Waa Lessons - Introducing Yourself
In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself, and how to ask about basic information about others.
Dialogue 1
Nama yu wea? (What's your name?)
JOHN: Nama yu wea?
MARY: Nama mi Mary. E yu? Nama yu wea?
JOHN: Nama mi John. E tiaoka naa, kia wea?
MARY: Kia bote mi. Nama kia Peter.
JOHN: What's your name?
MARY: My name is Mary. And you? What's your name?
JOHN: My name is John. And that man, who's he?
MARY: He's my brother. His name is Peter.
Vocabulary
nama - name
wea - what, which
mi - I, me, my
yu - you, your
e - and
tiaoka - man, person
kia - she, he, it
bote - brother
Language notes
Possessive phrases
In a possessive phrase, the possessor is placed right after the possessum: nama yu 'your name', bote mi 'my brother', nama kia 'his name' etc. Note that the 'basic' form of the pronouns are used. Mi can mean both 'I/me' and 'my'. The same for yu 'you', 'your'. Kia is a gender neutral third person pronoun, which can be translated 'he', 'she', or 'it' - or 'his', 'her' or 'its', depending on the context.
Personal pronouns
The full set of personal pronouns is as follows:
mi - I
yu - you (singular)
kia - (s)he, it
miera - we
yuera - you (plural)
kiaera - they (plural)
To say 'that (one)' or 'this (one)', you and naa ('that') or nei ('this') to the third person pronoun:
kia naa - 'that one'
kia nei - 'this one'
kiaera naa - 'those ones'
kiaera nei - these ones'
Naa and nei can also be added to regular nouns, to indicate 'that' or 'this':
tiaoka naa - 'that person'
tiaoka nei - 'this person'
Asking what
To ask 'what' or 'who' something is, you can just add wea after the nouns or pronoun in informal speech:
Yu wea? - 'Who are you?'
Kia wea? - 'Who is (s)he?' Or 'What is that?'
Tiaoka naa wea? - 'Who is that person?'
In more formal speech, there is a special copula nea ('to be'):
Kia nea wea? - 'Who is (s)he?'
Nama yu nea wea? - What is your name?'
Dialogue 2
JOHN: Hero. Yu nea Peter?
PETER: Ye. Mi Peter. E yu nea ...?
JOHN: Mi nea John. Mi weko i keuna sama e Mary.
PETER: Ou. Mi siu. Kesiu bono.
JOHN: Kesiu bono rika.
JOHN: Hello. Are you Peter?
PETER: Yes. I'm Peter. And you are ...?
JOHN: I'm John. I work for the same company as Mary.
PETER: Oh. I see. Nice to meet you.
JOHN: Nice to meet you too.
Vocabulary
hero - hello
nea - to be
ye - yes (signifying agreement with a positively stated question; see below)
weko - to work
keuna - company
sama - the same
e - (here) as
sama e - the same as
ou - oh
siu - to see, to meet
kesiu - meeting
bono - good, right
kesiu bono - nice to meet you
