#learningbasicmanipuri

It’s a beautiful day. It is so sunny yet you can feel the chills from the crazy wind, at the same time. I complain that Auckland weather is always PMSing. She goes crazy, you know! It’s sunny one moment and you are all excited to head out and the moment you step out of your room and happily open the gate; all you see is a gloomy windy crazy weather.

Anyways, let’s focus on something more whoosh wooshy today.

First thing first, for us, Love is Nungshi (universal term). Also, if you hear bi or ba after a certain word, then you should always remember that, Bi is feminine and Ba is masculine!!

Here it goes....

1.   I LOVE YOU: Eina nang nungshi. (I you love)

2.   I LOVE YOU TOO: Eisu nang nungshi. (I also you love)

3.  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH: Ei nang yam nungshi. (I you lots love)

4.  Calling LOVE to a girl: Nungshibi

5.   Calling LOVE to a guy: Nungshiba

6.   I hate you: Eina nang Nungshide. (I you don’t love)

7.   Nang eigini: You are mine. (you mine)

8.   Ei nangini: I am yours. (I yours)

9: I MISS YOU: Ei nang ningshingey/ ei nang miss touwe. (I you remember)

10. I want to see you: Ei nang uningey. (I you see)

11. Beautiful: Phajeiye/Phajaba/ Phajabi (Bi is for female and Ba for male)

12. You are very Beautiful: Nang yaam phajeiye. (you very beautiful)

I can’t think of anything else today.. :/ It’s been so long I sat down to write something. Well, atleast I tried!

Anyways, hopefully this will suffice for today and I will post more day-to-day used Manipuri words soon..

Happy new year to everyone!!

Have a blast!

Yayyyyy!!

Now that we are kinda familiar with the basic words, let us dig in a little bit more and always keep in mind that, Manipuri is a very easy language if spoken the way I do :)

I should have introduced this in my previous lesson, but then who doesn’t mess up, right? Anyways, our language is called ‘Meiteilon’ which means the language of the ‘meiteis’. And we hail from the beautiful Northeastern Indian state of Manipur. Easy peasy yea.... 

Here we go,

1)     What is this/ that -                     asise keino?/ aadeise keino?

2)     Come -                                      Lak o

3)     Go -                                           Chatlo

4)     Okay/ Yes -                                Hoi

5)     Enough –                                   Yare

6)     No –                                           Yade 

7)     Don’t want –                               Paamde

8)     Want –                                        Paame

9)     Don’t know-                               Khangde

10)  Wait -                                          Ngaikho

11)  Nothing much-                            Kem leite

12)  Understand? –                            khangabara?

13)  I don’t understand –                   Ei bhap tade

14)  I know -                                      Ei khange

15)  Listen –                                      Taba/ tawo(asking someone to listen to you)/         tabara?(asking someone if they can hear)

16)  Be quiet –                                  Tumina leiyo/ Laanganu

17)  Good/ very good –                    Phei/ Yaam phei

18)  Family/ home/ house –             Emoong/ Yoom

19)  Mountain –                                Ching

20)  River –                                       Turel

21)  Teacher –                                   Oja

22)  Student -                                   Shatra (There is another word for it I guess, but I only know this)

23)  Book -                                       Lairik

24)  Flower -                                     Lei (Leirang is the formal and poetic version, we usually stick to Lei)

25)  Bird –                                        Uchek

26)  Beautiful -                                 Phajeiye/ Phajaba/ Phajabi ( ba is for male and bi is for female)

27)  Ugly -                                       Thiye/ Athiba/ Athibi (The same goes for this one too. Let's not used this much on people yea.)

28)  Big –                                         Achouba (Achoubi is the female version of it, for example addressing a big lady.)

29)  New -                                        Anouba (Anoubi , again is the female version, for example, addressing a newlywed is called Mou(bride) Anoubi)

30)  How many? -                            kaya no?

31)  How much? –                           Kaya no? / kaya pigey? (value for money?)

32)  Cost -                                        Mamal

33)  Money –                                    Paisa

34)  Time –                                       Matam

35)  Half/ Full -                                 Tangkhai/ Mapoom

36)  To talk –                                     Wa ngangba

37)  To write –                                   Eeba

38)  Book -                                        Lairik

39)  To read -                                    Paba/ Lairik paba (to study or read a book)

40)  To sit -                                        Phamba

41)  To Stand -                                  Leppa

42)  To stay -                                     Leiba

43)  To run -                                      Chenba

44)  To walk –                                    Chatpa

45)  To Cry -                                      kappa

46)  To smile –                                    Nokpa

47)  To eat -                                        Chaba

48)  Toilet-                                          khonghampham/ toilet (It’s more common to use toilet)

49) Shower -                                       Erulujapham

50)  To Dance -                                   Jagoi saba

51)  School -                                        Lairik Tampham (It literally means a place where you study book)

52)  Shop -                                          Dukan (There must a Manipuri word for it, though, please correct me if I am wrong.)

And here we come to an end to the kits and bits of some basic conversation in Meiteilon. Till then Phajana leiyo... Amuk thengnarase (Let’s meet again)

Well, a lot of my friends tried to ‘GOOGLE SEARCH’ the Manipuri language translation and it’s so.... sad to know that there are very minimal words being translated into English. So, I thought to myself, Why not share a little knowledge and my vague understanding of the language might bring about a little difference for those who are trying to reach out to learn Manipuri. 

So, I will start with the basics and very few words at a time. I am not a pro in this too but, hoping to make a little difference. And also, the tone I am using is casual day to day and friendly one. Manipuri language is very twisted as there are different terms and tones and trust me, that can trigger a sense of disrespect to the one you are conversing with. So, one has to be very careful. These words are just for a casual conversation, just to brush up your basic conversational skills. 

Also, if there is any kind of error or words that I have used in a wrong sense or something that led to a different meaning, Please, please feel free to comment and I will do the necessary changes. 

Thanks in advance :)

We usually don’t have a translation for hi/hello, instead, we are more used to addressing someone you meet with a how is going? or how are you? So, I will start with that.

1. How is it going?/ How are you?     Kamaina tourigey? Nungairibo?

2. I am fine, and you?                         Nungairiye. Nangdi?

3. What is your name?                       Nangi Ming Kari kouwi?

4. My name is Suzania.                      Eigi Ming Suzania Kouwi.

5. Where are you from?                     Nang kadaideino?

6. I am from Manipur.                        Ei Manipur deine.

7. Bye                                                Chatlukhigey/ Chatle

8. Take care                                       Phajana leiyo

These are the basic conversation that usually takes place when you meet someone for the first time or meeting an acquaintance. Of course, you don’t ask your friends where are they from, whenever you meet them!! Du’uh..  So, you might want to stick to only, 1,2 and your conversation... and then towards the end 7 and 8.. There you go.. Pro as hell!! :)

Now, these are a must as, 

1. I/ My/ mine-                                   Ei/ Eigi

2. You/ (him/her)/ Them - Nang/ ma/ moi (Moi also means fart but you might want to use it only around people you are comfortable with :))

3. Yours/ His/Hers/ Theirs -              Nangi/  Magi/ Moigi

4. Female/ Girl/ Lady -                      Nupi

5. Male/ Boy -                                   Nupa

6. Elder Sister -                                Eche/ Che

(commonly used as it is more casual, while Eche is little bit formal)

7. Younger Sister -                          Echanupi/ Enaonupi 

(We usually don’t call them with these terms, this is more to inform or tell someone else that, she is my younger sister. We just address them by their names. For Example, Suzania is my younger sister. Suzania eigi Enaonupi/ Echanupi ne.)

8. Elder Brother -                            Eyamba/ Tamo/ Dada/ Da 

(Eyamba is more formal than the rest. Da is the most used word for brother, more common n more casual)

9. Younger Brother -                       Enaopa. 

(The same goes for this too. For Example, Peter is my younger brother. Peter eigi enaonupa ne.)

10. This/ That -                              (asise/sise)/ aa-deise 

(you can or you need not drag the aaaaadeise, which I always do, just to address to something/ someone that is far away but you can still see it. We have a really cute way of saying ‘that’ :))

11. why?/ what? / where? / who? - Keigi?/ Keino?/ Kadaidano?/ Kanano?

Well, that's all for the day and I will be back with more exciting words the next time. Till then, Phajana Leiyo ko. (Ko is something I am addicted to, well, most of the Meiteis are very familiar with using ‘ko’. It’s like agreeing with something that you just said or trying to get the person on the receiving end to agree with you. For example, let's go shopping. You want to get the other person agree to you, so, you go like this. ‘Shopping chatluse ko..... And If they don’t agree just keep saying ko! ko! ko! ko! (Like I do to piss the hell outta the person :) Ya.. i AM ANNOYING AT TIMES) and if they still don’t agree just gear up and do a K.O. and go by yourself.... :)