Waa Lessons - Introducing Yourself

In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself, and how to ask about basic information about others.

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?'