeed - I am a Somali man


In formal written Somali, they sometimes split up these fusion words into their constituent parts,


Waxa aan ahay nin Soomaaliyeed - I am a Somali man


Muxuu sameeynayaa? - What is he doing? - becomes,


Maxaa uu sameeynayaa? - What is he doing?

Dayaxii! Wuxuu ku dhacay balliga! - The moon! It fell into the pond!

Dayaxii! Waxaa uu ku dhacay balliga! - The moon! It fell into the pond!

...oo...ah

Nin socoto ah - A traveller

'ah' macnihiisa si wacan ma garanayo(I'm not sure of its meaning). Raali ahow.

(Noun) oo (Noun/Adjective)ah - A (noun) who is (noun/adjective)


Nin gaaban oo macallin ah - A short man who is a teacher
Naag dheer oo dhaktarad ah - A tall woman who is a doctor
Wiil dhuuban oo askari ah - A thin boy who is a soldier


With this construction, you can link nouns to adjectives or other nouns. Let's practise building some sentences.


Gabar wanaagsan oo Soomaali ah - A good Somali girl
Gabar wanaagsan oo Soomaali ah baan arkay - I saw a good Somali girl
Saaka, gabar wanaagsan oo Soomaali ah baan arkay - This morning, I saw a good Soomaali girl
Saaka, gabar wanaagsan oo Soomaali ah baan arkay oo islaan caawinaysey - This morning, I saw a good Soomaali girl who was helping an old lady

dayaxii iyo balligii

Akhri sheekada oo ka jawaab su'aalaha

Vocab
akhri - read
sheeko - story
ka jawaab - to answer
su'aalaha - the questions
dayaxii - the sun
balligii - the pond
beri beriyaha ka mid ah - once upon a time
nin socota ahi/ihi - a traveller

safar - a journey
bax - go out
galab - afternoon
yimid - he came
tuulo - a hamlet/small village
wareegso - to surround
dad - people
badan - many
waxay gacmaha ku haysteen - they had in their hands
Waxay lahaayeen - They were saying
Na caawi - Help us
Maxaa dhacay - What happened/What's wrong?(literally 'What's fallen?')
dhacay - to fall
saari kari weyney - couldn't fetch it out
jawaab - answer
masaakiin - poor fools/wretches
Fiiri cirka! - look at the sky!
Waa kaa - there it is
weli - still
joogaa - to be present
weli halkiisii buu joogaa - it is still there
mey/ma ay dheygeysan - they didn't listen
Iska tag! - get out of here!
jidkaaga mar! - be on your way/ hit the road!

la' - to lack

In Somali, 'leh' means 'own/possess/have'


Shaah oo sonkor leh ii keen - Bring me tea with sugar(in it)


We use the present continous 'leeyahay' when talking about people owning things


Guri weyn buu leeyahay - He has a big house


The opposite of 'leh' is la'. The apostrophe at the end of the word is a glottal stop. La' means 'to lack'


Shaah oo sonkor la' - Sugarless tea
nin oo xoog la' - a man without/lacking strength
lacag la' - without money, cashless


The present continous is 'la'yahay'. You can use it to say if someone/something lacks something


Cali lacag wuu la'yahay - Cali doesn't have any money


However, it is more common to use 'ma leh/laha' 


Cali lacag ma leh - Ali doesn't have any money
Bill guri ma laha - Bill doesn't have a house
Shaahu sonkor ma laha - The tea doesn't have any sugar


La' can be turned into the noun 'la'aan'. 


Dad cunto la'aan ku bannaanbaxaya Muqdisho - The hungry people(lit:'foodless') are demonstrating in Mogadishu


There is a well-known saying, 'Aqoon la'aan waa iftiin la'aan'. 'Aqoon(ta)' is a noun which means 'knowledge', 'iftiin(ta)' is a noun which means 'light'. Therefore it means 'lacking knowledge is lacking light' or in more correct English, 'to lack knowledge is to lack light'. 
In English, we put 'lacking' first, then we say what is lacking, but in Somali the order is reversed, you say the object first, then you say whether you are lacking it or not. 


You can play around with phrase and add your own words,


Lacag la'aan waa cunto la'aan - No cash, no food
Xaas  la'aan waa farxad la'aan - No wife&kids, no happiness
Geel la'aan waa hanti la'aan - To have no camels, is to have no wealth

nabad iyo caano's 1st birthday

It just occured to me that this blog is 1 year old already. Hambalyo!('Congratulations'- although it's a bit weird congratulating myself).


Why blog about Somali?


The best way to learn is to teach. I'm not a native speaker;  I only started learning properly a few years ago.  I don't keep any notebooks or anything, so I thought a blog would be a good place to keep my notes. 

Also, I wanted to help people who were learning Somali. There aren't many places on the net where you can find some tips or phrases in Somali. It would make me sincerely happy if this site has helped you in any way to pick up some of the language, or figure out how it works.

Somali is a rich language. Every time I learn a new word or phrase, I get a new perspective, and I feel I understand the Somalis a little better. 

For example, the title of my blog means 'peace and milk'. It is a well-known proverb. It means as long as you have peace and milk, you will be happy. Milk, especially camel milk, is cherished by the Somalis.

Of course, there are many things about the blog that could be improved.  More than anything,  I want to add some audio files so that you can hear how the words are pronounced. I also wanted to include some videos as well. Hopefully, I will get my act together and make time to do that in the future. Thanks for your support!

Going to Somalia

A:Yaa joogaa? - Who's here?
B:Cabdi baa joogaa - Abdi came
A:Muxuu dooneyaa? - What does he want?
B:Wuxuu dooneyaa inaad bartid Af Soomali - He wants you to teach him Somali.
A:Muxuu u dooneyaa inuu barto Af Soomaali? - Why does he want to learn Somali?
B:Waayo, wuxuu dooneyaa inuu tago dalka Soomaaliya - Because he wants to go to Somalia.
A:Muxuu u dooneyaa inuu tago Soomaaliya? - Why does he want to go to Somalia?
B:Waayo, wuxuu dooneyaa inuu cabbo caana geel - Because he wants to drink camel milk.
A:Muxuu u dooneyaa caana geel? - Why does he want camel milk?
B: Wuu maqley inuu caafimaadka u fiicanyihiin - He heard that it is good for your health

Vocab
caafimaad(ka) - health
caana geel - camel milk
waayo - because

A recap of Object pronouns

Just another reminder about pronouns.


What is the difference in English between 'I' and "me'?  


He hit me - 'The word 'me' is an object pronoun because it is the target of the verb. 'He' is a subject pronoun because it is the subject that is 'doing' the verb. Somali is the same.


Isaga/Wuu i dilay - He hit me 

The word 'i' here means the same as 'me' in English


Waxaan dooneyaa inaad i baratid Af Soomali - I want you to teach me Somali


Waan kuu sheegay - I told you

Object pronouns
me - i
you - ku
him - u
her - u
we (excl) - na
we(incl) - ina
you(pl) - idin
they - u

ayaa/baa - focus word

I might have mentioned this earlier but,


ayaa/baa are Focus Words.


Yaa jabay koobkayga? - Who broke my cup?


Axmed baa jabay - Ahmed broke it( not Yusuf, Abdi or anyone else).

Aniga baa cunay keegaada - I ate your cake (not your brother, or anyone else)

That's why it's called a focus word. Because it puts its focus on the subject as the doer of the action. 'Ayaa' in my experience works exactly the same way as 'baa', and is thus interchangable. I think 'ayaa' is more formal and tends to be used in written Somali and in the news.


From the obituary about the singer Faadumo Hilowle,

Faadumo Qaasim Hilowle ayaa xalay ku geeriyootay London.

This puts the focus on the fact that Faadumo Hilowle passed away, and not anyone else.

Yaa dhintay? - Who died?
Faadumo Hilowle baa/ayaa dhimatey - Faadumo Hilowle died
Ilaahey ha u naxaristo - God rest her soul 


When fused with subject pronouns, these become


ayaan/baan - I
ayaad/baad - You
ayuu/buu    - He
ayey/bey     - She
ayaanu/baannu - We
ayeynu/beynu  - We
ayedin/beydin - You
ayey/bey  - They

Another BBC article

Another article from the BBC website, this time about the death of Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs oo geeriyooday (Steve Jobs has passed away)

Aasaasihii iyo madaxii hore ee shirkadda Apple, Steve Jobs ayaa geeriyooday isaga oo 56 jir ah. Madaxweyne Obama ayaa sheegay in caalamku waayay nin aragti dheer lahaa.

 

 'Aasaasihii' means 'the founder'. 'Madaxii'= 'the head' (exactly as in English, 'madax' refers to the physical head and the head of an organisation), 'hore' ='before, former' . The first sentence translated is, 'The founder and former head of the company Apple, Steve Jobs has passed away at the age of 56'. 'Madaxweyne' literally means 'big head' but has come to mean 'president'. 'Caalam' = 'world', 'waayay' = 'to lose', 'aragti' = 'view/sight', 'dheer' = 'long'. 'Lahaa' is a verb which means 'to possess'. The second sentence reads, 'President Obama said that the world has lost a farsighted man(visionary)'.

Bogagga bulshada ee internetka ayaa waxa buuxiyay farriimo ku saabsan dhimashada Steve Jobs, oo dhawaan iska casilay jagadii uu hayay ee Madaxa shirkadda Apple.

 

'bog' = 'page', 'bogagga' = 'the pages' , 'bulshada' = 'community', 'buuxiyay' (verb) = 'to be full', 'farriimo' = 'messages', 'ku saabsan' = 'about', 'dhawaan' = 'recently', 'iska casilay' = 'to resign', 'jagada(dii)' = 'position', 'hay' = 'to hold'. The sentence reads, 'Pages of the internet community are full of messages about the death of Steve Jobs, who recently resigned his position he held as head of Apple'.

Steve waxa in muddo ah baa hayay cudurka Cancer. Waxa uu ku dhintay gobolka California ee dalka Mareykanka.

 

'in muddo ah' = 'for a certain period', 'cudur' = 'disease', 'gobol' = 'region/state', 'dal' = 'country'. The full sentence is, 'Steve had had cancer for a while. He died in the state of California in the United States'.

Here is the link for the original website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/somali/war/2011/10/111006_steve_jobs.shtml