This simple twi guide has been written with thanks to Alex Boakye Antwi and Joseph Edward Addae – two Junior High School students from Abofour, Ashanti Region!
We can see that this guide is getting a large amount of views – please do consider supporting our model for community-led education by dropping a donation at www.justgiving.com/eduspots – also please do share our work with your networks!
Twi: A Beginners Guide
These are 40 phrases that I have found incredibly useful during my time in Ghana. If you are able to translate and speak all of these phrases and words, then you have officially passed the first stage of the course!
| Twi | Pronunciation Advice | English |
| Ete sen? | Etty sen? | How are you? |
| Ey3 paa | Ay ye paa. | I am fine. |
| Wo ho te sen? | Wo ho te sen? | How are you? |
| Me ho y3 | Me hoy ye. | I am well. |
| Nyame adom | Nya may adom. | By the grace of God (they say this a lot!) |
| Na wonso 33? | Na won sua? | And what about you? |
| Wo din de sen? | Wo din dee sen? | What is your name? |
| Me din de Cat | Me din dee Cat. | My name is Cat. |
| Wofi (ri) he? | Wo fri he? | Where do you come from? |
| Mefi (ri) England | Mefri England. | I come from England. |
| Akwaaba | As written | Welcome |
| Medaase | Me daa say! | Thank you! |
| Da yie | Da yeeay! | Good night! |
| Nante yie | Nan tee yee aay! | Safe journey! |
| Mem a wo akye | Maa chi! | Good morning! |
| Mem a wo aha | Maa haa! | Good afternoon! |
| Mem a wo adwo | Maa jo! | Good evening! |
| Mani agye | Manee adjay. | I am happy. |
| Wani agye? | Wanee adjay? | Are you happy? |
| Me sua twi kakra kakra | Me sueah twi kakra kakra. | I am learning twi little by little. |
| Wote Twi paa | Wo tay twi paa! | You speak twi very well. |
| Mereko laibri | Me re ko libree. | I am going to the library. |
| Okyena | Otchina | Tomorrow (can be used as “see you tomorrow!” |
| Y3behyia bio | Ye bishia beo! | We’ll meet again! |
| Aden? | Aden? | Why? |
| M’ani gye ho | Mani je ho. | I’m interested in it/ I like it. |
| Mani nnye ho | Mani ny ho. | I’m not interested in it/ I don’t like it. |
| Me didi | Me deedee | I am eating. |
| Me nom | Me nom | I am drinking. |
| M’adamfo | Me dam foe | Friend |
| Nsuo | Un sue oh | Water |
| Kwadu | Kwadu | Banana |
| Paanoo | Paanoo | Bread |
| Bra | Brah | Come |
| Ko | Ko | Go |
| Y3nko | Yanko | Let’s go! |
| Tw3n me | Charn me | Wait for me! |
| Daabi | Darbee | No |
| Aane | Ahnay | Yes |
| Eebia | Eee bee ah | Maybe |
Basic pronouncation points:
3 – e (as with French accent)
o – o (sharp o)
e – eee
ky – ch
gy – j
hy – sh
dw – j (slightly different sound, see video when uploaded)
Beginners (Improvers) to soon follow!!
Brilliant! Medasse!
meedase (brilliant) tysm (thank you so much)
Akwaaba
Me daase
Im am in love with this
thank you
Medasse
Etay sen
Medaase paa paa! <3
Very important basics to learn and know.
Eten sen m’adamfo
Good job ?
Thank you so much I am a performing artist from the Caribbean who is in my dreams to visit ghana so I must prepare thank you so much
Did you get to Ghana? I am planning a month in Jan – Feb 2023 …
I speak Twi but I don’t know how to read or write Twi,but thanks, helpful
Learn de alphabet oo it will help you.
This one is very helpful!
Medaase paa!
Medaase paa! African-American here born in the south, with no knowledge or way to trace ancestry back to Africa. There fore I’ve tasked myself with learning as many African languages as I can, just to have some attachment to a home I’ll never know but will always love. Thank you so much for this there are very few materials for most African languages and every bit helps tremendously.
Try an ancestry kit.
Medasi
Thank you- Medaase
How are the people doing
medaase
medaase
I love you; I like you
Madaase
Thank you
I’m interested this words so bring more and learn
Sending to my bf I’ve been trying to teach twi for a while. The break down will be very helpful as some words can be hard to pronounce in twi like hair or nose for none native speakers. Thank you!
Medaase bebree . I had told my dad who also speaks twi that I am starting to learn it and know my and family from ghana want to hear me speak twi and are very excited to hear me speak it. So this helped me a lot to not disappoint them
Does your father know the translation of this phrase?
“ Aane, me ara ni nnipa a wo twen no.”
It’s from a book called Golden Hill.
Thank you.
Yes’ i’m the one your waiting on
that’s the translation
My husband is from Ghana and I’m trying to learn his language.. some of these phrases are helpful but where can I learn more?
Hi half Ghanaian here. There is a YouTuber called LEARNAKAN he teaches phrases, numbers, adjectives in Twi and more. My parents really didn’t teach me a lot of Akan(Twi) but this guy helped me a lot and I’m sure he will 🙂
Medaase. This is really helpful.
me so medaasii
Fantastic work. We appreciate your efforts.
This is really helpful, Thank you
Me wo ghana but me tu mi ka twi so medaase nyame shraa wo
Bless you for this. I am so excited to learn now 🙂 Medaase.
Medaase bebree
Wonderful exposition of the TwI language. Please download and install the Ghana keyboard and so that you can type on your phone letters like ?, ?, ƒ, ? and the others.
Thank you.
Wonderful exposition of the TwI language. Please download and install the Ghana keyboard so that you can type on your phone letters like ?, ?, ƒ, ? and the others.
Thank you.
Can someone help me translate Ay3ka . I’m learning and came across this word but unsure of the meaning
It means you are at a loss – in the sense that you’ve put something into some effort, and not had a good result.
Ete sen
Medaase me firi America but me parents firi Ghana so mey3 50% Ghanani.
but (naaso)
parents (awo fo)
so (nti)
50% (half – fha) Ghanaian (Ghanani fha)
now you can reconstruct it to sound more like a native or fluent speaker.
?? Medasse I will now show off to my girlfriend.
W’ay3 ade3.
Can someone translate this for me please
It means you’ve done well or well done. This is usually said to congratulate someone for good work done.
Medaase
true
Medaase
My parents were born in ghana and my mom said if I speak twi to them for the whole day then I can get a phone
Hahahaha 3y3 paa, 3b3boa wo amma wasua twi Kasa.
It is good idea it will help you learn the twi language.
possessing the unknown future as a young adult the all knowing god
Medaase pa
Medaase. Thank you so much . Keep returning to this.
How do you say “please” in Twi?
Also, if greeting a group of people of different ages, is it appropriate to greet the congregation with wo ho te sen?
Hi Mishka,
Please in twi is “mepawokyew”. Also when greeting a group of people the ‘wo’ in wo ho te sen which means “you”(singular) changes to “mo” which means “you” (plural). Hence to greet a group is “mo ho te sen?” and if they are responding as a group, they would say “ye ho ye” meaning “we are fine”.
I found this guide interesting, I love Ghana language alot
Medasse! This is soo helpful, ive been trying to learn ghana for a long time but nothing, everything that went inside my ear went into my brain but it didn’t stay so it came out the other way of my ear but this helped me in alot of different ways, so than, you sooooo mich for this, everyone should just appreciate the time he took to this only to help others learn, it’s not always about money, im sure he did this and ge wasnt paid, this is what they GENEROSITY ! And everyone should be like this fellow citezen! Kudos to you sir! BRAVO
Very nice
ty
Very delighted to learn so easily. Thank you so much.
Medaase (thank you)