My Somali grammar

This page publishes some of my “cheat sheets” that I use when working on Somali. I thought I’d put them up here in case they would be helpful to others.

It is a work in progress to which I hope to add often.

Pronouns and mood particles

Pronoun (English)	Pronoun (Somali)	Positive Declarative	Positive Interrogative	Negative Declarative
I	anigu	waan	miyaan	maan
you (sg)	adigu	waad	miyaad	maad
he	isagu	wuu	miyuu	muu
she	iyadu	way	miyay	may
we (incl)	innagu	waynu	miyaynu	maynu
we (excl)	annagu	waannu	miyaannu	maannu
you (pl)	idinku	waydin	miyaydin	maydin
they	iyagu	way	miyay	may

Pronoun (English)	Pronoun (Somali)	“What?”	Focus baa	Focus ayaa
I	anigu	maxáan	báan	ayáan
you (sg)	adigu	maxáad	báad	ayáad
he	isagu	muxúu	búu	ayúu
she	iyadu	maxáy	báy	ayáy
we (incl)	innagu	maxáynu	báynu	ayáynu
we (excl)	annagu	maxáanu	báannu	ayáannu
you (pl)	idinku	maxáydin	báydin	ayáydin
they	iyagu	maxáy	báy	ayáy

Noun declensions

	1	2	3	4
sg: gender, end	f, no -o	m, no -e	m/f, (C)V(V)CVC	m, -C
pl: gender, end	m, -o	f, -o	m, -CCo	m, -aC
eg sg	naag	inan	galab	qoys
eg pl	naago	inammo	galbo	qoysas

	5	6	7
sg: gender, end	m, 1-3 syl	f, -o	m, -e
pl: gender, end	f, stress	m, -oyin	f, -ayaal
eg sg	mAdax	hooyo	aabbe
eg pl	madAx	hoyooyin	aabbayaal

2 thoughts on “My Somali grammar”

Rafi Dworsky

I think this is somewhat helpful. But it would likely be best to teach more practically, without grammatical terms, that is, with practical examples from everyday speech. Check out the CD’s by Michelle Thomas for an example of how this is done. He uses the students’ native language as the basis for teaching the foreign language without presenting grammatical rules up front, or even at all. He leave out grammatical terms as much as possible. In his Spanish instruction, his focus is on the structure of the language which he builds by teaching the present tense forms, then the future tense, and finally the past tense. Limited vocabulary, some numbers, days of the week, colors, and so on are taught incidentally because these can always be picked up later. But how to use the language is his main focus. So he starts with something simple like I eat, you eat, you all eat, he eats, she eats, they eat, and we eat. Then he introduces other verbs that may require different treatment for I, you singular, you plural, he, she, they, and we. One can learn the structure of the language fairly quickly. I think you are on the write track in the first two columns but then you go into way too much complexity and grammar for English speakers who are not generally grammarians. Grammar can be taught naturally. Look at Thomas’s approach and I think you’ll see what I mean.

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April 14, 2016 at 2:45 pm Reply
Leyla Sheikh

I’m Somali ethnically and can speak it but – my god – this is messing with my head xD

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September 30, 2018 at 2:55 pm Reply