Welcome to the fourth Wolof Class: Lekk ak naan – Food & drinks. Yesterday, I taught you how to talk about your body in Wolof. Today, we’ll continue and talk about our favorite thing in the world: FOOD AND DRINKS. Or better yet, Lekk ak naan. Celebrating independence day is not over, since we haven’t talked about food yet! As you know, I have eaten a lot in Senegal. Before we get into the subject: don’t forget to join the SeneGambia Vibes Club on ClubHouse where we do a Wolof class each Saturday! Until Saturday, I will be posting a Wolof class on YouTube. The video will contain a dialogue about the subject of that class and then we will dissect it. I will also share additional information on my Instagram and a downloadable syllabus in each blog for the class! – Let’s get into the fourth class: Lekk ak naan – Food & drinks.
Food in Senegal
I may have already said this, but in Senegal, we eat two warm meals a day. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! However, sometimes I cannot eat a lot during lunch because it is hot, and I have to eat hot food. Yeah, call me spoiled, but the thought of drinking hot milk or chocolate in the morning in Senegal makes me sweaty too! Anyway, it is normal to eat warm meals for lunch and for dinner too. Of course it depends on every household whether you’ll be eating something hot, lu tàng or not. I think most households eat rice, ceeb for lunch and for dinner they will have a warm meal, but not rice. For example, at my uncle’s house in Dakar we would usually eat ceeb for lunch, but eat the leftovers for dinner.
Of course, it was also possible to actually buy something else such as Attieké. However, in Podor we would always eat ceebu jen, jollof rice for lunch and for dinner it was always warm, but never rice. For example, beans with meat and bread, fried fish and fries or something totally different such as vermicelli with meat. Like lunch was always heavier than dinner, but oh so delicious!
Lekk ak naan – Food & drinks
Now you know the words for both food and drinks, let’s talk about hunger and thirst. To express thirst or hunger, you start the sentence with Da maa ___ meaning I am. On the dots you can fill in whether you feel hungry, xiif or thirsty, mar. On the dot you can also fill in other things you are feeling, such as tired, sonn, or cold, sedd. You can also say that you want to either drink or eat by saying: Da maa bëgg lekk/naan. However, this sentence can also be said in reverse: Naan/lekk laa bëgg. Which is much shorter.
A quick tip, when using this type of sentence, instead of saying that you want to eat or drink, you can simply replace that by saying exactly what you want. For example: Ceebu jen laa bëgg (lekk). Meaning that you want (to eat) some jollof rice. Or Coca laa bëgg (naan), I want (to drink) a coke. Of course, you can still add the lekk or naan at the end of the sentence, but it is definitely not necessary. I mean, it is very clear you do not want to eat the coke or drink the jollof rice, lol!
When you are being asked, at a restaurant or at home, what you want to eat, you can definitely use the easy sentence. Méchoui laa bëgg. You can replace the word Méchoui with any other dish or drink on the menu. If you want to say and, to order multiple things off the menu just say ak.
Do you want to learn more about Lekk ak naan – Food & drinks? Definitely watch today’s video class below. If you have any questions, definitely reach out to me on Instagram and I will answer your questions :).
Don’t forget to download the syllabus for Lekk ak naan – Food & drinks for even more insights! I specifically created it for this class. The idea was to only share a one-page stencil or worksheet. However, I was so consumed by creating this syllabus and this is the result! If you find it hard to listen to Wolof, definitely read the dialogue between me and Nafissa while watching my video. Enjoy and Ba suba, In Sha Allah.
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