Basic Grammar and Pronunciation:

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  Pronunciation                             Counting Money in Fon                      Expressing the Time in Fon

Grammar:        

    Fon as well as many other local languages were transcribed using the western style alphabet by Europeans and subsequently by Beninese scholars.  Because Fon is not taught in schools, few people know how to read and write it, but everyone who is of the Fon ethnic group knows how to speak it.  The Beninese government has some programs outside of the schools set up to teach people to read and write Fon, but few people take the time to learn.  The result is that there is no authoritative body, work, or tradition that states how Fon should be written (with spelling, written grammar, characters, accents, etc.).  This means that words may be spelled differently from one source to another, but again, you will rarely see Fon written, and there are few texts in Fon available.  One text available in Fon is the New Testament of the Bible has been translated into Fon by missionaries.  For more info about the language and people go to About Fon.

Grammar is quite simple compared to a complicated language like French.  For example the verbs are not conjugated in Fon.  Hurray!  Every French student has to spend at least a year, just learning how to conjugate verbs alone!

For example- Conjugate Du (to eat)  (nu means some or something) 

                    Un du nu= I ate.             Mi du nu- we ate

                    A du nu- you ate            Mi du nu- You ate (formal)

                    E du nu= He ate             Ye du nu- they ate

Subjects-                                                            Subjects

Possessive pronouns:  (they are added directly to the end of the word and become plural if the object is plural.)

Possessive Pronouns:	Singular: object made possessive:  keke= bike (the object)    Sound	add "le" at the end of the   possessive pronoun to make it plural    Sound
che= my      towe= yours      ton- his or hers    miton- ours      miton- yours (formal)   yeton- theirs	kekeche = my bike  keketowe= your bike keketon= his bike  kekemiton=our bike kekemiton= our  bike  kekeyeton= their bike	kekechele = my bikes keketowele= your bikes keketonle= his bikes kekemitonle=our bikes kekemitonle=our bikes  kekeyetonle= their bikes

Making Words Plural:  Add the suffix "le" to the end of the word.

             vi= child.  vile= children

            koklo= chicken.  koklole= chickens. 

Negation:

Making a phrase in the negative sense is easy.  Just add ã at the end of the sentence.  The tone on the ã goes down and then up again.   Examples: 

Un no nyi Yovo ã - My name is not Yovo.

A din gba we, Nugbo we ã     It's not true.  It's false.

Un do akwe ã-    I don't have any money.

E su ã    It's not a lot.  (Literally- You're welcome)

The syntax of Questions:  Many questions end with  "a" The only significance of the "a" is to indicate that it is a question. 

A fon gangi a?= Did you wake up well?

A do fine a?= are you here?

A damlo gangi a? = did you sleep well?

Expressing the Future:  

Since verbs are not conjugate, the word "Na" is used before the verb to express that one will do something.

Un na yi axime kpo na xo nu kpede= I going to go to the market and I'm going to buy something.

Un na yi tonme- I'm going to travel

E na wa so- He will arrive tomorrow.

Expressing the present tense- (in the process of doing something.

coming soon....

Counting Money 

The money used in Benin is called the CFA Franc or just plain CFA.  CFA= Communauté Financaire Africaine (The African Financial Community) The base denomination is Francs and subdivided into Centimes (cents) 100 centimes= 1 Franc.  The currency is backed by the French government and because of this, it's value is held pretty stable.  Hyper inflation has been a problem in many African countries and a monetary union has proved an effective way to keep the currency's value under control.  The CFA was devalued by 50% back in 1994 which in essence doubled the price of imports to Benin, but at the same time made Benin's exports more competitive.  When I was in Benin many people cursed the devaluation and I wouldn't be surprised if they still do.  The CFA  costs the French plenty too because it is pegged to the French Franc and in order to maintain parity, they have to pour money into the currency in time of weakness.  Since the devaluation, one French Franc equals 100 CFA.   Lately the French Franc has been at about 7 to the US dollar, and one French Franc equals 100 CFA, so one us Dollar is worth about 700 CFA.   The CFA is broken up into a West African CFA and a Central African CFA.  The West African CFA can be used in all former French colonies in West Africa such as Benin, Togo, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Cote D'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso.  It makes traveling very convenient because you don't have to exchange money at the border, however each former English colony has their own currency and CFA is not accepted.  Ghana has the Cidi, Libria has the dollar, and Nigeria has the Naira.  The Central African CFA is used in Cameroon, Gabon, Chad, Congo, and other countries..  

Counting money  is amazingly complicated in Fon, but if you can master it, they will think you are a pro.  If you don't learn it, it's interesting none the less to see how the Beninese count money.  In French the units are Francs and Centimes.  In Fon there are 4 units.           Pronunciation  

To express one unit of - 5 Francs, 25 francs, or 1000 francs, you must add Dokpo (one) after each unit.

1 Franc= Flan (from the word Franc)                     

5 Francs=  Dola  (from the word Dollar)

25 Francs= Kpon = 

1000 -Francs= Chaki dokpo

185 Francs=  kpon ten-we dola we  literally translated means  (25Francs, 7, 5 francs,2) 

        Here's how you get to 185= (25x7) = 175

                                                                    + 

                                                     ( 5x2)   =10

                                                                   185 F.

kpon ko= 25x5 = 500CFA

As you can see- counting Fon in your head will make you good at arithmetic.

Expressing the Time:

    The average Beninese person has a much different perspective on time than we do in the West because they have so much more of it than we do.  Of course their days are 24 hours long as are our days.  They have so much more time because they have so much less opportunity to earn money, spend money and everything that earning money and spending money entails.  They are very laid back and hardly anyone is ever in a rush which is very pleasant at times, but very frustrating at other times.  The Beninese use time as a guide, not a schedule as we do.  If you make an appointment with someone at a certain time, don't expect that person to be there any sooner than a half hour late, if at all.  It's not that people don't want to keep their commitments, it's often because there are circumstances beyond their control which prevent them from honoring their commitment.  For example, if someone dies in a village, no one is supposed to work for several days, which could keep them from honoring an appointment.  Few people have clocks or watches, and they often just use the sun to tell time.  If a person is at home and is about to leave, and a friend stops by to chat, the person about to leave by tradition is obligated to welcome the visitor, even if he has to go.  Because almost no one has a phone, visits can't be arranged easily so visits tend to be more spontaneous.  During the rainy season, when it rains it pours!  Very few roads are paved and become mud bogs.  Most people have to travel by foot, bicycle or motorcycle making for a miserable trip so rain is a perfect reason to not honor an appointment.  

Gan- hour  

Gan nabi we?- What time is it?

Gan dokpo adade we.- It's one thirty.

Gan dokpo che ju wõ we- It's one ten.  Literally - Hour one, add 10

Gan aton ekpo che ju wõ we- It's 2:40.  Literally- Hour 3, minus ten.

Pronunciation: 

Tones

    Basically, Fon sounds like it looks except for the tones placed on vowels.  It's amazing how the slightest change in tone of a vowel can make the difference between two words that sound exactly the same to an untrained ear.  Like so and só.  One means yesterday (or tomorrow depending on the context) and the other means lightening.  I can't tell the difference, and when I made mistakes in tone, the people listening to me usually understood through context.  If you have a background speaking another tonal language, you will have a big advantage.  It's amazing how many words in Fon sound exactly alike when your ear isn't trained to hear the tones.  On top of the tones, there are many synonyms to exacerbate the problem such as with the word to.  It means means father, pond, and ear.  See a website created by a Beninese person that teaches the tones of some words:   Tones

Sounds that We Don't Have in English:

There are a few sounds and corresponding letters that we don't have in English which you will need to practice:

Wõ- The tone on the "o"  goes down, then up. (means 10 or pate)

Un do akwe ã- The tone on the "ã" goes down, then up. ( I don't have any money)

oooOOO- This tone goes up only.

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