Beginner’s guide to Nigerian pidgin English

How Bodi? / How You Dey? – How are you doing today?
How Far? – Hey, Hi
Wetin? – What?

Photo by author.

I no no – I don’t know
I no sabi – I don’t understand
I dey fine – I’m fine. I’m doing well.
Wetin dey happen? – What’s going on? What’s happening?
Wahala – Problem/Trouble. Example – Why you dey give me wahala? Which means why are you giving me so many problems?
Comot! – Get out of here!
Comot for road – Make way
Dem send you? – Have you been sent to torment me?
Gi mi – Give it to me.
K-leg – Questionable.  Example – Your story get k-leg! Which means your story or gist sounds suspect or exaggerated.
I Wan Chop – I want to eat
Come chop – Come and eat
Abeg – Please, but usually not a repentant plea. Example – Abeg! No waste my time!; Which means Please! Don’t waste my time!
Vex – Upset. Example – Make you no vex me! ; Which means “Don’t upset me!”
I no gree – I don’t agree, I disagree
Abi? – Isn’t it?
Na so? – Is that so?
Wayo – Trickery. Example – That man be wayo; which means “that man is a fraud!”
Area boys -Street-smart young men that loiter around neighborhoods.
Butta my bread – Answered prayers. Example – “God don butta my bread” which means God has answered my prayers
Go slow – Traffic jam
I go land you slap – I will slap you!
Listen well well – Pay attention

Nigerian Pidgin English Quotes

*Ghetto be like jungle, gentle gentle no dey for jungle.

*To live for ghetto no be mai mai matter.

*Di road wey thief follow go after im thief, na di road dem dey follow go find am.

*Monkey no dey agile for desert.

*I been get and I go get na tori. I get na im be get.

*As di tori now be say; township chop na junk chop, ghetto chop na better chop, na junk chop ghetto people dey fit buy now.

*Mohammed na Jesus brother, dem papa papa papa na Abraham.

*Your head big pass no mean say na you wise pass.

Dictionary of Pidgin English Words and Phrases.

A whole.. Used when a man of substance is belittled e.g See how mobile police trash the guy, a whole managing director for dat matter
Abeg: Please.
Abi?: Is it not?
Abi na wetin!: What is it?
ABU: Amadu Bello University.
Acada: 1. Intellectual 2. University student 3. Book worm.
Acata: 1. USA or UK 2.Someone who lives in those places.
Acting big man: Deputy exercising power in the absence of the boss.
Adire: Dyed cloth.
Adonkia: contraction for I don’t care attitude
Afang: Efik soup made from Afang leaves, beef, dried fish, crayfish, palm oil, and periwinkle.

Things I love about Naija – Pidgin

www.naijapidginsurfing.blogspot.com

                                Fela...used pidgin english a lot in his music
Once again I'm back with part 4 of my series, 10 things I love about naija. Well part 4 of my series, is about the one thing I feel is the most unique thing about naija. Pidgin English, or broken english or whatever you want to call it is, in my opinion, the most unique aspect of the nigerian culture. With that being said I go continue this post with pidgin. Make I talk small history of pidgin english... if u no understand, then try follow, if u no fit try sef, then nothing for you..lol.

Rat Palava

For our house we dey chop well-well,we dey chop. God don butter our bread, come sugar our tea.He don bless us so much with food sote all the domestic and international animals wey dey our house dey form Mofasa. Make you for take know say I nor dey lie, the rats wey dey our compound dey flex, dem be like bull dog. Our dogs? Dem be like Lion.Our chicken dem nko? Dem be like Kangaroo! All the food wey we eat remain naim dem dey eat. We sef be like puff-puff, our body dey shine, e dey shine pass 60 watts light bulb. If you never still believe me, come visit me for my house for Sekina street. Yes, things don dey better for our area now. Government don put Kolotar for our road, come cover our gutters well-well. No more mosquitoes, but the one wey manage show, for him small mind na London e dey.

Water no be problem for our area again after wetin happen to papa Blessing. If you wan know wetin happen to papa Blessing, you go meet with our tori keeper for naijastories here. The title wey the tori keeper give the tori na “Water Palava”,e get part one and part two. Na for there you go see how man use water take wicked him fellow man, and how water take show man say wetin Fela talk no be lie,say true-true, water nor get enemy.

Nigeria's love of pidgin dey scatter my brain yet ginger my swagger

Children in the village of Oniparagba listen to Radio Wazobia, Nigeria's largest pidgin station. Photograph: Monica Mark for the Guardian

In Nigeria's megacity of Lagos, where the country's 500 languages come together in a chaotic medley, the rapid-fire rhythm of pidgin is the symphony of the streets. Africa's largest country is a sometimes fractious mix of 160 million inhabitants divided into 250 ethnicities. But street hustlers and Harvard-educated politicians alike greet each other with: "How you dey?" or "How body?"
The reply can range from a chirpy "I dey fine" to a downbeat "Body dey inside cloth," (literally meaning "I'm still wearing clothes"). Officially known as Naija, Nigerian pidgin is spoken by tens of millions across the country. Current affairs, English and local languages are brewed together to dish up playful imagery at breakneck speed.

Naija Pidgin Igbo's Proverbs

• Picken wey say him mama no go sleep him self no go sleep

• Fly wey no dey hear advice the follow dead body enter grave.

• Cow wey no get tail na God dey help am drive fly

• No matter how u go under water go mess the gbudu-gbudu must come out.

• Bullet wey meet face cap no be warning

• If hand shake don pass elbow na fight.

• Fowl no dey bubble for night.

• Na lizard wey no get sense dey boast for crocodile,

• When breeze blow fowl nyash go open,

                                                 

Psalm 23 for naija pidgin English don com out ooooo

One of the popular chapter is psalm 23,
which reads
1. The Lord na my shepherd, i dey kampe.

2. E make me sidon for where betta dey flow
and come put me next to stream make mai
bodi thermacool.

3. E panel beat mai soul
Come spray am white,
Come dey lead me dey go Through express
road of righteousness sake of Hin name....

Nigeria's pidgin radio station takes off

www.naijapidginsurfing.blogspot.com

                               “Pidgin reflects the Nigerian character ... it’s very dynamic.”

“Nigerians have found a station that goes down well with them ... in a language they understand,” says Diplomatic OPJ, a Wazobia DJ who does the evening rush hour show. He adds that the station now has regional wings in Abuja, the capital, and Port Harcourt, in the oil-rich delta.
"With pidgin, our listeners feel free. We can’t make mistakes when we talk pidgin, because it’s a language that has no dictionary," OPJ said. "So we get everyone calling in — market traders, street hawkers, people who are illiterate.”

SuperSport Begins Search for Pidgin English Commentator

Heartland FC

SuperSport, the pay TV channel on DSTv has embarked on search for Nigerians who can run commentaries on the Glo Premier League, in a novel initiative, aimed at attracting more followers to the domestic football.

Speaking on the pidgin English commentaries at the unveiling ceremony in Lagos on Wednesday, General Manager of SuperSport West Africa, Felix Awogu, said: “We’re looking for Nigerians who can play with typical pidgin words on air and are also passionate about the league. It promises to be a unique experience for every participant.”

He confirmed that auditions will be held in Port-Harcourt (August 23 & 24) as well as Lagos (September 6 & 7) while entry is open to Nigerians between the ages of 20 and 36 years.

“Contestants will have to demonstrate their versatility and command of Pidgin English to the trio of Deji Omotoyinbo, Chinedu Ani (Nedu of Wazobia FM) and Tega Onojaife), who will serve as judges

“The best six contestants from each audition venue will progress to the next round, where they’ll be housed in Lagos for a week to undergo mentoring and training.

“At the end of the week’s stay in the house, the contestants will be trimmed down to a final three which will contest the grand finale on the 4th of October,” he noted.

The eventual winner, according to Awogu, will immediately get an employment letter from SuperSport as a commentator on Glo Premier League matches.

Nigeria harnesses Pidgin English power

Work has started to study and standardise a language spoken by millions but denied official status, raising hopes for education and communication across West Africa

City buzz ... the oscillating tones of Nigerian?s spoken language permeate Lagos. Photograph: Akintunde Akinleye/REUTERS

The traffic gridlock of Nigeria's main city Lagos means that Albanus Olekaibe, a 44-year-old contract driver, spends more of his day listening to radio presenters than to anyone else.
He has been following reports of the latest bribery scandal to beset the World Cup football authorities and he can speak knowledgeably on the midterm elections in the US. But the commentary on current affairs that spills from this big, cheerful man would be incomprehensible to the average English speaker. Olekaibe uses familiar English words but strings them together in a unique way, interspersed with phrases from Nigeria's 500 other languages. Like some 50 million Nigerians he speaks Nigerian Pidgin English.
His source of news is Wazobia FM, the first radio station in Nigeria to broadcast in Pidgin and registering huge audiences as a result. The station's newsreaders report on the impending monsoon in south-east Asia: "Dem dey run comot for dem house" (People are fleeing their homes).
Long considered the language of the uneducated, Nigerian Pidgin English, with its oscillating tones and playful imagery, is now spoken by Nigerians of every age, social class and regional origin.
In a country with wide disparity in education provision, Pidgin operates as a de facto lingua franca, a bridge between social classes, ethnicities and educational levels. Public announcements and information campaigns are often made in Pidgin, which has a wider reach than standard English, the official language of this former British colony.
But while Nigerian Pidgin first emerged nearly 600 years ago, when trade with Europe was first established in the Niger Delta, and is now estimated to be used by 50 million people, and with variants spoken in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the language still has no standard rules for spelling, grammar or an official dictionary.

Owoeye becomes SuperSports’ 1st pidgin-English commentator

Lagos – Timi Owoeye has become SuperSports’ first Pidgin-English commentator.

Owoeye emerged on Friday to clinch the position out of more than 1,000 candidates who entered for the month-long maiden SuperSports ‘Follow Ya Mouth’, Pidgin-English commentator search.
SuperSports said in a statement in Lagos on Friday that Owoeye was given one year contract with effect from Nov. 1.
He would be expected to thrill followers of the Glo Premier League (GPL) via the Pidgin- English commentaries.
The `Follow Ya Mouth search’ took the contestants from Lagos to Warri, Port Harcourt and Uyo in the quest to pick a lucky Nigerian.
No fewer than 12 contestants emerged from the regional auditioning.
At the end, three finalists: Babah Kay, Benedict Wakama and Owoeye were short listed.

Pidgin English Bible for launch

By Emma Arubi

WARRI—National President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, will tomorrow, present a pidgin English audio version of the New Testament Bible.
The public presentation of the audio Bible, billed for Word of Life Bible Church Headquarters, Ajamimogha, Warri, Delta State, will be witnessed by the South-South Chairman of CAN, Archbishop God-Do-Well Awvwomakpa; Delta State Chairman of CAN, Rev. Gideon Oyibo; Bishop, Diocese of Sapele (Anglican Communion) Rt. Rev. Blessing Erifeta and Rt. Rev. John Usiwoma Aruakpor, Bishop of Oleh Diocese.
The event is put together by the Nigerian Pidgin English Bible Promoters Committee that has Rev. Solo Adams as Chairman and Dr. Mark Erumi as translation consultant.

Pidgin English: A medium for effective communication

By Ijeoma Azubuike

Providing an answer to a question in a nationwide television programme, Mr Obafaiye Shem, a senior official at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, inadvertently chipped in a phrase, “My oga at the top’’.
The phrase has since caught up with most Nigerians, educated and illiterates, who apply it to suit different connotations in their everyday interpersonal communications in Pidgin English.
Pidgin is commonly used as lingua franca among educated and illiterate Nigerians, given the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature of the society.
This is further re-enforced by the nation’s high illiteracy levels that varies from one section of the country to another, and even within each section of the society.
Language experts say that the Nigerian Pidgin had, for a long time, been viewed as an effective medium of unhindered self-expression in inter-personal communication.
Amos Tutuola, a famous Nigerian literary giant, did most of his works including “The Palm- Wine Drinkard (1952), in Pidgin.

STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHT: FASCINATING NIGERIA!

www.naijapidginsurfing.blogspot.com

 COMIC-COMEDY- TALK(S)

Shut up!
Wetin, you mean 'shut-up'?

You 'no' hear, I say make you shut up!
You shut up too!!

'You'' E be like say, you don' colo?
Wetin, you mean by that?...

I talk am', you don' colo
You, don' colo too see me ooh!