The seven days of the week in Bambara, then the words for today, tomorrow, yesterday or month: 18 words checked against reference sources (Bambara of Mali, official spelling (tones not written)).
1
The days of the week
ntɛnɛnalso: ntɛnɛ, TɛnɛnMonday
tarataTuesday
arabaWednesday
alamisaThursday
jumaFriday
sibiriSaturday
kariSunday
2
Talking about time
bitoday
sinialso: sinintomorrow
kunualso: kununyesterday
sɔgɔmaalso: sagomamorning
tilealso: tlesun; day; midday
wulaafternoon, evening
sunight, evening
dɔgɔkunalso: dwa.kun, jwa.kunweek
kalomonth; moon
sanyear
sisannow
Test yourself
1. What does “tarata” mean?
2. What does “sibiri” mean?
3. What does “kunu” mean?
4. What does “su” mean?
Where do these words come from?
The words in this article come from: Bamadaba dictionary (Corpus Bambara de Référence), Peace Corps Mali Bambara courses. They are copied with their exact spelling; when two sources disagree, the variant is shown. Do you speak this language and spot a mistake? Write to us.
The words in this article come from: Bamadaba dictionary (Corpus Bambara de Référence), Peace Corps Mali Bambara courses. They are copied with their exact spelling; when two sources disagree, the variant is shown. Do you speak this language and spot a mistake? Write to us.