Twi: A Beginner’s Guide!

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! 

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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!! 

Posted on by Cat Davison

70 thoughts on Twi: A Beginner’s Guide!

  9. 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.

  18. 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!

  19. 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

    1. 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.

    1. 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 🙂

  27. 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.

  28. 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.

  38. 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?

    1. 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”.

  41. 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

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