Basic Igbo

You’re probably used to the five vowel sounds in English: A, E, I, O, U. Igbo however, has a few more. In addition to English’s five vowel sounds, Igbo has these four: Ẹ Ị Ọ Ụ. The nine Igbo vowel sounds fall into two groups. The A Group – A, Ẹ, Ị, Ọ, Ụ These… Read the Rest

Igbo contains many of the same consonants as in English, but not only does it have a few extra consonants which don’t exist in English, some of the consonant sounds you are familiar with in English, do not exist at all in Igbo. Understanding what sounds DO NOT exist in Igbo is just as important… Read the Rest

Pronouns are some of the most commonly used words in Igbo, so it’s a good idea to learn them first as a precursor to learning how to make sentences. For this lesson, we’re going to examine Igbo subject pronouns and Igbo object pronouns. Subject Pronouns These are pronouns that perform the action in any Igbo… Read the Rest

A.K.A. forget what you learned in English class. All the Igbo verbs generally take the form of i+xx (where i is a prefix, and xx is the verb root). e.g. ibia, ijẹ, ifụ i+xyz is generaly equivalent to “to…xyz” e.g. ibia means “to come“ This form is known as The Infinitive. ibia – to come…. Read the Rest

It’s kind of like time travel. So, in English, time is divided into Past, Present, and Future. If something happened in the past, you can talk about it using The Past Tense e.g. I ate spaghetti yesterday. If something happens in the present, you can talk about it using the Present Tense e.g. I am… Read the Rest

In English, questions are denoted by a dedicated symbol – the question mark – and by reversing the sentence order like so: Statement: John is a boy. Question: Is John a boy? Igbo Questions In Igbo, questions are denoted by a change in tone, but not much else changes. Statement: Ada jẹ afia – Ada… Read the Rest

How to say what is and what isn’t. The verb to be is the cornerstone of every language. In English, there is only one way of expressing the verb to be. Igbo on the other hand, has several ways of expressing what something is or isn’t, but first, we’re going ot learn the three most… Read the Rest

The Igbo verb to be –ibụ is used to express identity, personality, essential qualities, occupation, and origin. Things expressed using ibụ tend to be more permanent or fixed in nature, than things expressed using –idị. Identity Identity in Igbo involves anything that makes up the core of who a person is both individually, and as… Read the Rest

The Igbo verb to be –idị is used to express condition, characteristics, emotions, and temporary location (as opposed to semi-permanent and permanent location) Things expressed using –idị tend to be less permanent or fixed in nature than things expressed using –ibụ. Condition Ifeanyi dị ndu – Ifeanyi is alive Characteristics Chichi dị ogonogo – Chichi… Read the Rest

The Igbo verb to be –inọ is used to express semi-permanent and permanent location (as opposed to temporary or general location). Semi-Permanent Location Semi-permenanent location means the person or thing has been in the specified location (or is habitually in the location for a fairly long time and is reasonably expected to continue remaining there…. Read the Rest

Every Igbo verb has an attachment called an Auxiliary. The Auxiliary is usually (but not always) similar to the verb, and its job is to help you distinguish the verb from other identical verbs. In some cases, the Auxiliary adds additional context to the meaning of the verb. e.g. ima can mean to know, to… Read the Rest

Suffixes are little word fragments that usually have no meaning on their own, which when attached to the end of the verb root, transform Igbo verbs to unlock deeper meanings. Rather than have “meanings”, suffixes have effects. e.g. Si is a suffix that implies completion. Ili – to eat. (Verb root is –li, meaning ate)… Read the Rest

Basically, how to say Does not .. Did not.