Prerequisite: Lesson 8.
New words
None. Every form in this lesson is built from words you have.
Say it twice
You know mi, yu, ta. You know that saying a word twice makes it “more than one”. Put those together:
| one | more than one |
|---|---|
| mi — I | mi-mi — we |
| yu — you | yu-yu — you all |
| ta — he, she, it | ta-ta — they |
| Amadunia | English |
|---|---|
| Ta-ta suda lai. | They came. |
| Yu-yu mau ca? | Do you all want tea? |
| Mi-mi rabota sini. | We work here. |
| Dom ta-ta nali? | Where is their house? |
Two kinds of “we”
You also know kita. It means “we” too — but a particular we.
| mi-mi | we, not you | me and my people |
| kita | we, with you | you and me, together |
— Mi-mi go market sasa. Yu-yu? — No, mi-mi sini. — Ok. Kita saufa kula una!
We’re going to the market now. You all? — No, we’re staying here. — Ok. We’ll all eat together!
The last line said Kita saufa kula una rat — “tonight” — until September 6, 2026. Lesson 15 puts a noun after una to mean with, so una rat is “with the night”, and the time word had to come out: at Lesson 09 there is no in to hold it apart.
The last line uses kita because the speaker means everyone — both groups.
One word, three jobs
ta is he, she, and it.
| Doktor lai. Ta hao. | The doctor is coming. She is good. |
| Ca garam. Mi mau ta. | The tea is hot. I want it. |
| Anak keci. Ta suda kula? | The child is small. Has he eaten? |
Nothing changes
The same pronoun whether it does the action or receives it:
| Mi kan ta. | I see her. |
| Ta kan mi. | She sees me. |
| Yu-yu bil mi-mi? | Do you all know us? |
| Mi-mi bil yu-yu. | We know you all. |
No I / me, no she / her, no we / us. One form each.
A conversation
— Salam! Yu-yu es kim? — Mi-mi es rafiki Sol. Sol sini? — Ya, ta sini. Ta-ta rabota. — Ta-ta es kim? — Sol. Rafiki ta. Anak-anak ta. Kita kan ta-ta? — Ya! Mersi!
Hello! Who are you all? — We’re Sol’s friends. Is Sol here? — Yes, she’s here. They’re working. — Who are they? — Sol. Her friend. Her children. Do we see them? — Yes! Thanks!
Practice
- Ta-ta mau akua. — They want water.
- Yu-yu suda kan doktor? — Did you all see the doctor?
- Mi-mi saufa lai kab? — When will we come? (we, not you)
- Kita saufa lai sasa. — We’ll come now. (all of us)
- Nama ta-ta es ke? — What are their names?
- Pan garam. Mi mau ta! — The bread is hot. I want it!
What you can already say
Nine lessons, 81 roots. You can now talk about anyone — one person or many, with you or without you, a person or a thing — and the words for them have never once changed their shape.
Two corrections, September 5, 2026. Practice 5 read Nama ta-ta ke? with without es. A question word stands where the answer stands, and the answer to that one is a name — a noun, which takes es. Lessons 07 and 11 and the phrasebook all write Nama yu es ke?; this was the only one of the seven without it.
And the conversation answered Ta-ta es kim? with a comma list — Sol, rafiki ta, anak-anak ta. conjunction.md lets commas stand in for all but the last, so a list still needs aur at the end, and aur does not arrive until Lesson 14. The lesson had written something it had no way to write. It is three separate answers now, which the fragment rule grants and which this lesson can say.
there is covered in Lesson 10, the copula in Lesson 11, not in Lesson 14, this and that in Lesson 15.