Sifa | sorte, type

“Ala bɛ an ka kojugu sifa bɛɛ lɔn.”

sifa n. sorte, espèce; sort, type. From: arabe

I guess that would make it:
“God knows all sorts of bad things we do”

I was wondering though if it means exactly the same as “sugu” or if there’s a difference in meaning or context…?

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I ni ce, @Irene ! Thanks for the submission and details :slight_smile:

As for your question, it’s a good one. I can’t comment on the specific register distinctions between sugu and sifa, but I would say that in my experience sugu is much more common.

It’s worth noting that synonyms are really, if ever, one-to-one equivalents. There is generally speaking a register distinction (e.g., “common”, “fancy”, “religious”, “rare”), though in some cases, it can be rather subtle and not that big of a deal for getting by day-to-day :wink:

Where did you encounter the term and its sentence of use?

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I heard it in a Bible story on youtube about the prodigal son.

Thanks for the context. Well, this might suggest that the use of sifa is more formal and/or religious. Many Arabic loanwords have this connotation. Another possibility is that sifa is considered to be more “Kong Jula” (as the description/title of the video suggests).

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