Prerequisite: Lesson 15.
New words
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| skola | school |
| libro | book |
| kursi | chair |
| tarik | road, way |
| hora | hour |
| tahun | year |
| yamur | rain |
| fikir | to think |
| funga | to close |
| tena | again |
| duan | short |
| lebi | more |
At school
| Mi studi in skola. | I study at school. |
| Skola ini kabir. | This school is big. |
| Anak-anak in skola sasa. | The children are at school now. |
| Mi kara libro in skola. | I read a book at school. |
Books and chairs
| Libro ini sundar. | This book is beautiful. |
| Mi otur in kursi. | I sit on a chair. |
| Libro itu por dugu mi. | That book is for my sibling. |
| Mi suda kupi libro dari market. | I bought a book from the market. |
Thinking
| Mi fikir. | I think. |
| Mi fikir cok. | I think a lot. |
| Yu fikir ke? | What do you think? |
| Ta suda fikir aur ta suda faham. | She thought and she understood. |
Open and close
buka you have had since Lesson 13. Its pair arrives now:
| Mi buka libro. | I open the book. |
| Mi funga libro. | I close the book. |
| Buka ain yu! | Open your eyes! |
| Skola funga rat ini. | The school closes tonight. |
Again
| Mi lai tena. | I come again. |
| Sema tena, plis. | Say it again, please. |
| Rafiki mi saufa lai tena. | My friend will come again. |
| Mi no studi tena. | I do not study again. |
tena goes at the end, where time words go.
Long and short, more
| Tarik ini cang. | This road is long. |
| Tarik itu duan. | That road is short. |
| Din cang, rat duan. | The day is long, the night is short. |
| Mi mau lebi ca. | I want more tea. |
| Lebi libro, plis! | More books, please! |
lebi goes before the noun, exactly where cok goes.
Hours and years
| Uan hora. | One hour. |
| Tri hora. | Three hours. |
| Mi suda studi du tahun. | I studied for two years. |
| Anak itu es fai tahun. | That child is five years old. |
Remember: after a number the noun stays single. Tri hora, never tri hora-hora.
The age line carried no es until September 5, 2026. fai tahun is a noun phrase, and a noun predicate takes es — itu closes the phrase before it, so Anak itu fai tahun was not a sentence at all.
Rain
| Yamur lai. | Rain comes. |
| Yamur barid. | The rain is cold. |
| Mi no go market — yamur! | I’m not going to the market — rain! |
| Yamur aur angin din ini. | Rain and wind today. |
A conversation
— Salam! Yu go nali? — Mi go skola. Yu? — Mi in dom. Yamur situ! — Ya, yamur aur angin. Tarik dari dom por skola cang. — Berapa hora? — Du hora. Mi no anda in yamur. — Yu otur in dom aur yu kara libro. — Libro ke? — Libro ini! Mi suda kara tena aur tena. Libro hao. — Mersi! Mi saufa kara sasa.
Hello! Where are you going? — To school. You? — I’m at home. Rain out there! — Yes, rain and wind. The road from home to school is long. — How many hours? — Two hours. I don’t walk in the rain. — You sit at home and you read a book. — Which book? — This book! I’ve read it again and again. It’s a good book. — Thanks! I’ll read it now.
Practice
- Mi kara libro in skola din ini. — I read a book at school today.
- Tarik dari market por dom duan. — The road from the market to home is short.
- Yu fikir ke? — What do you think?
- Funga libro aur otur. — Close the book and sit.
- Mi no suda studi tahun itu. — I did not study that year.
- Lebi ca, plis. Aur pan! — More tea, please. And bread!
What you can already say
Sixteen lessons, 136 roots. School, books, roads, hours, years, rain — and tena, which lets anything happen twice.
A word this lesson could not add. bisa — “can, be able” — was chosen for this batch and dropped, because Yu bisa otur would have put one verb in front of another and that had never been decided. It was settled the next day: see Lesson 17. Every lesson up to this one keeps to one verb at a time.