Cuntada Hindida

Markaan Japan joogey oo ardeyga ahaa,  aad baan u tegi jirey makhaayaddan la oran jiray 'Kerala'. Cuntada Hindida aad iyo aad baan u jeclahay! Markaan tegi jiray makhayaaddan, waxaan dalban jiray 'Vegetable Lunch'. 'Vegetable Lunch' waxaa weeye 'naan', sambuuse, bariis, salad, laba baaquli oo suugo ah oo hilib lahayn, baaquli yogurt ah iyo shaah xawaash leh. 

Vocab
tegi jirey - used to pass by
la oran jirey - used to be called
makhaayad(da) - restaurant
dalban jirey - used to order
baaquli - bowl
suugo - soup/curry
hilib lahayn - without meat
sambuuse - samosa
shaah xawaash leh - spicy tea (chai)

Yeelkiisa - It's up to him

Maybe this is not so useful, but I often hear this phrase in my house.  'Yeelkiisa' means 'It's up to him'. 'Yeelkeeda' means 'It's up to her'. 'Yeelkayga' means 'It's up to me'.


Wuxuu ii sheegay inuu tegayo Mareykanka - He told me that he's going to America
Yeelkiisa - That's up to him (I don't care)

Adaa mudan - You're welcome

In Somali, the word for 'Thanks' is 'Mahadsanid'. You can also say, 'Waad mahadsantahay'. If someone thanks you, and you want to say 'You're welcome', the most common phrase is 'Adaa mudan'. This literally means 'You deserve it/ You are deserving (of it)'.


Person A: Aad baad u mahadsantahay, walaal - Thanks so much 
Person B : Adaa mudan - You're welcome/Don't mention it


This is a very nice polite phrase, please use it.

Definite articles - a video

Here is a (very basic) video that explains a few things about definite articles in Somali. I might have mentioned these things before, but I wanted to make a video and see how it would turn out. Also, originally I wanted to show how the words are pronounced, but I'm not a native speaker, and I could find anyone at hand who was willing. In any case, here it is(by the way, the video stops at around 4:15 mins).

Heer sare! - Great! Excellent!

When someone has achieved something great, and you want to congratulate them, you can say 'Heer sare!'. It literally means, 'high class', but is equivalent to the English word 'excellent'.


Berrito, waan qalinjebin doonnaa - Tomorrow, I'm going to graduate.
Ma run baa? Heer sare! - Is that so? That's great!


Laba iyo laba ku dar - Add two plus two.
Waa afar - It's four
Heer sare! - Excellent!

Excellent Somali website

ka...(adjective) - is more (adjective) than...

... ka (adjective) ... - is more (adjective) than...

Baabuurkaagu waa jabanyahay - Your car is cheap
Baabuurkaaga ka jaban baabuurkayga - Your car is cheaper than mine

Wiilkaagu waa asluubwacanyahay - Your son is well behaved
Wiilkaaga ka asluubwacan wiilkayga - Your son is better behaved than my son

Gurigiisu waa weynyahay - His house is big
Gurigiisa ka weyn kayga - His house is bigger than mine

Telefishonkeedu waa yaryahay - Her T.V. is smaller
Telefishonkeeda ka yar - Her T.V. is smaller

Fadumo wejigeedu waa quruxsanyahay - Fadumo's face is beautiful
Fadumo wejigeeda ka guruxsan Marian keeda - Fadumo's face is more beautiful than Marian's

Cabdi timihiisu waa badanyahay - Abdi's hair is big
Cabdi timihiisa ka badan kuwa Mohamed - Abdi's has more hair  than Mohamed(lit: Abdi's hair is more than those of Mohamed)
(In Somali, 'timo'  is kind of like a plural, like 'chevaux' in French.  So, you don't say that someone's hair is bigger than someone else's, you say that there are more of them than someone else's)


Af Soomaaligu waa adagyahay - The Somali language is difficult
Af Soomaaliga ka adag Af Ingriisiga - The Somali language is more difficult than English

markaan ... When I ...

Markaan cunayo, si aayar ah baan u cunaa - When I eat, I eat slowly 
Markaan cabbayo, si aayar ah baan u cabbaa - When I drink, I drink slowly
Markaan lugeeyo/socdo, si aayar ah baan u lugeeyaa/socdaa - When I walk, I walk slowly
Markaan qorayo, si aayar ah baan u qoraa - When I write, I write slowly
Markaan akhriyo, si aayar ah baan u akhriyaa - When I read, I read slowly

Markaad cunayso, si aayar ah baad u cuntaa - When you eat, you eat slowly
Markaad cabayso, si aayar ah baad u cabtaa- When you drink, you drink slowly
Markaad lugeeyso/socoto, si aayar ah baad u lugeeysaa/socataa - When you walk, you walk slowly
Markaad qorayso, si aayar ah baad u qortaa - When you write, you write slowly
Markaad akhriso, si aayar ah baad u akhrisaa - When you read, you read slowly


Markuu cunayo, si aayar ah buu u cunaa - When he eats, he eats slowly 
Markuu cabbayo, si aayar ah buu u cabbaa - When he drinks, he drinks slowly
Markuu lugeeyo/socdo, si aayar ah buu u lugeeyaa/socdaa - When he walks, he walks slowly
Markuu qorayo, si aayar ah buu u qoraa - When he writes, he writes slowly
Markuu akhriyo, si aayar ah buu u akhriyaa - When he reads, he reads slowly


Markay cunayso, si aayar ah bey u cuntaa - When she eats, she eats slowly
Markay cabayso, si aayar ah bey u cabtaa- When she drinks, she drinks slowly
Markay lugeeyso/socoto, si aayar ah bey u lugeeysaa/socataa - When she walks, she walks slowly
Markay qorayso, si aayar ah bey u qortaa - When she writes, she writes slowly
Markay akhrinayso, si aayar ah bey u akhrisaa - When she reads, she reads slowly

Markaannu cunayno, si aayar ah baannu u cunnaa - When we eat, we eat slowly 
Markaannu cabayno, si aayar ah baannu u cabnaa - When we drink, we drink slowly
Markaannu lugeeyno/soconno, si aayar ah baannu u lugeeynaa/soconnaa - When we walk, we walk slowly
Markaannu qorayno, si aayar ah baannu u qornaa - When we write, we write slowly
Markaannu akhrinayno, si aayar ah baannu u akhrinaa - When we read, we read slowly

Somali dictionary

Here is a free online Somali-English dictionary, which will tell you the meaning of Somali words in English, and show if the nouns are masculine or feminine

http://www.afmaal.com/dictionary/
If you want to translate basic English words into Somali, you can use another site that I've found, but it won't tell you the noun gender.

http://www.freelang.net/online/somali.php

If you really want to know, you can take the Somali word, and use the above dictionary site to find out.

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