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Me nua, wo ho te sɛn? (My sibling (brother/sister), how are you?).
You are welcome to the very first lesson under the Twi Grammar module, here on LearnAkan.Com. This module seeks to teach you the basic grammar rules that make up the Akan language.
In this lesson, we take a look at the Akan Alphabet. I entreat beginner, intermediate and advanced learners alike to take this lesson very seriously as it will form a fundamental basis for future lessons. Memorise the letters of the alphabet and get the sounds they represent right. After that, head on to lessons 2 and 3 of the grammar module and practice the sounds there as well. Once you get all these sounds right, you are on your way to jumping the pronunciation hurdle that most Twi learners face.
Ok, so let’s get started with today’s lesson. If you’d want to watch the video lesson instead, find it embedded below. Otherwise, continue reading beneath it.
Video Lesson
Both the English language and Akan make use of the Latin script. So, you’ll find that both languages have a similar set of letters making up their alphabet.
In all, the Akan alphabet is made up of 22 letters. Out of these, a whopping 20 are found in the 26-lettered English alphabet.
The Akan (Twi) Alphabet
| Aa | Bb | Dd | Ee | Ɛɛ |
| Ff | Gg | Hh | Ii | Kk |
| Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Ɔɔ |
| Pp | Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu |
| Ww | Yy |
The two letters in red are the only ones that you’ll find in Akan but not in English. Likewise, The Akan alphabet does not have the letters j, q, v, x and z that you find in the English alphabet.
Just like the English alphabet, we can group the letters of the Akan alphabet into two sets (the consonants and the vowels) as shown in the diagram above. In Twi, consonants are referred to as Anom Nnyegyeɛ, and vowels are known as Ɛnne nnyegyeɛ.
Below, I give some examples of Twi words containing each of the letters. We start with the consonants (anom nnyegyeɛ)
The Akan (Twi) Consonants
There are 15 consonants in all: b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y.
| Consonant | Twi Word | English |
|---|---|---|
| ‘b’ | bankye
bayerɛ | cassava
yam |
| ‘d’ | dadeɛ
dadoa | metal nail (tool) |
| ‘f’ | fitaa/fufuo frankaa | white flag (noun) |
| ‘g’ | go gu | loosen sow (seed) |
| ‘h’ | huri hunu | jump (verb) see |
| ‘k’ | kɛntɛn kuruwa | basket cup |
| ‘l’ | lɔre ludu | lorry ludo |
| ‘m’ | mukaase mankani | kitchen cocoyam |
| ‘n’ | nsa nante | hand (noun) walk (verb) |
| ‘p’ | pɛntoa praeɛ | (broken) glass
broom |
| ‘r’ | twerɛ pra | write sweep |
| ‘s’ | samina sapɔ | soap sponge |
| ‘t’ | tɛkyerɛma tafere | tongue lick (verb) |
| ‘w’ | awareɛ
wie | marriage finish (verb) |
| ‘y’ | yareɛ
yoma | sickness camel |
Let’s end with examples of Twi words containing each of the vowels, like we did with the consonants.
The Akan (Twi) Vowels
As shown in our earlier diagram, the Akan (Twi) vowels are 7 in all: a, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ, u.
| Vowel | Twi Word | English |
|---|---|---|
| ‘a’ | adesoa
akoma | burden (noun)
heart (organ) |
| ‘e’ | efie
ekuro | home wound (noun) |
| ‘ɛ’ | ɛdɔm ɛkɔm | crowd (noun) hunger |
| ‘i’ | edin di | name (noun) eat |
| ‘o’ | osuo opuro | rain (noun) squirrel |
| ‘ɔ’ | ɔwɔ ɔsebɔ | snake tiger |
| ‘u’ | Wukuada sukuu | Wednesday school (noun) |
This is where we end the first lesson. You may proceed to Lesson 2: Akan (Twi) Digraphs to continue. Your comments, suggestions and queries would be appreciated greatly. Please leave them in the comments box below or send them to me via [email protected]. Thank you for reading.
Responses
I’ve never felt like I needed this in years
Thank you, very much for offering this course. I am American born Akan, discovered through DNA testing. I am planning a trip to Ghana by summer of this year, and do hope to be able to greet and make pleasantries with my cousins. I will be a diligent learner. God bless you for bestowing this gift, propagating these hybrid roots into native waters, to be nurtured again by mother soil. You will ever be blessed!
Thank you so much Sis. :). Good to have you here. Keep up the enthusiasm, and you can always email me with questions, suggestions, requests, etc. God bless you, too 🙂
Medasse PapaYaw
Me nso medaase, Phoebe 🙂
My name is Michael Sarfo, I come from Agogo in the Ashanti Region. I am currently in belgium and organizing some Twi tutorials for my friends. Really helpful. Good work done.
Thank you Sarfo. Keep up the good work, too.
Mii — Slimy
What dialect of Twi is this word “Mii” spoken? Also, how do you say the word slimy in Asante Twi?
Ɛdɔm – Crowd
It was my understanding that the word Ɛdɔm in Twi means “army”. Like in the proverb “Abusua yɛ dɔm – Family is an army”. The word crowd I’ve always known to be “Nipakuo”. Is ɛdɔm the best word to describe “crowd”?
Meda wo aseɛ pii na mo ne yɔ!
Kwabenata
Hello Brian, there are actually a couple of terms (in Asante Twi) used to describe something being slimy. You can use “toro”, “torokaa”, “mii”. Again, all those are used in the Asante Twi dialect.
Ɛdɔm = crowd.
Nnipa = people
Kuo = group
So, “nnipakuo” roughly stands for “a group of people”. “Abusua yɛ dɔm” should translate as “family is crowd” and then what this crowd of a family can do can be compared to that of an army.
The best taught lessons I have had. This is brilliant. I’m visiting Ghana in August this year, 2017. I hope I would be able to do greetings and a few sentences.
Hello Enet, I’m confident you will be able. Just be consistent with your studies and you’ll do great. Thank you ?
Thanks for the effort. please translate the following in English for me
1. Mfoni
2. Asemfua/Nsemfua
3. Dwumadie
4. Akenkan
5. Hw3 yeinom
Hello Asuo ?
1. Mfonin = Photograph/Picture
2. Asɛmfua/Nsɛmfua = Word/Words
3. Dwumadie = Exercise
4. Akenkan = Reading
5. Hwɛ yeinom = Look at/observe these
awesome job… thanks for providing this
Thank you for being here Victoria
God bless you.
God bless you too. Thank you
Yaw, I do very much enjoy listening to and reading your lessons. Please, how can I obtain the Twi alphabet on the PC or cell phone? Actually, how does one obtain the inverted 3 and C, both small and capital letters? I only see the correct versions on your and other commercial posts. Friends in Ghana in their FB posts use 3 and Cc like I. Is there no app available to install Twi alphabet?
Thank you, and keep up the great work.
–John “Kwaku” Stewart
San Antonio, TX, USA
Hello Kwaku,
There is a Twi keyboard app on Google play. Search for “Kasahorow Twi keyboard”. They had a Windows/Mac version that you could install on your PC but the last time I checked, that wasn’t working anymore. The mobile app version still works though.
I created one myself which I use to type the lessons on this blog. Unfortunately, I had a problem with my PC and lost some files/folders, including the setup file of mine. I’ll recreate one and make it available for download on the blog, somehow.
Thank you, I appreciate the encouragement.
Yaw.
I want to really thank you for this because my husband is Ghanaian and I really love being able to talk to him in his language as well.Thanks a million.
Thank you too Marlene. Glad to have you here. Regards to my brother
I want to learn Twi also
I have been searching for lessons on the Twi language and your lessons are absolutely the best i have seen so far. Thank you!!!!!!!
Aw, Onuabaa Abena, glad to have you here. Thank you too!
You are welcome! How do you say alphabet in twi?
Hi Abena,
Letter: Atwerɛdeɛ
Alphabet: Ntwerɛdeɛ
🙂
Yaw medaase
Great Lesson…Yaw….You have made me love the Akan Language once again.
Please can you recommend a Twi textbook in Ghana for J.H.S (Junior High School) students?
I need a good book to tach my students …..as I combine it with the lesson notes from LearnAkan.com.
Me Daa se
Thank you Danso, glad to know this project is helping. With regards to a good Twi textbook, the one I know of is written entirely in Twi. If that is OK for you, you may check out the “Jubilee Series” authored by Joseph Kwaku Agyei. I believe he has books for most stages of basic school. I’ll ask some colleagues if they know of others. If I get any extra, I’ll email you. Thanks again.
Thank You… Yaw for the recommended book. Keep up the great work.
You are absolutely wonderful for selflessly providing this course. I am so sincerely grateful for you. Once again, Many Thanks…Zuhirah, New Student
Aaww Zuhirah, thank you too. I appreciate that