SOTRAMA

Comparatives with ka tɛmɛ X kan

In the video, we heard the following:

Faantan de ka ca ka tɛmɛ moyen-tigiw kan

"Poor people are more numerous than people with means"

This is an example of a comparative construction using ka tɛmɛ X kan.

(NOTE: Recall that earlier we learned that you can also build comparatives with (ni) X ye.)

In such constructions the verb ka tɛmɛ ("to pass") is used in conjunction with the postposition kan ("on; on top of") to express the idea of something being "more than" something else.

For our purposes, let's simplify the sentence slightly:

Faantan ka ca ka tɛmɛ moyen-tigiw kan Pauper is abundant to pass means-owner on.top.of

As you can, this means that ka tɛmɛ X kan can be used with qualitative verbs.

Here's another example:

SOTRAMA ka ɲi ka tɛmɛ takisi kan

Roughly, "SOTRAMA is good more than taxi"

As in, "SOTRAMAs are better than taxis"

It can also be used with verbs. Here's an example with k'à ta ("to take something"):

N bɛ SOTRAMA ta ka tɛmɛ nɛgɛso kan

"I take SOTRAMAs more than [my] bike"

If you want to express the idea of "better" as an adverb, you can combine ka tɛmɛ X kan with ka ɲɛ (Lit. "to be good")"

Musa bɛ mɔbili boli ka ɲɛ ka tɛmɛ ne kan

Roughly, "Musa drives a car well more than me"

"Musa drives better than me"

It can also be used in non-verbal sentences. For instance:

Nafa bɛ SOTRAMA na ka tɛmɛ moto kan

"SOTRAMAs are more beneficial than motorbikes"

Lit. "Benefit is upon SOTRAMA more than motorbike"

And of course, it can be used in negative sentences too:

Moto man teli ka tɛmɛ mɔbili kan

"A motorbike isn't faster than a car"

Superlative work-around

You can also ka tɛmɛ X kan in conjunction with bɛɛ, etc., to express the idea of something being "more X than all Y". (More on that below in the next section on superlatives too.) For instance:

Nɛgɛso ka ɲi ka tɛmɛ bolifɛn bɛɛ kan!

"Bikes are better than all vehicles!"

As in, "Bikes are the best!"

You may also hear it with tɔw "(the) others" in a similar way. For example:

I ka mɔbili ka suma ka tɛmɛ tɔw kan

"Your car is slow more than the others"

As in, "Your car is the slowest"

Conjunction usage

It's worth highlighting that the turn of phrase Ka tɛmɛ o kan can also be used as a conjunction that is equivalent to "Moreover" or "What's more", etc. (Though in my experience this is more common in writing than in speech.) For instance:

SOTRAMA ka di n ye. Ka tɛmɛ o kan, wari tɛ n bolo!

"I like SOTRAMAs. Plus, I don't have any money!" [so I take them a lot]

Negative comparative work-arounds

It's important to note that you cannot use it to express a negative comparative (that is, the idea of "less than" or "worse").

To express something like "Sara takes SOTRAMAs less than me", you would need to talk around the idea by saying the opposite:

N bɛ SOTRAMA ta ka tɛmɛ Sara kan

"I take SOTRAMAs more than Sara"

Or something more roundabout:

Sara tɛ SOTRAMA ta i ko ne

"Sara doesn't take SOTRAMAs like me"

Or, to take a different example:

Nɛgɛso tɛ SOTRAMA bɔ teliya la

"A bike isn't equal to a SOTRAMA in terms of speed"

(as in, "A bike is less fast than a SOTRAMA")

Superlative Constructions

In the video, we heard the following:

O de y'à lafiya gɛlɛnmanba yɛrɛ ye

Roughly, "That is its true big convenience"

Let's simplify it for our purposes:

O ye à lafiya gɛlɛnmanba ye

Lit. "That is its comfort difficult-big"

As in, "That is its truest comfort/convenience"

This is an example of a superlative construction, which means the expression of the highest degree of an attribute or characteristic. In English, we normally think of this as being something expressed by "-est" (e.g., "fastest"), but sometimes we also express it using "most" (e.g., "the most beautiful").

In Bambara, there is nothing like the English "-est" or "most". Instead, the idea of a superlative is often expressed with a whole phrase. For instance:

Mɔbili ka teli ka tɛmɛ bɛɛ kan

"A car is faster than all"

(as in, "A car is fastest")

If you want to apply a superlative to a Bambara adjective (that is, a word that is placed directly after a noun; e.g., belebele, kura, gɛlɛnman, etc.) to say something like "the biggest house" or "my oldest brother", people will often make use of the augmentative suffix -ba (roughly, "big").

This is what we say in the example from the video. But it's a little bit tricky, so let's take a different example:

N kɔrɔkɛ kɔrɔba My elder.brother old-big

"My oldest elder brother"

In other cases, you may hear it used used with a preceding noun phrase X bɛɛ la (Lit. "of all X"). For example:

Bolifɛn bɛɛ la ɲumanba ye SOTRAMA ye Vehicle all of good-big is SOTRAMA

"The best of all vehicles is a SOTRAMA"

OR

"The best vehicle is a SOTRAMA"

Or:

U bɛɛ la telimanba ye jumɛn ye? They all of fast-big is which

"Of all them, the fastest is which?"

Span-of-time words (“since”, “ago” and “for”)

In the video, we hear the following:

… à bɛ san fila ɲɔgɔnna bɔ

"… it's been about two years"

For our purposes, let's make it into a full and clear sentence:

À bɛ san fila bɔ, n ma SOTRAMA ta

Lit. "It is worth two years, I haven't taken a SOTRAMA"

"I haven't taken a SOTRAMA for two years"

This sentence uses the verb bɔ to discuss the idea of how long it has been since something occurred. It's an example of a series of turns of phrase that I like to call span-of-time words or expressions.

Such words are distinct from "conjugations" that allow you to express tense (that is, when an action occurred) or aspect (that is, whether an action is complete or incomplete). Here's some English examples:

I am going to Mali

VS

I am in Mali

VS

I went to Mali

Instead, they allow you to talk about things like the duration of event or its relationship to other happenings. Like in these English examples:

I am going to Mali in three days

VS

I've been in Mali for a week

VS

I went to Mali a month ago

Let's jump into the major span-of-time expressions via their common English equivalents.

kabini "since"

The idea of "since" or "ever since" can be expressed with word kabi(ni).

It is used when discussing a specific event or point in time.

You can freely choose between kabi or kabini — they are in essence two forms of the same word. For simplicity's sake, I will write out the fuller form, kabini, in this rest of this chapter.

The word kabini is a preposition when it appears before nouns of time (that is, expressions like "last year", "2020", "last week", "Thursday", etc). For instance:

N bɛ SOTRAMA boli kabini salon

"I've been driving a SOTRAMA since last year"

Note that in this example, I placed the phrase kabini salon ('since last year') at the end of the sentence. But it can also appear at the beginning:

Kabini salon, n bɛ SOTRAMA boli

"Ever since last year, I've been driving a SOTRAMA"

(NOTE: Remember, linguists refer to these kinds of sentence parts that can be at the beginning or end as "adjuncts".)

The word kabini can also be used as a conjunction before entire clauses. For example:

N bɛ SOTRAMA ta kabini n wolola

"I've been taking SOTRAMAs since I was born"

In such cases, the phrase with kabini can again appear at the beginning or end of the sentence.

Kabini n wolola, n bɛ SOTRAMA ta

"Since I was born, I've been taking SOTRAMAs"

You may also hear some Bambara/Jula speakers use the French word "depuis" ['since'] or "depuis que" [lit. 'since that'] in place of kabi(ni). The grammar is the same otherwise.

SOTRAMAw bɛ Bamakɔ depuis tuma jan

"SOTRAMAs have been in Bamako since way back when"

In English, it may also translate as "as soon as" or "from (that moment)".

Kabini n donna mɔbili kɔnɔ, n y'à dɔn ko à tun bɛ tiɲɛ

"From the moment I got in the vehicle, I knew that it was going to break down"

Note that kabi(ni) is also sometimes combined with k'à ta. For instance:

K'à ta kabini san 2009, n bɛ SOTRAMA boli

"I've been driving a SOTRAMA since back in 2009"

Lit. "Since taking it in 2009, I have been driving a SOTRAMA"

(NOTE: You will learn more about the use of k'à ta when discussing spans of time when we go to the preposition fo 'until'.)

à X ye nin ye and à bɛ X bɔ

An expression using an equative (à X ye nin ye "its X is this") and another one using the verb k'à bɔ can fruitfully be used to talk about the duration of an event.

In English, this is most often done with the following words:

• ago (e.g., "I bought my motorbike two years ago")
• for (e.g., "I've been waiting for a SOTRAMA for two hours")

Forget English though. Let me show you how it works with à X ye nin ye:

N ye moto san, à san fila ye nin ye

"I bought a motorbike, its two years is this"

As in, "I bought a motorbike two years ago"

Note, that the à ("it") of à X ye nin ye refers to the other half of the sentence: N ye moto san ("I bought a moto").

We can build the same sentence using the verb k'à bɔ:

N ye moto san, à bɛ san fila bɔ

"I bought a motorbike, it is worth two years"

As in, "I bought a motorbike two years ago"

Again, the à of à bɛ X bɔ refers to the other clause of the sentence (N ye moto san).

In other contexts such as when the "present progressive" is used in English, you'll notice that the better translation is "for". Like this:

N bɛ ka SOTRAMA makɔnɔ, à bɛ lɛrɛ fila bɔ!

"I am waiting for a SOTRAMA, it is worth two hours!"

As in, "I've been waiting for a SOTRAMA for two hours!"

Other span-of-time words

(I won't be addressing them here, but later we will be looking at other related words that can be used to express things like "in" [e.g., "I will go in two days" ] using yanni or potentially kɔ(fɛ) and "until" [e.g., "I will wait until Monday"] using fo.)