Learn Fulfulde/Fulani Language in Few Seconds

We're all familiar with dazzling language-learning promises made by Linguaphone and similar companies: Speak fluent Arabic in just three weeks! Swedish in a weekend!

Well, here's Fulfulde in just few seconds. Just learn this word:

Sample Fulani/fulfulde alphabet

Fulfulde greetings
Before you bless people, or even comment on their cows, you need to greet them. Amongst the Fulani, greeting is more than a formality – it is a ritual that keeps society going. Paul Riesmann wrote about this in detail in his definitive anthropological study Freedom in Fulani Social Life.
As in most languages, the initial greeting depends on the time of day.
5am – 11am Jam waali? (lit. Did you pass the night in peace?)
11am – 2pm Jam weeti?
2pm – 6pm Jam nyalli?
6pm – 11pm Jam hiiri?
The response to all of the above is Jam tan (Peace only) or Jam ni(Peace only). Even if you passed the night in sleepless malarial delirium, you still say Peace only. It would be rude not to.
The greeter then launches a barrage of follow-up questions, to ensure that every aspect of your life is peaceful. Parry these by alternatingJam tan and Jam ni.
Jam waali? (Did you pass the night in peace?)
Jam tan
Jam wuro waali? (Did your household pass the night in peace?)
Jam ni
A δaaneke? (Did you sleep?)
Jam tan
Noy korreji maa? (How is your family?)
Jam ni
Kori baasi fuu walaa (I hope there are no problems)
Jam tan, baasi fuu walaa
Aδa selli, naa? (You are in good health?)
Jam ni
Noy abba maa? (How is your father?)
Jam tan.
Al hamdilillalay (Praise God)
As soon as your assailant pauses for breath, you can get some questions of your own in:
A δaaneke? (Did you sleep?)
Jam tan
Noy wuro maa? (How is your household?)
Jam ni, baasi fuu walaa.
Noy sukaaбe maa? (How are your children?)
Jam tan.
When asked how your wife and children are, do not say ‘non-existent’, say Jam tan.
When asked how your mother is, do not say ‘five thousand miles away’, say Jam ni.
When asked how your health is, do not say ‘the campylobactor seems to be better but now I have red-eye’ – say Jam tan, baasi fuu walaa!

Fulfulde blessings
Blessings are common in everyday conversation in Fulfulde, and to use them you need to use the desiderative mood. Which usually means, stick a u on the end of the verb root.
Here are some Fulfulde blessings and their possible contexts:
Allah yoбu – May God reward (said by a beggar when you give to him)
Allah ne’u – May God provide (said to turn away a beggar from the door)
Allah moyyin’ laawol – May God prepare your way (said to someone embarking on a journey)
Allah hoynu – May God make it easy (said when someone has toothache)
Allah moobu – May God protect (said when a cow is lost)
Allah wallu – May God help (said if you fall into a deep well)
Allah бeydu jam – May God increase your peace (said to fill an awkward silence)
Allah holle yarde ndiyam aljanna – May God grant you to drink the water of paradise (said in gratitude when someone gives you a cup of water)
Allah hokku biббe lobbuбe – May God give you beautiful children (said at festivals)
Allah yaafo o – May God forgive him (said when someone dies)
Allah hollu en nji’iden e jam – May God grant we see each other again in peace (Goodbye)
As always, be careful with pronunciation. Allah hoynu is a blessing (May God make it easy), but Allah hoyne is a curse (May God slight you). Alla hiin'en e sarriiji Seyδaani means ‘God save us from Satan’s wiles’, but Alla hiin'en e sarraaji Seyδaani means ‘God save us fromSatan’s trousers’.
If done sincerely, blessing is a Good Thing. Print this page and then go and bless the Fulani.


CHIBBEL-LIBBEL
That is the word for the very top of a tree, the point that's always growing upwards.
When any Fulani is 'testing' you on your Fulfulde, they will invariably say 'Ada anndi Chibbel-libbel, naa?' (Do you know what Chibbel-libbel means), and if you point to the top of a tree, they follow up with 'Eeeeeeee, a hanti Fulfulde' - you have mastered Fulfulde!

funny proverbs about marriage
6 Fulani proverbs that can be used in connection with marriage!
I have written them with very literal translations, and will leave it to you to figure out the nuances of each:

Pooli wo kawritan de iida
Unless birds come together, a flying-noise is not heard

Bangaado e mo fowru nanngi nganaa bojji gooti
A bride and a hyena victim do not cry the same tears

Juude didi lootundurta de laaba
Two hands wash each other clean

Rawaandu wi'i bobbanam mi bobbane welnata ngawlo
Mr Dog says 'Fall down for me and I'll fall down for you, that way our play-fight will be sweet.'

Sago hawtube laana
Those in the same boat have the same wish

Lobbe rimata lobbal
A good cow bears a good calf

Fulfulde Sweet-talk
A certain missionary who worked amongst Djibo Fulani in the 90's collected over 200 Fulfulde proverbs in a notebook. He sent me a photocopy of his collection and I have been working through them recently. Proverbs are much prized here as a means of communicating and as a way of making your talk sweet to the ear. Here are a few of my favourites.
Proverb: Heba cofel heba ngoofoondi walaa
Translation: You can't have both a chick and a yolk
Meaning: You can't have your cake and eat it too

Bernde feewa teppeere feewa kaa, walaa
You can't have both a cool heart and a cool heel
If you send someone to do something they'll get it wrong and you'll be upset, but if you go yourself you'll get tired

Mi wadii wootere doobal
I have done the 'one' of the doobal-bird (a bird which lays only one egg)
Said after doing something which you will never do again

Duroowo paabi, kam anndi layooru
The shepherd of frogs recognises the limping one (whereas anyone else would think they are all limping!)
The one who has experience has the accompanying knowledge (i.e. ask the expert)

Alla anndinaay gujjo de bangi munaafiki
God didn't tell the thief he was marrying a gossip
If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have done it. I didn't know that what I was doing was unwise!

Mbuuku bumdo nde wootere yaabetee
A blind man's testicles are only stood on once (i.e. he'll move or cry out to stop it happening again!)
Once bitten twice shy - said regarding unpaid loans, bad experiences etc

Si neddo fiyii howru banndum fuu, nyoofa howru mum
He who hits his neighbour's knee curls up his own legs
If you do something bad to someone, they are likely to avenge it, so watch out!

Si mawdo wi'ii modan jammbere ni nannganaa dum leggal
If a man says he will swallow an axe, hold the handle for him
Don't try and talk someone out of something if they've already made up their mind to do it

Nine ways to carry your briefcase to work
There are many different words in Fulfulde for 'to carry something', depending on where and how you carry it. Here are the ones I am aware of:
gillinde - to carry something in your hand down by your side, like an axe
tambaade - to carry something in your hand at shoulder-level, like a calabash
roondaade - to carry something on your head using a hand to steady it, like a bucket of water
yellaade - to carry something on your head without using your hands (very impressive), like a laundry basket
wukkaade - to carry something under your arm, like a newspaper
wakkaade - to carry something across your shoulders, like a staff or a mat
towude - to carry something on your upper back, like a sack of millet
bammbude - to carry something tied to your lower back, like a baby
daasude - to drag something behind you, like a dead goat

Mamadou Bagadoumba, normally so reserved, did a priceless impression this afternoon of a woman simultaneously gillin-ing andtamb-ing and yell-ing and wukk-ing and bammb-ing, and then suddenly ferg-ing (tripping over and dropping it all!).
In the translation of the New Testament into Fulfulde, the dazzling array of 'carry' words must have led to some agonizing hermeneutical decisions. Here are a couple of example verses:
Lukka 14:27 - Mo nanndaay hono bakkiiδo leggal muuδum palaangal faa yaha maaya de jokki kam fu waawaa laataade taalibaajo am.
In this verse from the Gospel of Luke, the translator has plumped for the word bakkiiδo, which is (believe it or not) a form of the verbwakkaade. Hence literally, 'Whoever is not like a carrier (across his shoulders) of a wooden cross…cannot become my disciple.' This translation emphasises the similarity between the cross of Jesus and the Fulani staff - whenever I see a Fulani man walking along on the horizon, I am struck by his cruciform posture.
(Incidentally, note the word taalibaajo in the same verse. Fulfulde has borrowed this word from the Arabic taalibe(disciple), whence the word Taliban also comes)
Matta 11:28 - Onon nannduбe hono roondiiбe ko teddi, ngaree to am faa mi ηottina on.
In this well-known verse from Matthew, the translator has gone forroondiiбe, a plural noun from the verb roondaade. Hence literally, 'You carriers (on your heads) of heavy things, come to me so that I might make you rest.' In a Fulani worship service in Djibo a few weeks ago, Mariama testified to the truth of this verse in her own life - she used to bear her problems (and those of her family) like heavy buckets of water on her head, but since following Jesus she has begun to experience the rest he promised.

you will learn it quickly.
Here are a few phrases to get you started:
Leffol makko na juuti de (His turban is surprisingly long)
Hokkaram ndiyam mi yara (Give me some water to drink)
Nagge maa ina yaaбi kam (Your cow is standing on my foot)
You will notice that in the last example, the б of yaaбi is hunch-backed. This indicates an implosive consonant. There are three implosive consonants in Fulfulde: an implosive b, an implosive d and (most inconvenient of all) an implosive y.
You pronounce an implosive by drawing breath in on the consonant rather than out. This usually results in a faint click at the back of your throat. There is a world of difference between Nagge nge na бawli(the cow is black) and Nagge nge na bawli (The cow is urinating).

The easiest implosive is the δ. I first learnt it by saying δiδi (the number 2) over and over again until I started to hear the click. You will need the δ for verbs like raδude (to tie a calf to the front leg of a cow) and δaaninkinaade (to pretend to be asleep).
It is important also to take care with doubled implosive consonants. If you want to say Eбe kaббi (They are engaged to be married), make sure it does not sound like Eбe kaбi (They are fighting), which may not be the case.

Fulfulde noun classes
Fulfulde has more than twenty noun classes, all with different sets of endings. One class for people, another for four-legged animals, and a separate one for larger-than-average four-legged animals. Another for liquids, another for trees, another for crops. One class for long thin things (turban, road, sentence) and another for roundish things (eye, star, testicle). A class for large things, a class for small things, and a class for slimy things. And so on.
There are hundreds of exceptions, of course. Hunnduko (mouth) is in the class for crops, lamδam (salt) is in the class for liquids andchoffal (chicken) is in a class for wooden things. And interestingly, there is one class (nge) which has only three nouns in it: nagge nge(cow), naange nge (sun) and yiite nge (fire). The Fulani like nothing better than to philosophise about possible connections between the nge nouns while passing round a bowl of kosam (milk).

DIALECTS
While there are numerous dialects of Fula, it is typically regarded as a single language. Wilson (1989) states that "travellers over wide distances never find communication impossible," and Ka (1991) concludes that despite its geographic span and dialect variation, Fulfulde is still fundamentally one language.[1] However, Bible translators estimate that at least 7 different translations are needed to make it comprehensible for all Fulfulde speakers, and Ethnologue treats several of the varieties as separate languages:
East Central
Fulfulde, Western Niger (Niger)
Fulfulde, Central-Eastern Niger (Niger)
Fulfulde, Nigerian (Nigeria)
§                     1,700,000 in Nigeria (2000)
§                     750,000 speakers in Sudan scattered on the banks of the Blue Nile,Ghadrif, Madani, Obayyid, Port Sudan and Kassala.
Eastern

Fulfulde, Adamawa, fub
§                     700,000 speakers in Cameroon (1993)
§                     128,000 in Chad (1993)
§                     30,000 in Sudan (2000)
Adamawa Fulfulde is also used by non-native speakers as the regional lingua franca in Far North, North and Adamawa provinces in Cameroon.
It is also used by Some Fulani in Sudan. However, it is not widely used as the rest of the other Fulfulde dialects; namely, Mallencore (dialect of Fulbe Mali). Notably, all sorts of Fulfulde dialects are spoken in Sudan.
Fulfulde, Bagirmi, fui
§                     24,000 speakers in Chad
§                     156,000 speakers in Central African Republic (1996).
§                     50,000 speakers in Sudan

West Central
Fulfulde, Maasina, ffm
Main article: Maasina Fulfulde
§                     900,000 speakers in Mali (1991)
§                     7000 speakers in Ghana (1991)
§                     500,000 speakers in Sudan
Fulfulde, Borgu, fub
§                     280,000 speakers in Benin (2002)
§                     48,000 speakers in Togo (1993)
§                     also spoken in Nigeria

Pular
Main article: Pular language
Alternative name is sometimes given as Pula-Fuuta, derived from the Fuuta-Jalon region where it is spoken.
§                     2,550,000 speakers in Guinea (1991)
§                     50,000 speakers in Mali (1991)
§                     136,000 speakers in Senegal (2002)
§                     178,000 speakers in Sierra Leone (1991)
Pular is an official regional language in Guinea, and many speakers are monolingual. The language has borrowed a lot from Arabic and French, but also from English, Portuguese, Maninka, Susu, Wolof and others.
§                     Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia

WRITING SYSTEMS
Main article: Fula orthographies
Latin alphabet
When written using the Latin alphabet, Fula uses the following additional special "hooked" characters to distinguish meaningfully different sounds in the language: Ɓ/ɓ, Ɗ/ɗ, Ŋ/ŋ, Ɲ/ɲ, Ƴ/ƴ (i.e., implosive B, implosive D, velar N [sounds like "ng" in "king'], palatal N, ejective Y). The apostrophe (ʼ) is used as a glottal stop. In Nigeria ʼy substitutes ƴ, and in Senegal ñ is used instead of ɲ.

Sample Fula alphabet
a, aa, b, mb, ɓ, c, d, nd, ɗ, e, ee, f, g, ng, h, i, ii, j, nj, k, l, m, n, ŋ, ny (or ñ or ɲ), o, oo, p, r, s, t, u, uu, w, y, ƴ
The letters q, x, z are used in some cases for loan words. In the Pular of Guinea an additional letter, ɠ, is also part of the orthography.

Arabic script
Fula has also been written in the Arabic script or Ajami since before colonization. This continues to a certain degree and notably in some areas like Guinea.

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