Today, we spent half the day practicing numbers 1-10. As difficult as they are to remember, it became a bit too redundant. We just need to practice on our own. Does anyone out there have a good suggestion for remembering the basic numbers and the tens?
The second half was focused on "expressions of time" and translating verb conjugations. Both of these aspects are crucial to basic conversation in Twi. Here are some of the most important terms for time:
an⊃pa [ana-pa] = morning
awia [ay-wee-ah] = noon / afternoon / sun
anwumerε [an-womay-reh] = evening
anadwo [ana-jwoh] = night
εnnora [ehn-norah] = yesterday
εnnε [ehn-neh] = today
⊃kyena [aw-chenah] = tomorrow
seesei [saay-say] = now
seesei ara = right now ("ara" puts emphasis on "seesei")
akyire yi [aw-chireh yee] = later ("yi" puts emphasis on "akyire")
Here are some idiomatic expressions that incorporate feelings associated with body parts. They're also cues as to how to act while you're saying them.
Mehwε w'anim. [Mi-shweh wah-neem] = I will look for your face. = I'll be expecting you.
M'ani agye ... [Ma-nee jay] = My eyes have received ... = I'm pleased / happy ...
M'ani awu. [Ma-nee woo] = My eyes are dead. = I'm ashamed.
W'asõ yε den [Wah-so(n) yeh den] = Your ears are difficult. = You're stubborn.
Do you see what I mean about having a certain expression on your face when you say these phrases?
This next part is confusing. It's not something that can really be translated from Twi to English. Like the idiomatic expressions above, the serial verbs (when more than 1 verb is used to convey an action within the sentence) just need to be memorized and not broken down into English. Nonetheless, I will break them down a little because I feel like they're easier to understand and remember that way. Many of these serial verbs use "de", or "to take", as the first verb, then another one that conveys more of the meaning expressed by the action. An important note- the second verb is the conjugated one. Here are a few examples to help illustrate all of this:
de + k⊃ : Mede worek⊃ fie. = "I take you going home." = I'm taking you home.
de + ba : Amma de car no bεba ha. = "Amma takes the car [and] will come here." = Amma will bring the car here.
de + hyε : Akua de ataadeε no hyε. = "Akua takes the dress and wears it." = Akua puts on the dress.
de + ma : ⊃de εkyε no bεma me. = "He takes the hat and will give it to me." = He will bring me the hat.
ba + gye : Mebεba abεgye. = "I'll come [and] will receive it." = I'll come for them. (This one has both verbs conjugated for the future, but I don't understand why. Maybe it's particular to the verb "ba".)
That's all for today. We didn't get through much, though I still managed to write a lot here. Tomorrow, we'll go over our own personal dialogs that we made up with the teacher. And on Thursday, another quiz... this is going to be a difficult week. (Naaw⊃twe bεyε den.)
Favorite phrase of the day: Etuu! (This is what Ghanaians say when they hug someone. Why should there be silence when you can say something sentimental? It's similar to how we saw "Aww!" when we are happy to see something cute. Make sure you put some love and joy into this exclamation!)
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