Review of Grammar Difficulties; Emphatic Particles; Various Phrases

The last week of class... Today was the last day of instruction. Tomorrow we'll take the final and perform our presentations.

Today, we were lucky to have 3 visitors- Ghanaian-American girls that have a variety of experience with Twi. At least one of them can understand it perfectly and I'm pretty sure she speaks it well. It's nice that these young women are interested in the class, though it's a shame they couldn't attend until the end.

We went over a few of the difficult grammar points to wrap up the class. It's the first time in a week or so that we've done this kind of work. We've been working hard on our dialogs and personally-relevant vocabulary. So, this is a bit of a review, but there is also some clarification of past topics.

Past vs. Future Tenses, etc.
Adjectives
Emphatic Particles
Past vs. Future Tenses:
Using the verb "k⊃" (to go) we put it in the 3 most basic tenses:
Present: Akua k⊃ sukuu. = Akua goes to school.
Past: Akua k⊃⊃ sukuu. = Akua went to school.
Future: Akua bεk⊃ sukuu. = Akua will go to school.
Notice the past form is just extending the final sound, which happens to be "⊃" here. The future form adds "bε-" as a prefix to the verb base.

A quick review of other tenses we've covered, using the verb k⊃:
Progressive: Akua rek⊃ sukuu. = Akua is going to school.
Perfect: Akua ak⊃ sukuu. = Akua has gone to school.
Negative: Akua nk⊃ sukuu. = Akua does not go to school.

Adjectives:
Remember that adjectives go after the nouns they modify, except for proper adjectives, such as nations.
Example: Car k⊃k⊃⊃ (Red car) vs. Ghana car (Ghanaian car)

Here's a short list of common adjectives:
k⊃k⊃⊃ [kaw-kaww] = red
fitaa [fee-taahh] = white
tuntum [tune-tume] = black or another very dark color
ahabammono = green (comes from "fresh" / "mono" and "leaf" / "ahaban" and, as an example of the above adjective rule, the description comes after the noun!)
akok⊃sradeε = yellow (comes from "fat" / "sradeε" and "chicken" / "akok⊃")
For the following adjectives, doubling or tripling them makes them stronger (like "big, bigger, biggest"): 

pa [pà] = good
papa [pàpà] = very good
fε [feh] = beautiful
fεfεεfε = very beautiful
tia = short
tietia = very short
tenten = tall / long
tenteenten = very tall / long
ketewa = small
ketekete = very small
hye = hot
hyehyeehye = very, very hot
fεre [feh-ray] = shy

The emphatic particles have been haunting me since week 1. They're meant to confirm the meaning of the sentence, but we don't really use them in English, so I'm having trouble understanding when to use them and when not to. I'm still not sure, but here's a little explanation of a few of them:
mu = inside 
This usually goes at the end of the sentence and is supposed to emphasize that something is inside or within something. The book explains that since this preposition/emphatic particle goes at the end of sentences, it can be referred to as a "postposition." Here are some examples of how it's used:
εdan no mu = inside the house
adaka no mu = inside the box
Sεn na yεka "banana" w⊃ Twi mu? = How do you say "banana" in Twi?
deε = as for... / in particular...
This particle follows the subject, then the subject pronoun is repeated afterward. It comes in sentences after other statements or conditions. As in English, it wouldn't make sense to just say "This particular child is nice" unless you had already been saying "These children are mean." Examples:
Me deε, menk⊃. = As for me, I won't go.
Ataadeε yi deε, εnyε fε. = As for this particular dress, it's not pretty.
na - This one is difficult. It's meant to confirm the exclusion of something from other things. It's similar to "deε." It also comes after the subject, but requires that a subject pronoun follow it, probably to help emphasize the meaning. For example:
Me na mebaeε. = It is I who came.
Kofi na ⊃bεyε. = It is Kofi who will do it.
Note: "na" is often used at the beginning of a phrase to show friendliness. In this case, it has a different meaning. For example, "Na wo ho te sεn?" means "So, how are you?"

That's all for today. Tomorrow or Thursday I will have a course wrap-up.

Favorite phrases of the day: "Yare yε ya!" (It's bad to be sick!) This is a commonly used phrase to evoke a little sympathy from friends. And it's certainly true...
But the best one: "Yeni ase da." (No need to thank me.) This is a really important phrase to know. It's a really nice way of saying "You're welcome" after someone says "Medaase." Note that "ase da" means "to thank."