- Symbols and Pronunciation
- Some Starter Nouns
- Some Starter Adjectives
- Adjective Placement
- Some Starter Verbs
- Gender
- Quantity
- Verbal Nouns
- Adjectival Nouns
- Articles
- Personal Pronouns
- Present Transitive and Intransitive
- Equatives
- Direct Object and Reflexive Pronouns
- Possessive Pronouns
- This, these, that, those
- Indefinite Pronouns 1
- Indefinite Pronouns 2
- Present Presentatives
- Question Markers 1
- Question Markers 2
- Relative Pronouns and Constructions
- Comparing Things
- [Noun] is [adjective]
- Location
- Past Tense Transitive
- Past Tense Intransitive
- Imperative
- To Have
- To Like
- If-Then Statements
- Present Progressive
- Perfect
- Future
- The Subjunctive Mood
- Turning a Statement Into a Question
- Declarative Statements
- Ka Review
- Prepositions
- OClock
- Introducing Yourself
- Song
- Interjections
- More Emphatics
- Want
- Modals 1
- -len, -nen, -nin
Lessons
To have
- In Bambara, the main way to say "to have" (in the ownership sense) is with...
- __ bɛ/tɛ __ bolo : __ is (in) __ hand
- Gafe bɛ n bolo. : The book is my hand. (I have the book.)
- Gafe tɛ n bolo. : The book is not in my hand. (I don't have the book.)
- A quick reminder about foyi / fosi : You do a double negative to say you have nothing.
- Fosi tɛ à bolo. : He has nothing.
- There are other ways to express possession: The fɛ meaning "at someone's place" in the Situatives section is also doable:
- Ji bɛ an yɛ. : The water is at our place (person). (We have the water.)
- Warning!: The word fɛ also means "to want", so there could be ambiguity there. Be careful and mind context.
- The next way to say have is with kun :
- kun : head
- Gafe bɛ n kun. : The book is on my head. (I have the book.)
- Ji tɛ i kun. : You have no water. / You don't have water.
- The final way to express possession is with the na / la also from the Situatives section. This form is meant to describe a noun has general parts. For example:
- Kalanden dɔw bɛ kàràmɔgɔ la. : Some students are at the teacher. (A teacher has some students.)
- Kun kelen be den na. : A child has one head.
- In Bambara, things like illness are also under this category:
- fìrìgan : fever
- Fìrìgan b’à la. : She has a fever.