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Learn Romani
Das-duma Rromanes
Ronald Lee
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eBook - ePub
Learn Romani
Das-duma Rromanes
Ronald Lee
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About This Book
Following 18 carefully structured lessons, this Romani language primer explores the vocabulary and grammar of the Kalderash Roma in Europe, the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Designed for beginner students, this course reference begins with the basic verbs and nouns and builds through to the subtler grammatical necessities of reading and speaking the language. Quotations from native speakers, poems, songs, proverbs, and folktales add to the cultural and historical understanding of the language.
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Lesson one
The present tense
Read the following table aloud and look carefully at the endings. The personal pronouns (words in brackets before the verb) do not need to be used but often are employed for emphasis or clarity, for example, Mangav xabe âI want (some) foodâ is a simple statement of fact as compared to Me mangav xabe! âI want food!â or âItâs me who wants food!â with a greater emphasis. The verb conjugations (i.e. verb endings) are in italics in the table to clarify them and show who is doing the action. Romani has no infinitive like âto wantâ in English, therefore the verb stem or root of a Romani verb will either be conjugated to one of its forms in the present tense, for example, mangav âI wantâ, or given as the verb stem mang- to which the appropriate conjugation must be added as shown below:
mang- (the verb stem or root)
(me) | mangav | I want |
(tu) | manges | you want (singular) |
(wo) | mangel | he wants |
(woi) | mangel | she wants |
o RrĂŽm | mangel | the Rom wants |
(ame) | mangas | we want |
(tume) | mangen | you want (plural) |
(won) | mangen | they want |
You will notice the ending < en > has two meanings and usually the sense will be clear from the situation but, if not, use the personal pronoun tume or won.
There is also a long form of the verb i.e. mangåva, mangésa, mangéla, etc. This can be ignored for now as there is no change in meaning using the shorter form given in this lesson.
Test whether you have understood
If beshav means âI sit, I am sittingâ and comes from the verb stem besh-, what is the English for:
1. | beshas |
2. | beshes |
3. | beshel |
4. | beshen (give two meanings) |
If âhe drinksâ is piyel, what is the Romani for:
5. | I drink |
6. | they drink |
7. | we drink |
8. | you drink (singular) |
Check your answers on the last page of this lesson and, if you made any mistakes, look carefully at the table above again.
The definite article: the word âtheâ
There are only two genders in Romani: masculine and feminine. Nouns denoting inanimate objects (like table and chair) will either be masculine and take < o > or feminine and take < e >. For example:
o grast | the horse |
e grasni | the mare |
o lil | the letter |
e ryat | the night |
Most nouns ending in a stressed < o > like balo âmale pigâ use < o > and most words ending in a stressed < i > like bali âsowâ use < e >. For other nouns ending in consonants you will have to consult the word lists in each lesson and eventually a dictionary.
Learn these words with < o > or < e > in front of them. Learn âletterâ as o lil âthe letterâ and e yag as âthe fireâ.
Test
Test whether you have understood and again, check your answers on the last page of this lesson. If manrro is âbreadâ and bali is âsowâ, what is the Romani for:
9. | the bread |
10. | the sow |
The indefinite article: the words âaâ and âanâ
The English words âaâ and âanâ (indefinite articles) have no equivalent in Romani. For example, lil âletterâ or âa letterâ and grast âhorseâ or âa horseâ. You will see that sometimes < o > and < e > are used where âtheâ is not used in English. This happens in front of and with peopleâs names:
E MĂĄra avel | Mary is coming |
O Stévo avel | Steve is coming |
Kon avel? | Who is coming? |
Here are a few more examples of statements in Romani:
(Wo) avel | He is coming |
(Wo) lasharel o wudar | He repairs the door |
E shey phutrel o lil | The girl opens (is opening) the letter |
Questions are usually asked by raising the voice, as in English, or by turning part of the sentence round: O shĂĄvo avel? (with the voice rising) or Avel o shĂĄvo? âIs the Romani boy coming?â
In Romani, the present tense translates the following English forms: I come, I am coming, I do come and, as in English, the present tense can be used to express the future as in âI am coming tomorrowâ or âWhen I come tomorrow, Iâll see you.â
Avav ages | I am coming today |
Avav tehĂĄra | I am coming tomorrow |
Word lists
These word lists give the words, including verbs, used in each lesson and may sometimes include words not used in the lesson when relevant. For example, if the word âtodayâ is used in the lesson the words for âyesterdayâ a...