Prefixes: Pronouns and 2 Tenses

After we finished going through our personal vocabulary, we moved on to some prefixes- pronouns and verb tenses.

There are 7 basic pronouns:
me
wo
⊃no
εno
yεn
mo
w⊃n (also can use w⊃⊃nom or ⊃⊃mo but we weren't told when to use them)


When you add these pronouns to a verb, they become Subject Pronouns and prefixes on the verb. I'll use "te" (to feel, sense, hear, or smell, depending on the context) as the verb base.
mete
wote
⊃te
εte
yεte
mote
w⊃te

It gets difficult, though... There are two groups of verbs that are divided based on their vowels. I don't really understand how to know which group a verb is in. According to my textbook, Group 1 consists of verbs with e ε ⊃ o a and Group 2 consists of verbs with i e o u. I guess the correct categorization depends on how the vowels are pronounced in that word. But how are beginners supposed to know this? It's hard for me to figure out... εyε den. The subject pronouns are different fro Group 2. Here they are with the verb base "bu" (to break):
mibu
wubu
obu
ebu
yebu
mubu
wobu

The 2 tenses we learned are Progressive (English verbs that end with -ing) and Future (English verbs proceeded with "will"). The Progressive tense is represented with the prefix "re-", but when the word is pronounced, it is usually represented by a long vowel sound. I'll break it down with the verb "di" (to eat):
miredi                          miidi
wuredi                         wuudi
oredi                            oodi
eredi                            eedi
yeredi                          yeedi
muredi                        muudi
woredi                        woodi

The Future tense is represented by "bε-" and is added into the phrase between the subject pronoun and verb base. It is not shortened like the Progressive tense. Here it is with the verb "fa" (to take) and note that this verb is in Group 1:
mebεfa
wobεfa
⊃bεfa
εbεfa
yεbεfa
mobεfa
w⊃bεfa

Now, we move on to Object Pronouns. In English, object pronouns represent the recipient of the action / verb. Important note: In Twi, inanimate objects DO NOT have an object pronoun. Instead, the pronoun is implied by the context of the sentence. Here's the list:
me
wo
no
yεn
mo
w⊃⊃nom / ⊃⊃mo

Here they are in a simple sentence using "he/she calls ____" (frε = to call) before the object pronoun:
⊃frε me.
⊃frε wo.
⊃frε no.
⊃frε yεn.
⊃frε mo.
⊃frε w⊃⊃nom / ⊃⊃mo.

Here's an example of a sentence with an inanimate object as the object pronoun: "⊃t⊃n." This means "he/she sells (it)."

You can also add the tense prefixes to these words, just like above. For example: "⊃bεt⊃n" means "he/she will sell (it)." Or "Merek⊃," which means "I am going."

That's all for today. Tomorrow's lesson has a lot of useful dialogue- check it out!

Favorite words of the day: "Wea" [wi-a] (expert in the field), "⊃benfo" [o-ben-fo] (Professor or someone who has reached the ultimate learning level), "kyerεkyerεni" or "tikya" [tee-cha] (teacher).