[NOTE: This is a “Question of the Week” post at an intermediate Bambara/Jula level. I’ve been doing them in the Discord server every week for the past few weeks. Now, I’d like to experiment with doing them here instead. Any one is welcome to respond! I will offer comments and feedback as appropriate.]
Nin dɔgɔkun ka ɲininkali filɛ:
Gafe/kitabu jumɛn ka di i ye ka tɛmɛ olu bɛɛ kan? Munna? I ka siɲɛ fɔlɔ k’à kalan tun ye tuma jumɛn ye?
VOCAB
gafe/kitabu = book
siɲɛ = time; instance (as in, ‘the first time that…’)
Ne wa?
Kitabu caman ka di n ye. Bi-bi nin na, n tɛ waati caman sɔrɔ k’olu kalan. À ka ca à la, n bɛ “magazine” dɔ kalan. À tɔgɔ ko “New Yorker”. Nka kitabu fan fɛ, n bɛ se k’à fɔ ko “Catch 22” ka di n ye. Nka n y’à kalan ni n tun ye kalanden ye “high school” kɔnɔ .
A ɲininkali ye gɛlɛn ye. Kalan kɛ ka di n ye, nka n tɛ se kitabu sugandi ka tɛmɛ u bɛɛ kan. Kɔsa, n ma kalan kɛ. N ye kaban kitabu min kalan, a tɔgɔ ko “Black Widow” (The last book I read was called Black Widow). Sɔɔni, n b’a fɛ ka kalan kɛ “The Light We Carry” (Soon, I want to read “The Light We Carry”).
I ni ce! N ma deli k’olu si kalan. “Black Widow” ye kitabu sugu jumɛn ye? Sci Fi? Fantasy? Fɛn wɛrɛ?
FEEDBACK
NOTES
Remember: ka kalan kɛ = to read (lit. ‘to do reading’). But if there’s a direct object (ie - a book you read), then you say ka kitabu kalan and you don’t need the “light verb” kɛ
Marvel ka Black Widow ye sci-fi ye. A kuma superhero kan. N somɔgɔkɔrɔ y’a sɛbɛn.
Michelle Obama ka The Light We Carry ye kitabu kura ye.
For somɔgɔkɔrɔ: I was going for “older family member” because I don’t know the word for cousin
For, “Kɔsa, n ma kalan kɛ”, in my previous reply: I was trying to say, recently I haven’t read.
Oh, I see! I thought you were going for “kosɔn”. With “kɔsa”, it’s typically used like this: Kɔsa nin na (lit. “In this kɔsa” = recently)
The idea of “cousin” is not really part of the traditional way of talking about family in Bambara. Instead, you could say “n kɔrɔ dɔ” (‘one of my elders [e.g., siblings/cousins]’) or “an ka mɔgɔkɔrɔba” (lit. ‘our elder person’ [though this would make me think of it being a grandparent or someone from an older generation than yours])
I ni ce, Daouda “Oui, mon commandant” ye kitabu duman ye. N fana y’à kalan.
Attention avec ton utilisation de kabini (lit. “depuis”). Tu en avais pas besoin ici. Je pense que la semaine dernière aussi tu l’avais utilisé là où je m’y attendais pas. En général, on l’utilise quand il s’agît de quelque chose qui est encore en cours. Genre, “N bɛ Paris kabini 2015” (‘Je suis à Paris depuis 2015’).
Kitabu caman ka di n ye fana. Jumɛn ka di n ye olu bɛɛ kan?.. Ka sugandi ka gɛlɛn dɛ!
Tuma min na n tun ye sifin ye L’Alchimiste - Paulo Cohelo tun ka di n ye. Kitabu nin ye maana dɔ ye, ani nsanaw caman bɛ a la. N’i bɛ a kalan, I bɛna o miiri waati jan.
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