Lesson 1 – Daily Conversation
Welcome to the first Nukunu lesson! We will be learning some basic words and sentences to start with. Download this language learning poster to get you started!
Here is some vocabulary that you will need for this lesson:
Nhiina wanypatha? Are you well? In this lesson we will learn about greetings and introductions in Nukunu. Nhiina means you and wanypatha means good, well.
If you’re doing well you might respond Tyukarti, ngayi wanypatha. Tyukarti means yes/ok, ngayi means I and wanypatha means good, well.
If you’re not doing so well you might say Wantaku, ngayi mingka.Wantaku means no, nothing, ngayi means I and mingka means bad, sick.
If you’re cold you might say Payala! Ngayi mangaranatya. Payala means cold weather, ngayi means I and mangaranatya means shivering.
If you’re really hot you might say Watla nganya kampatya. Watla means heat, nganya means me and kampatya means cooking.
If you’re hungry, you might want to say Ngayi mayi-wakanha. Ngayi means I, mayi means food and wakanha means without.
Some questions and answers
To ask someone’s name you might say Nhiina mityi wanhanga? Nhiina means you, mityi means name and wanhanga means how.
Your answer to this might be Ngayi mityi Anil. Ngayi means I, mityi means I and Anil is the speaker’s name.
When you meet someone you might ask them where they are going or where they are coming from. You might say Nhiina manhatya wanhanga?
Nhiina means you, manhatya means going and wanhanga means where.
An answer to this might be Ngayi kawi-wangkarta manhatya. Ngayi means I, kawi-wangkarta means waterhole and manhatya means going.
You might want to say you’re heading to Pt Pirie Ngayi Thalpiri manhatya. Ngayi means I, Thalpiri is the Nukunu name for Pt Pirie and manhatya means going.
If you are going home you would say Ngayi wartli manhatya. Ngayi means I, wartli means house/home/camp and manhatya means going.
As a language learner, it is really useful to be able to ask how to say something. For example, if you want to ask how do you say ‘water’ in Nukunu, you would say wanhanga ‘water’ Nukunu wangkatya Wanhanga means how and wangkatya means talk/say.
The answer to this question is ‘Kawi’ Nukunu wangkatya.Kawi means water and wangkatya means talk/say.
If you’re a learner it’s really good to try to speak only Nukunu at home or in your learning space. You might say Warrarla Nukunu wangkaka! Warrarla means language and wangkaka is a command meaning talk/speak.
Someone might ask you what language you’re speaking, to tell them you’re speaking Nukunu you can say Ngayi warrarla Nukunu wangkatya! Ngayi means I, warrarla means language and wangkatya means talking/speaking.
Here are a few of the things we’ve gone over in this lessons: