A crash course in Khasi...

And I'm finally back guys!! How are all of you?? Anyway seems most people in my friend's list has asked me to give them a crash course in the Khasi language, which most of you don't know is a language spoken by the tribals of Meghalaya, to be exact the people who are from East and West Khasi Hills.
Khasi is rich in folklore and folktale, and behind most of the names of hills, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, birds, flowers, and animals there is a story, it's one of the very few societies in the world that follows the Matrilineal society.

Anyway, the Khasi language is a really unique language and well I won't go on talking about it, here goes with the lesson; 

The alphabets comprises of;

 A, B, K, D, E, Ng, G, H, I, Ï, J, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, R, S, T, U, W, Y.

a, b, k, d, e, g, ng, h, i, ï, j, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y.

Yeap guys there is no C in Khasi but K is used instead. The alphabet NG is pronounced as ng (through your nose) and to be noted in Khasi I is pronounced as E and E as A, and A is pronounced as ah! 

The alphabet Ï is pronounced as ee and Ñ is pronounced as nnn.

Next we have is the way gender words; 

u(as in oooo) is masculine

ka is  feminine

i(as in e) is diminutive

ki (as in key) is plural

Now common words which are used are;

Bam- means eat

Um- means water

Leit noh- means go/going

Khu-Blei- means Thank you

BahBah- Older brother

Kong Kong- Older Sister

Bah- Older man (formal)

Kong- Older woman (formal)

Phi long kum-no?- How are you? (formal)

Nga khlaiñ- I'm fine (formal)

Ja- cooked rice

Kumno?- How?

Shano?- Where?

Shisha?- Really?

Myn-no?- When?
Sngew-bha- please

Rit- small

Khyn-nah- children/ kids

Sam-la- teenager/ Boyfriend/ Girlfriend

Ieit- love

Phi-You

Nga- Me/I

If you want to ask something from someone, let's say a stranger, in Khasi we say;

Phi tip shano ka don?- which means Phi means you in a formal sense (masculine and feminine), tip means know, shano means where and ka don means where it is?
So the sentence means Do you know where the place is?

Before you start a question especially to a stranger whose older to you, you've got to be polite because Khasi people are more into the politeness and how you show respect. 

Basic sentences to know when in Shillong;

Phi kyr-teng aiu (a-iu)?- means what is your name? 

Phi wan na ja-ka aiu?- means from which place did you come from?

Phi lah dep bam?- means have you eaten? (dep here means finished/completed)

Hooid- means yes 

Em- means no

Leit suk- means safe journey

Khu-blei shi-bun- means thank you very much (shi-bun hear means very much)

Numbers that need to known;

Wei - 1

Ar- 2

Lai- 3

Saw- 4

San- 5 

Hyn-riew- 6

Hyn-niew- 7

Phra- 8 

Khyndai- 9

Shi-phew 10

Well, I guess that's enough of basic Khasi langauge crash course, because to be honest even I'm not that good ~lol XD The basics are covered though but writing and speaking are two different things, mind you. Anyway, this concludes the lesson for today~lol XD

-PEACE

XoXo