Indefinite pronouns are those that do not refer to specific persons, things, or places. They are “indefinite” because, unlike the definite pronouns, they refer to general rather than specific entities.
Indefinite pronouns in English include any, some, someone, somebody, anybody, everybody, everything, everyone, everywhere, somewhere, something…
This lesson takes a look at the indefinite pronouns that we have in Twi. Be sure to watch the embedded video lesson for help with pronunciation.
Video Lesson
List of Twi Indefinite Pronouns
| IND. PRONOUN | MEANING | EXAMPLE SENTENCES |
| ebiara; biara often pronounced /ebiaa; biaa/ | any (pronoun; determiner) every (determiner) | ebiara yɛ any is good/okay onipa biara bɛnyini every human being will grow ɔman biara anya corona mmoawa no ho nsunsuansoɔ every country has had/felt the effects of the coronavirus |
| ebi; ebinom | some | ebi bɛba some will come ebi yɛ; ebi nyɛ some are good; some aren’t good menni bi I don’t have some nnipa binom tirim yɛ den some people are wicked |
| obi | someone; somebody | obi wɔ hɔ? is someone there? wonim obi wɔ Ghana? do you know someone from Ghana? |
| obiara often pronounced /obiaa/ | everyone; everybody | obiara bɛwu everyone will die Akwasi ne obiara di agorɔ Akwasi plays with everyone |
| obi biara often pronounced /obi biaa/ | each and everyone (‘biara’ as ‘every’) | aban ahyɛ sɛ obi biara ntena fie the government has ordered that each and everyone stays at home sɛ Akosua te a, obi biara bɛte if Akosua hears (about it), each and everyone will hear |
| biribi often pronounced /biibi/ | something | biribi reba something is coming mewɔ biribi ma wo I have something for you |
| biribiara often pronounced /biibiaa/ | everything | biribiara bɛba n’awieeɛ everything will come to its end ɔhene no wɔ biribiara the king has everything |
| biribi biara often pronounced /biibi biaa/ | each and everything | biribi biara a wobɛhia no, bisa me each and everything that you will need, ask me wɔtɔn biribi biara wɔ sotɔɔ no mu they sell each and everything in the store |
| baabi | somewhere | merekɔ baabi I’m going somewhere mede too baabi I placed/put it somewhere |
| baabiara often pronounced /baabiaa/ | everywhere | Kofi atu kwan akɔ baabiara Kofi has traveled (to) everywhere ntontom wɔ baabiara there are mosquitoes everywhere |
| baabi biara often pronounced /baabi biaa/ | each and everywhere | ɔnim baabi biara he/she knows each and everywhere mehwehwɛɛ baabi biara I searched each and everywhere |
We will look at how we achieve the negatives of the Twi indefinite pronouns in a future lesson.
Founding Editor at LEARNAKAN.COM | MYTWIDICTIONARY.COM | LEARNAKANFLUENCYCLUB.COM
STEPHEN AWIBA, known by his students as TIKYA YAW, is the founding editor of LEARNAKAN.COM and MYTWIDICTIONARY.COM. He was born and raised in Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital of Ghana, where Akan (Asante Twi) is spoken as the first language. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Linguistics and Theatre Arts from the University of Ghana and an MPhil in English Linguistics and Language Acquisition from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
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