Having learned to count in Twi, and equipped yourself with our time-telling vocabulary, let’s now move on to see how to actually tell time in Twi. We begin with the o’clocks.
Video Lesson
The Twi term for ‘o’clock’ comes in two forms: there is the singular form ‘dɔn’, and the plural form ‘nnɔn’.
The singular form dɔn is ONLY used to tell 1 o’clock. From 2 o’clock, all the way up to 12 o’clock, we use the plural form nnɔn.
The following are the list of o’clocks in Twi.
| Twi | English |
|---|---|
| dɔnko/dɔnkoro | one (1) o’clock |
| nnɔnmienu | two (2) o’clock |
| nnɔnmiɛnsa | three (3) o’clock |
| nnɔnnan | four (4) o’clock |
| nnɔnnum | five (5) o’clock |
| nnɔnsia | six (6) o’clock |
| nnɔnson | seven (7) o’clock |
| nnɔnwɔtwe | eight (8) o’clock |
| nnɔnkron | nine (9) o’clock |
| nnɔndu | ten (10) o’clock |
| nnɔndubaako | eleven (11) o’clock |
| nnɔndumienu | twelve (12) o’clock |
Check out the parts that have been emboldened in the table above. Do they ring a bell? I hope they do. If not, go back to our lesson on how to count in Twi and check out the paragraph right before the tenth numbers (10, 20, 30, 40, 50… 100).
We’ve mentioned that to ask for the time in Twi, we ask “abɔ sɛn?“. Now, to tell the time, we simply follow “abɔ (it has struck)” with the current time. So by following abɔ with the o’clocks above, you will be saying, for example, it’s 1 o’clock, it’s 2 o’clock, it’s 3 o’clock, etc.
| Twi | English |
|---|---|
| abɔ dɔnko/dɔnkoro | it’s one (1) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnmienu | it’s two (2) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnmiɛnsa | it’s three (3) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnnan | it’s four (4) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnnum | it’s five (5) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnsia | it’s six (6) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnson | it’s seven (7) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnwɔtwe | it’s eight (8) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔnkron | it’s nine (9) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔndu | it’s ten (10) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔndubaako | it’s eleven (11) o’clock |
| abɔ nnɔndumienu | it’s twelve (12) o’clock |
Lastly, to add a.m. or p.m., we just introduce the name of the time of day right before the o’clock. Find examples below:
| Twi | English |
|---|---|
| abɔ awia dɔnko | it’s 1 p.m. |
| abɔ anwummerɛ nnɔnsia | it’s 6 p.m. |
| abɔ anɔpa nnɔnson | it’s 7 a.m. |
| abɔ anɔpa nnɔnwɔtwe | it’s 8 a.m. |
| abɔ anadwo nnɔndu | it’s 10 p.m. |
| prɛmo ato | it’s midday; it’s noon |
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