I have now begun to study Fulfulde . . .

Mi fuddi janngude Fulfulde joonin!

So far, in the last 2 weeks, I have reviewed the Fulfulde that I learned over these past few months - salutations, words, etc . . . - both from my guard and in the village. I am surprised at the amount of vocabulary I have amassed. However, I have a long way to go!

After reviewing that which I already know, my tutor has commenced with teaching the grammatical structure. I have learned how to congugate the irregular verbs and the congugation forms of the two main verb group (one more to go). I was excited at first to discover that there are only 3 verb tense congugations (present, past, future); until I learned that there are 3 forms (affirmative, negative and interrogative) within each three tense. My next few weeks will be spent memorizing and practicing . . . and memorizing and practicing again!

I have, however, been able to start piecing together simple sentences with what I have learned. And it is so much fun to try out different variations - sometimes getting it right, and sometimes needing some tweaking! And it is so exciting to start communicating in this new language beyond the basic greetings!

Some interactive fun (for those who may love languages as I do):

Q. Can you figure out which word is 'to study' in the following three sentences?

1. 1. Mido jannga fulfulde. (I am studying fulfulde.)
2. 2. Hanken, mi janngi fulfulde. (I studied fulfulde yesterday.)
3. 3. Jaango subaka mi janngan fulfulde. (I will study fulfulde tomorrow.)

(Answer below)

At the moment, I am also memorizing new verbs; and in reading through the list of verbs that I have been given I have begun to understand three things:

1. They have verbs (eg: one word) to express an entire sentence/concept!!
2. Sometimes, this will be wonderful . . . less to have to memorize/say . . .
3. However, because the verbs (words) are so specific, at times, I now have more than one verb to memorize for similar concepts.

Example:

hampude - to carry a baby on (your) back

halfinude - to temporarily put (something) in someone else's care

soggude - to direct animals from behind

tumbude - to be put in the middle

gappude - to make a ball of unwashed, uncooked millet for coball (millet mush)

Where it gets complicated:

jongude - to cook

judude - to cook over an open fire without a pot

haalude - to speak

haalanude - to speak to or for someone

haalidude - to speak with someone

haalirude - to speak with something (in a certain manner)

halodirude - to speak with each other

haalowude - to go and speak

YIKES!! Yup, a lot of memorizing ahead!

Please pray that as I start into this new aspect of my ministry, that I will have the motivation to keep pushing forward and further with my new language. Pray that I will have the energy in the day to study and for sleep at night, that I can turn my brain off at times (the other night, my brain insisted on congugating verbs until 2am!) That even in the times when it seems hard, that I will be able to keep my eyes on the reason for why I learn all these verbs and tenses and sentence structure - to be able to share of Christ with these people.

Answer to the Interactive fun:
Janngude (1. jannga, 2. janngi, 3. janngan)

Disclaimer: My apologies to all who know and speak Fulfulde; as I have not yet been able to download the phonetic letters, the spelling is not correct Fulfulde script.