Introductions

In this chapter you'll learn how to:

• ask someone for their name
• give your name to someone else
• recognize some variations in the ways that people do introductions

"What is your name?"

When someone wants to ask your name, you will hear the following: I tɔgɔ ko di? That expression is made up of four words. The most important is tɔgɔ which means 'name'.

You already learned i when we covered the greetings. It means 'you' in the singular.

(NOTE: Remember, you may also hear the pronoun i as e and the pronoun n as ne; you'll learn more about this in "Pronouns". For now, consider them interchangeable.)

When we combine i + tɔgɔ then we get a possessive noun phrase that simply means 'your name'.

The word di means 'how'.

The word ko is a little complex. Technically, it is known as the quotative copula, which means that it is a verb-like form that is generally related to speech. For now, to simplify things, let's just say that here it means 'is said'.

So if we put it all together we have a single sentence that looks and can be broken down like this:

I + tɔgɔ+ ko + di ?
Your + name + is.said + how?

'What is your name?' (Lit. 'Your name is said how?')

Before we cover how to respond, let's take a second to cover last names. This might seem unnecessarily formal for Westerners, but last names are an important part of social relationships in West Africa. (You'll learn more about this in "Last name shout-outs".) In fact, people sometimes might start by asking you for your last name.

The word for last name is jamu. If someone wants to ask for your last name, they'll simply replace tɔgɔ with jamu:

I jamu ko di?

'What's your last name?''

So when it comes to people, we can say that tɔgɔ means 'first name'. That said, tɔgɔ is also the word that is used when talking about the name of things in general. More on that a bit later in the "Bonus" section...

"My name is..."

Alright, so how do we respond to I tɔgɔ? and I jamu ko di?

To respond you only need to make two small changes.

First, you switch the second person singular pronoun i to the first person pronoun n (or ne; again you'll learn more about "Pronouns" down the road):

N tɔgɔ ko...

'My name is...'

Second, you replace di with your name!

This gives us an exchange that might look like this:

– I tɔgɔ ko di?
– N tɔgɔ ko Adama.
– I jamu ko di?
–N jamu ko Jalo.

– What's your name?
– My name is Adama.
– What's your last name?
– My last name is Jalo.

(NOTE: Since you can introduce yourself now, you might also be eager to say "I am from America/France/etc." We'll get there soon! It's covered later in "Verbs in the Present".)

Variations

The forms that we just covered are more or less standard forms for Bambara and Jula. That said, you might hear a few variations that result from different regional preferences and the fact that people don't always answer one another in full robot-like sentences.

In terms of shorter variations, people will often simply drop ko di? since it is implied:

– I tɔgɔ/jamu (ko di)?

– (What's) your name?

Alternatively, people often use another word, the contrastive particle dun, that we covered in "Greetings Extended":

– I tɔgɔ dun?

– And your name (what is it)?

Otherwise, depending on where you are in Manding-speaking West Africa, you might hear a range of regional variations that revolve around if one uses the word ko or another alternative form such as bɛ, ye or even nothing at all.

For instance, imagine that I was with a friend and I saw someone that I thought I recognized and I asked Jɔn don? ('Who is it?'). They might respond:

Mamudu dɔgɔkɛ don.

'It's Mamudu's little brother.'

before adding:

À tɔgɔ bɛ Mori.

'His name is Mori'

Or let's say that someone asked me what my first name and last name was. They might use ye and I'd be free to respond with ko or any other one of the options: bɛ, ye or nothing at all (∅).

– N teri, i tɔgɔ ko di?
– N tɔgɔ ko Adama.
– I jamu ye di?
– N jamu Jalo.

– My friend, what's your name?
– My name is Adama.
– What's your last name?
– My last name is Jalo.

That may seem like a lot. For now, you can stick with using ko or whatever is easiest. Just know that you might need to able to recognize all the possible forms:

N tɔgɔ + ko/bɛ/ye/∅ + Adama 'My name is Adama'

Bonus: "What's this (thing)'s name?"

Alright, earlier I said that tɔgɔ means 'first name' when it comes to people, but that it more generally just means 'name' when it comes to things out in the world.

This means that we've picked up a new skillset: you can now pick up potential new vocabulary by asking what the names of things are you are. (You will learn other ways to ask what something is [and therefore what it is called in Bambara/Jula] down the road in "Presentatives" .)

If we replace i or n with the demonstrative pronoun nin ('this') then we can now unambiguously ask "What is this thing's name?":

Nin tɔgɔ ko di?

'What is this thing's name?'

(Lit. 'How is this thing's name said?')

Actually, if we replace nin with any other noun, we can ask the name of any person or place. For instance:

Dugu tɔgɔ ko di?

'What's the town's name?'

Or:

Muso tɔgɔ ko di?

'What's the woman's name?'

Summary

Ayiwa! We covered the following about introductions & names:

• To ask someone their first or last name, you use the following:
  • I tɔgɔ/jamu ko di?: 'What's your first/last name?''
• To respond to any question about your first or last name, you use the following:
  • N tɔgɔ/jamu ko + ... : 'My name is...''
• Both of these models can vary depending on what word people use in the slot of ko:
  • N tɔgɔ/jamu + ko/bɛ/ye/∅ + ...
• You can use the same sentence structure to acquire new vocabulary by asking for them of people, place and things:
  • Nin tɔgɔ ko di?: 'What is this (thing)'s name?'