Pronunciation
Twi uses open vowel sounds as in Spanish
In the following examples:
'o' & 'Ɔ’- like
the 'o' in orange
'ε’ - like the 'E' in Eric
Stress indicated in bold.
The 'e' on the end of words is pronounced.
Intonation in questions does the opposite to English: instead of rising it falls.
Greetings and Responses
| How are you? | Wo ho te sεn? (pron. Woho te-sain) |
| Often shortened to εte sεn? (how is it?) | |
| I'm fine. | Me ho ye. (shortened to εyε) |
| Thank you | Meda ase (pron. Meh-daa-se) |
| Please | Mepa wo kyεw (pron. Meh-paw-chow) |
|
Yes |
Aane (often shortened to a word that sounds like 'eye') |
|
No |
Dabi |
|
OK |
Yoo (pron. elongate the 'o' sound) |
|
Me |
Me |
|
You |
Wo |
|
He/she/it |
Ɔno (animate) |
|
|
εno (inanimate) |
|
We / they |
Yεn |
| Give | Ma |
| Buy | TƆ |
| Go | KƆ |
| Want/like | Pε |
| Alight | Si |
Phrases
How much? Sεn? (pron. Sain) or εyε sεn?
How much is the apple? Apple sεn? Or Apple εyε sεn?
Once you know a few words you can fit them together like building blocks.
| I'll give you | Me ma wo |
| You give me | Wo ma me |
| I'll buy | Me tƆ |
| I'm going | Me kƆ |
| Are you going? | Wo kƆ? |
| Where are you going? | Wo kƆ he? (pron. woko hε?) |
| Shall we go? | Yεn kƆ? (remove the ‘?' to make it a statement.) |
| I'll alight here | Me si ha |
| I'm going to buy | Me kƆ tƆ |
| I want to... | Mepε se me... |
| I want to buy water | Me pε se me tƆ Nsuo. (lit. I want that I buy water) |
| [Nsuo pron. en-sue-oh] | |
| I want to go to Accra | Me pε se me kƆ nkran. [en-kran] |
| I don't understand | Mente Aseε (pron. Men-ti-a-say) |
Stress indicated in bold.
PronunciationIntonation in questions does the opposite to English: instead of rising it falls. Alternatively you can add ‘Anaa’ on to the end of a phrase to turn it into a question. ‘Anna’ means ‘or’. In Accra some people are now saying ‘or’ at the end of a question in Twi!
Questions you are likely to be asked
| Yε frε wo sεn? (sεn pron. sain) | What is your name? [lit. they call you how?] |
| Yε frε me Susan. | They call me Susan. |
| Another way of asking is: | |
| Wo din de sεn? | Your name is what? |
| Me din de Susan | My Name is Susan |
| Wofiri he? | Where do you come from? |
| (When pronounced by a native speaker it sounds more like wufri hε?) | |
| Mefi America ( pron. meh-fee) | I come from America |
| A common one you are going to here all the time is: | |
| WorekƆ he? (sounds more like wo-coy) | Where are you going? |
| In Ghana people don’t give too much detail: | |
| Me kƆ krum | I’m going to town |
| A Ghanaian will then say | |
| KƆ bra | Go come. (The equivalent of come back safely.) |
| Wo te Twi? | Do you speak Twi (lit. You hear Twi?) |
| Anne, me te Twi | Yes, I speak Twi |
| Dabi, mente Twi | No, I don’t speak Twi |
| Kakra kakra | Small small (a little) |
| This | Wei |
| I like this | Me pε wei |
| How much is this? | Wei yε sεn? Or just Wei sεn? |
| If you’re buying something in the market you might like to be cheeky and say: | |
| Mepa wo kyεw. To so. | (pron. Meh-paw-chow & don’t forget to use open ‘o’ sounds for ‘to so’). Please dash me some (add some extra as a gift). |
