Alphabet_image@2x

How To Say The Twi Alphabet (Digraphs)

In the previous blog post we learnt about Twi vowels and the sounds they make. Today, we shall build on that and learn about Asante Twi digraphs. Let’s get started.

ASANTE TWI ALPHABET OVERVIEW
A digraph is a combination of two letters representing one sound, as in ph to form f in English. There are 9 digraphs in Asante Twi. Below are the Twi digraphs.

dw pronounced jw with rounded lips.

dw
dwene       to think

 

gy sounds like the j in jug.

gy
gye       to receive

 

hw is like the initial sound made by the word whew!

hw
ɛhwene       nose

 

hy pronounced sh as in shirt.

hy
hye       to burn

 

kw is like the initial sound made by the word quick.

kw
ɛkwan       road

 

ky pronounced ch as in chat.

ky
ɛkyɛ       hat

 

ny is the same as the ñ in the pronunciation of España.

ny
nyansa       wisdom

 

nw pronounced nyw. This is ny with rounded lips.

nw
nwunu       cold

 

tw pronounced chw. This is ch with rounded lips.

tw
twa       to cut

 

This is about all for now. Go over the digraphs and their associated words as many times as you can so that you can remember them. I hope you found this useful. We shall learn about Twi numbers in our next blog post. Stay tuned.

If you have an iPhone or an iPad and you want to learn Asante Twi grammar and vocabulary, you should download Twi Primer from the Apple App Store.

Leave a Reply