Verb practice

Idris baan la sheekestay -  I talked with Idris
Idris baan la hadlay        - I talked with Idris


These two verbs 'dhegeyso' and 'hadal' are similar, but 'dhegeyso'  really means 'to have a conversation', whereas 'hadal' can be used even for moments of short, terse communication. 'La' is a preposition we covered before; it means 'with'.


Verb practise - please translate these sentences. 'Noqo' is a bit difficult so I've translated that one.


Xaggee - where?


Xaggee baad cuntay?
Xaggee baad seexatay?
Xaggee baad dhisatay?
Xaggee baad joogsatay?
Xaggee baad tagtay?
Xaggee baad fadhiisatay?


Maxaad - what?


Maxaad cuntay?
Maxaad  tagtey?
Maxaad  seexatay?
Maxaad  baxday?
Maxaad  joogsatay?
Maxaad  karisay?
Maxaad  dhisatay?



Maxaad u - why?


Maxaad u cuntay?
Maxaad u tagtey?
Maxaad u seexatay?
Maxaad u baxday?
Maxaad u joogsatay?
Maxaad u dhisatay?
Maxaad u soo noqotay? - Why did you come back?


Goorma - when?


Goormaad baxday?
Goormaad cuntay?
Goormaad seexatay?
Goormaad dhisatay?
Goormaad soo noqotay? - When did you come back?
Goormaad joogsatay?

 

Some basic verbs

Conj.1
verb	meaning
cun	to eat
cab	to drink
kac	to get up
qaad	to take
tag	to go
wad	to drive
xidh	to close
fur	to open
gal	to enter
bax	to go out
mar	to pass by
toos	to awaken
yaab	to be surprised
dhal	to give birth
dhac	to fall/happen
qor	to write
akhri	to read
jab	to break(intransitive)
gub	to burn(intransitive)
raac	to take (a train/bus)

Conj.2
2a	meaning	2b	meaning
kari	to cook	qadee	to have lunch
tiri	to count	safee	to clean
amaahi	to lend	cashee	to have dinner
bixi	to take off/pay	samee	to do/make
hagaaji	tostraighten/clear up
toosi	to wake someone
jebi	to break(transitive)

Conj.3
3a	meaning	3b	meaning
iibso	to buy	seexo	to sleep
qabso		gubeyso	to wash
dhunko	to kiss	dhegeyso	to listen
kabbo	to sip	qabo	to hold
joogso	to stop	amaaho	to borrow
jiifso	to lie down	soco	to walk/go
guurso	to marry	gado	to buy
daawo	to watch	dhimo	to die
		xidho	to wear/tie
		noqo	to become
		dhiso	to build
		sheekeyso	to tell/talk
		fadhiiso	to sit

Waxaan u baahanahay (What I need is...)

Someone might ask you,


Maxaad u baahantahay? - What do you need?
To let them know what you need, you can start by saying,


Waxaan u baahanahay (stuff you need) - What I need is ....

The verb is 'u baahan' (to need)
For example,


Waxaan u baahanahay lacag - What I need is money
                                              cunto                              food
                                             daawo                            medicine
                                              guri                                a house


Waxaan u baahanahay - What I need is
Waxaad u baahantahay - What you need is
Wuxuu u baahanyahay  - What he needs is
Waxay u baahantahay  - What she needs is
Waxaanu u baahannahay - What we need is
Waxeynu u baahannahay - What we need is
Waxaad u baahantihiin - What you(pl) need is
Waxay u baahanyihiin - What they need is

Waan vs. Waxaan

Waan cunay hilib lo'aad     - I ate beef
Waxaan cunay hilib lo'aad  -  What I ate was beef


You use 'waan' to make a simple declarative sentence. But. for example, if someone asked you,


Maxaad cuntay? - What did you eat?


you're more likely to answer by saying 'Waxaan ...'. 'Waxa' sort of  means'thing'. So it literally means,

Waxa       aan        cunay       hilib lo'aad
THING    THAT I       ATE                BEEF

Waxaan cunay  - What I ate was
Waxaad cuntay - What you ate was
Wuxuu cunay   - What he ate was
Waxay cuntay  - What she ate was
Waxannu cunnay - What we ate was
Waxeynu cunnay - What we ate was
Waxaad cunteen - What you(pl) ate was
Waxay cuneen - What they ate was

uTalk Somali

I don't have an iPhone, but if you do have one, I highly recommend the app. called 'Utalk Somali'. Here is the link, 
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/utalk-somali/id325543455?mt=8

It's good at teaching basic vocabulary, as well as pronunciation. There are a few games you can play that help memorization of basic words. Unfortunately, I haven't posted audio files on here yet, hopefully at some point I can start to do so. If you don't have Somali friends or colleagues, then programmes like this one are a good way to get used to the sounds of Somali.

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.

Gebigabaa!

Gebigabaa! - Really!(Used when you are surprised by what you've heard; but only used in a negative or neutral context)


Friend A: Bal, iska warran! - What's up?
Friend B: Yuusuf wuu dhintay - Yuusuf passed away.
Friend A: Gebigabaa! Ilaahey ha naxariiso. - Really! God rest his soul.

Sow ma aha?

Sow ma aha? - Isn't that so/Isn't that right


Cuntadayda baad cuntay, sow ma aha? - You ate my food, didn't you?
Maraykan buu tegay, sow ma aha? - He went to America, right?
Dadka Soomaaliyeed wey wanaagsanyihiin, sow ma aha? - Somali people are nice, right?

Hooyo iyo wiilkeeda ( A mother and her son)

Albaabka baa la garaacayaa

Zaynab: Waa ayo?
Yoonis : Waa aniga
Zaynab: Adigee?
Yoonis: Waa Yoonis.
Zaynab: Haa, soo gal. Ma casheesey?
Yoonis: Haa, waan dheregsanahay.
Zaynab: Xaggee baad ka cuntay?
Yoonis: Saaxiibkayga gurigiisa.
Zaynab:Maxaad cuntay?
Yoonis : Bariis iyo hilib iyo canjeero baan cunay. 
Zaynab: Maxaad gurigeenna uga casheeyn weedey?
Yoonis: Cuntadoodaa ka fiican cuntadeenna.

Vocab
albaab - door
garaac - knock
saaxiib - friend
bariis - rice
canjeero - Somali style savoury pancake
casheeyn weedey - to not eat dinner
cunto + dooda = their food
cunto + deenna  = our food
ka fiican - better than

Sidee baa loogu yidhaahdaa/yiraahdaa af Soomaali?

When you want to know what the Somali word is for something, you can just ask someone,

Sidee baa loogu yidhaadha/yiraahdaa af Soomaali ........? - How do you say in Somali .....?

For example,

Sidee baa loogu yidhaahdaa af Soomaali "library"?

Sidee baa loogu yiraahdaa af Soomaali "friendship"?

Sidee baa loogu yidhaahdaa af Soomaali "bravery"?

Maxaad... u....? Why did you...?

We have learned how to ask What, Where and When questions. Now, we will learn how to ask Why. 
There are two ways to ask Why questions. If you just want to ask why, then just say,


Waayo? - Why?

But if you specifically want to ask why someone did something, then you have to use 'Maxa... u'. We saw before that 'Maxa' means 'what'. 'U' is a preposition that we covered before, it means 'for,to'. Therefore, 'Maxa..u' means 'for what' or 'why'. This is similar to the French pourquoi, or the Spanish porque, or in Arabic limadha. So,

Maxaan u ...? - Why did I ...?
Maxaad u ...? - Why did you...?
Muxuu u ...? - Why did he...?
Maxay u ...? - Why did she...?
Maxaanu u...? - Why did we...?
Maxeynu u...? - Why did we...?
Maxaad u...? - Why did you...?
Maxay u...? - Why did they...?


Then combine the above constructions with the appropriate verb conjugation and you can start to ask 'Why did you...?' questions.


Maxaad u cuntay? - Why did you eat it?
Maxay u baxeen? - Why did they go out?
Muxuu u dilay?     - Why did he kill (him/her/them)?
Maxaan u seexday? - Why did I sleep?
Maxeynu u nimid? - Why did we come?
Maxay u iibsatey? - Why did she buy it?
etc.

Goorma? When?

The word for 'when' in Somali is 'goorma'. For example,


New York baan tegay. - I went to New York
Goorma?                      - When?
Laba sano ka hor.        - Two years ago.


If you want to say 'When did you...?', then you have to combine 'goorma' with the verbal pronouns, the same as we did with 'maxa'. Therefore,


Goorma + aan = Goormaan (When did I...?)
Goorma + aad = Goomaad (When did you..?)
Goorma + uu   = Goormuu (When did he..?)
Goorma + ay   = Goormay (When did she..?)
Goorma + aanu = Goormaanu (When did we..?)
Goorma + eynu = Goormeynu(When did we..?)
Goorma + aad   = Goormaad (When did you..?)
Goorma + ay    = Goormay (When did they..?)


Goormaad tagtey?  - When did you go?
Goormuu guursadey? - When did he get married?
Goormaan toosay?    - When did I get up(wake up)?
Goormay baxday?    - When did she go out (of the house)?
etc.

Bar ama baro

'Bar ama baro' is a famous Somali proverb. We learnt before that 'ama' means 'or'. 'Bar' ends in a consonant, so it's a Conj. 1 verb. It means 'teach'. 'Baro' is a Conj 3b verb. It means 'learn'. So now you know what the proverb says.


Waan baray      - I taught
Waad bartey     - You taught
Wuu baray        - He taught
Wey bartey       - She taught
Waannu barney - We(excl.) taught
Weynu barney   - We (incl.) taught
Waad barteen    - You (pl) taught
Wey bareen       - They taught

Af Soomaali ii bar! - Teach me Somali!


Waan bartey        - I learned
Waad baratay      - You learned
Wuu bartay          - He learned
Wey baratay        - She learned
Waannu barannay - We (excl.) learned
Weynu barannay  - We (incl.) learned
Waad barateen     - You (pl) learned
Wey barteen         - They learned

Maxaad baratay? - What did you learn?
Af Soomaali iyo Xisaabta baan bartay - 
I learnt Somali and mathematics.

Maxa ... What ...

In Somali when you want to find out what something is, you can just point to it and say,


Kaasi waa maxay? - What is that?


But if you want to ask someone what they ate/did/wore/wrote etc. then you have to use 'maxa' combined with the verbal pronouns. So,


Maxa + aan = Maxaan (What did I ...?)
Maxa + aad = Maxaad (What did you ...?)
Maxa + uu  = Muxuu   (What did he ...?)
Maxa + ay  = Maxay   (What did she...?)
Maxa + aanu = Maxaanu (What did we (excl)...?)
Maxa + eynu = Maxeynu (What did we (incl.)...?)
Maxa + aad =  Maxaad  (What did you(pl) ...?)
Maxa + ay   = Maxay   (What did they...?)


Then combine the above words with the appropriate verb conjugation, and you can start to ask What ? questions. We haven't learn the present or future tenses yet, but we can make sentences about the past.


Maxaad sameesey?  - What did you do?
Muxuu  cuney ?        - What did he eat?
Maxay cabbey?        - What did she drink?
Maxay kariyeen?      - What did they cook?
Maxaan qorey?         - What did I write?
Maxaad akhriseen    - What did you(pl) read?
etc.

Verb conjugation: a roundup

There are basically three different groups of verbs that conjugate in different ways when you want to use the past tense. The table below is a rough guide. When you learn a new verb, pay attention to the last letter. That should give you a clue as to how to conjugate it.

	Conj. 1	Conj. 2		Conj.3
		verbs ending 'ee'	verbs ending 'i'	3a	3b
	cun(to eat)	samee(to do/make)	kari(to cook)	guurso(to marry)	laaso (to finish)
Waan	cunay	sameeyey	kariyey	guursaday	laastay
Waad	cuntay	sameestey	karisey	guursatay	laasatay
Wuu	cunay	sameeyey	kariyey	guursaday	laastay
Wey	cuntay	sameestey	karisey	guursatay	laasatay
Waannu	cunnay	sameenney	karinney	guursanney	laasanney
Weynu	cunnay	sameenney	karinney	guursanney	laasanney
Waad	cunteen	sameeseen	kariseen	guursateen	laasateen
Wey	cuneen	sameeyeen	kariyeen	guursadeen	laasteen

Getting married: a dialogue

Jaamac: Assalamu alaikum. ( Peace be upon you)
Liban : Assalamu alaikum.
Jaamac : Bal, iska warran!   (Tell me your news!)
Liban : Waan guursadey.     ( I got married)
Jaamac : Masaa saa. Hambalyo!    
             Goormaad guursatey?   
              (Is that so?  Congratulations!  When did you 
                    get married?)
Liban : Laba sano ka hor.      ( Two years ago)
Jaamac: Hayye. Yaad guursatey? 
                 (Ok. Whom did you marry?)
Liban : Faadumo baan guursadey. Adigana,
            maad guursatey?
            (I married Fadumo. And you, are you married?)
Jaamac : Mey, weli maan guursan.
                   (No, I still haven't got married)
Liban : Waayo?                        ( Why?)
Jaamac : Lacag ma lihi, guri ma lihi, shaqo ma lihi, 
              marka sidee baan u guursan karaa?
             ( I have no money, no house, and no job, so
             how can I get married?)

Verbs: Conjugation 3a & 3b

Up to now, we have dealt with two groups of verbs, Conjugations 1 & 2. Conjugation 1 deals with verbs that end in a consonant, e.g. 'cun' (eat) 'cab'(drink) etc. Conjugation 2 dealt with verbs that end in 'i' or 'ee' such as 'kari' (cook) or 'samee'(to do/make). Conjugation 3 largely deals with verbs that end in 'o'. However, this conjugations can be split into roughly two patterns, 3a & 3b. In 3a, 'o' changes into 'a', and the verbs conjugated as below. However, with 3b, for 1st person singular and 3rd person male (singular & plural), the 'o' is dropped.


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Verb stem	3a	3b
1st person	-aday	-tay
2nd person	-atay	-atay
3rd person(male)	-aday	-tay
3rd person(female)	-atay	-atay
1st person(plural excl)	-anney	-anney
1st person (plural incl.)	-anney	-anney
2nd person	ateen	-ateen
3rd person(plural)	-adeen	-teen

Example,


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	Conjugation 3a		Conjugation 3b
	guurso		laabo
Waan	guursaday	I got married	laabtay	I returned
Waad	guursatay	You got married	laabatay	You returned
Wuu	guursaday	He got married	laabtay	He returned
Wey	guursatay	She got married	laabatay	She returned
Waannu	guursanney	We got married	laabanney	We returned
Weynu	guursanney	We got married	laabanney	We returned
Waad	guursateen	You(pl) got married	laabateen	You(pl) returned
Wey	guursadeen	They got married	laabteen	They returned

Waa (noun) oo kale

Sometimes, when you want to explain what something is, you say that it is like some other thing. In Somali, we do this by saying 'Waa ..... oo kale'. For example,

Jaamac : Kaasi waa maxay?  ( What is that?)
Liban  : Waa Kindle              ( It's a Kindle)
Jaamac : 'Kindle' waa maxay?( What's a 'Kindle'?)
Liban  : Waa buug oo kale     (It's like a book)

'Kale' literally means 'other'. Therefore, it means ' It's like another ...'.

He is fat.... She is tall.... (Adjective + ahay)

When you want to say that someone (or something)is tall, fat, short, difficult etc, in Somali the natural way to express this is to use 'wuu', 'wey', plus the adjective, and then add the verb 'ahay' at the end. Remember the verb 'ahay' means 'to be'.


Therefore, 
Wey dhuubantahay - She is thin
Waan dheregsanahay - I am full(i.e. can't eat anymore)
Wuu xunyahay - He is soft

Wey + dhuuban(thin) + tahay (she is)
Waan + dheregsan(full) + ahay (I am)
Wuu + xun (bad) + yahay (he is)

Waan      + adj. + ahay
Waad     + adj. + tahay
Wuu       + adj. + yahay
Wey       + adj. + tahay
Waannu  + adj. + nahay
Weynu    + adj. +nahay
Waad     + adj. + tihiin
Wey       + adj. + yihiin


The phrase 'Waad mahasantahay' comes from this form. 'Mahadsan' means 'thankfulness'. It's hard to translate into English, but directly translated it means 'You are thanked'. Generally we use it to say 'Thank you'.


Use the forms above to make sentences from the following adjectives


weyn - big
yar    - small 
gaaban - short
dheer - tall
cad - white
madow - black
jilicsan - soft
adag - difficult
foolxun - ugly
guruxsan - beautiful
gaajeysan - hungry
harradsan -thirsty
wanaagsan - good
fiican - good (as in healthy)
ladan - good (as in healthy)
buuran - fat

A typical day

Saaka, sideeddii baan soo toosay. Marka waan qubeystay oo quraacay. Sagaalkii guriga baan baxay oo shaqada baan aadey. Lixdii guriga baan soo noqday. Waan casheeyey. Dabadeedna, tobankii sariirta baan aadey oo seexday.


Vocab
saaka - this morning
sideeddii - 8 o'clock
toos - to get up
marka - then
qubeyso - to wash yourself
quraac - to have breakfast
sagaalkii - 9 o'clock
shaqo - job
aad - to head towards
lixdii - 6 o'clock
noqo - to return
dabadeedna - and then
tobankii - 10 o'clock
sariir - bed
seexo - to sleep