The Feel Of Free: Igbo.. 

sugabelly:

elumeda:

Afuru m gi na anya -I love you (technically)

Afuru m gi na anya m - I saw you with my eyes

That 1 letter at the end makes a huge difference.

Actually it doesn’t. Sorry to be an Igbo grammar nazi but your grammar is wrong.

In Igbo when referring to body…

Agree with sugabelly - there is a penchant among some to create a version of Igbo that would be unrecognizable to most native speakers. As someone who is a native speaker of English and had to study Igbo, I was quick to pick up on the fact that in Igbo, one usually drops the possessive when talking about their own body parts and I have to consciously remind myself to resist the urge to add the possessive when talking about my body parts, since I am so used to doing so in English. Perhaps, if you want to say, that you saw someone with your eyes, like when they were doing something that they deny, you could say something like, “I na-asi na ahurughi m gi? E ji m anya abuo mgbe i mere ihe a (or if you wear glasses, and wish to humorously emphasize your point, you could say,  e ji m anya ano).” I defer to others on this, seeing that I still get strange looks when I attempt to speak Igbo.  When I say the above out loud, it doesn’t exactly “sound” right. It’s a bit difficult for me to translate English idioms into Igbo ones. Any other thoughts?

@4 weeks ago with 36 notes
  1. sm-i reblogged this from numbla
  2. omogeopeyemi reblogged this from numbla
  3. africanhippiemovement reblogged this from numbla
  4. yvonneshelly reblogged this from numbla
  5. numbla reblogged this from elumeda
  6. thefeeloffree reblogged this from pyoowata and added:
    bolded because pyoowata was replying a question i had asked requesting a direct translation of “i saw you with my own...
  7. pyoowata reblogged this from sugabelly and added:
    Nsogbu adighi…of course it is implied that when you used your eye to see something, it refers to both eyes. It is not...
  8. elumeda reblogged this from sugabelly and added:
    Yeah you have a good point there. I guess saying e jim anya fu gi or N ji anya fu gi is a better way to say it in...
  9. sugabelly reblogged this from elumeda and added:
    Re the Igbo post. It doesn’t matter that your Mom is Igbo born and bred. With all due respect to your mother, LOTS (and...
  10. sugabelly reblogged this from pyoowata and added:
    I agree with you except for one thing. In Igbo, UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE, THERE IS NO PLURAL / ALL NOUNS ARE ALSO PLURAL....
  11. sugabelly reblogged this from thefeeloffree and added:
    body… In response...TheFeelofFree who asked how then...your...
  12. pyoowata reblogged this from thefeeloffree and added:
    body… Agree with sugabelly -...a penchant among some...would...
  13. elumeda reblogged this from sugabelly and added:
    NO… LOL sorry what? Okay firstly, My mother of native Igbo heritage born and bred...one...
  14. crystalazuike reblogged this from thefeeloffree
  15. cheekie reblogged this from thefeeloffree
  16. thefeeloffree reblogged this from sugabelly and added:
    curious- how would you say “i saw you with my own eyes”? like if someone was denying that they did something and i saw...
  17. sugabelly reblogged this from elumeda and added:
    Actually it doesn’t. Sorry to be an Igbo grammar nazi but your grammar is wrong. In Igbo when referring to body parts,...
  18. ideally-nancy reblogged this from elumeda
  19. elumeda posted this