Basic vocabulary

This section teaches you a few basic words to help you get started. These are words for talking about things in the world around you: nouns and adjectives. For some more useful beginner-level words and phrases, see Small-talk.

We don't attempt to tackle Murrinhpatha verbs (action words) in this section, because there is nothing easy or basic about them! However there is a separate Verbs section for those who would like to learn about this interesting - but difficult - aspect of the language.

Nouns
kardu
person
mamay
child
kigay
boy
mardinhbuy
girl
nugarn
man
palngun
woman
pathingkul
bicycle
thingkelet
shirt
trathit
trousers
ku were
dog
puthikat
cat
tjelput
house
thay
tree
nanthi palyirr
rock
da palyirr
hill
ngipilinh
river
lalingkin
ocean
darrimurn
beach
nanthi purtek
dirt
da purtek
the land
purtek ngay
my land
Adjectives
ngalla
big
wakal
small
pirtpirt
fast
thawath
slow
kangkarl
up
pepe
down
kanyi
here
pangu
there
Days and Times
marra kanyi
today
tjipinyire
tomorrow
kunginire
yesterday
thipinhi
last night
da karrim-de-thu
the day after tomorrow
da kuginire-warda-nimin
the day before yesterday