sugabelly:

pyoowata:

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?

I agree with you except for one thing. 

In Igbo, UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE, THERE IS NO PLURAL / ALL NOUNS ARE ALSO PLURAL.

So you don’t say “N ji anya abuo fu gi” - this is wrong because you are adding an unnecessary counter - abuo- to a noun that is already plural (anya)

Anya = Eye, Eyes, An Eye, The Eye, The Eyes (All at once) therefore there is NO NEED to say Two eyes because it is already understood that you are speaking in the plural. (unless there is a situation in which there might be confusion, e.g. a one eyed person perhaps?)

You say - N ji anya fu gi. Or E ji m anya fu gi.

Also glasses = ugegbe

So you can say N ji ugegbe fu gi  or E ji m ugegbe fu gi. (But this opens up a whole other situation because it IMPLIES that you were unable to see that person UNLESS you were wearing those glasses.)

Nsogbu adighi…of course it is implied that when you used your eye to see something, it refers to both eyes. It is not like by default, one eye is closed and the other eye is open and you need abuo to make sure that both eyes were open. So in the purest grammatical sense, one would use anya rather than anya abuo. I guess I wasn’t paying to much attention to the response, as in trying to be exact with the Igbo grammar, for I was merely referencing what I have heard in casual conversation. To say, I used two eyes, is more of an idiomatic thing - like when someone wishes to get their point across that they caught you in the act, I have heard many use the Igbo equivalent of, “I used my two eyes,” while making various gestures with their hands to make a point. Again, not pure, but it falls in line with the art and humor that is found regularly in everyday Igbo conversation. I have heard people say four eyes, and like I stated above, it is said in humor - as in “not only am I humorously over-emphasizing the point by stating that I used two eyes, but in fact, let me take it further by adding the other two that I am wearing (my glasses, which is again, humorously referred to, by some, as a second set of eyes).” I wouldn’t suggest using anya abuo in an essay or in formal Igbo conversation, but to demonstrate is so casual with casual spoken Igbo, so much so that they could make small puns here or there with the language, wouldn’t kill.