Getting around in Manipuri
Left, right, the station, one ticket, where is the toilet. Play the ten Manipuri words against the clock, with a note on how locals really use each one after every answer. All ten are written out below.
All 10 Manipuri phrases in this lesson
- ꯇꯣꯏꯂꯦꯠ ꯀꯗꯥꯏꯗ ꯂꯩꯕꯒꯦ?TOI-let ka-DAI-da LEI-ba-ge
- Where is the toilet?
- ...ꯗ ꯀꯔꯝꯅ ꯆꯠꯀꯗꯒꯦ?-da ka-RAM-na CHAT-ka-da-ge
- How do I get to...?
- ꯑꯣꯏOI
- To the left
- ꯌꯦꯠYET
- To the right
- ꯆꯨꯝꯅ ꯆꯠꯂꯨCHUM-na CHAT-lu
- Straight ahead
- ꯃꯐꯝ ꯑꯁꯤꯗma-PHAM a-SI-da
- Here
- ꯇ꯭ꯔꯦꯟ ꯁ꯭ꯇꯦꯁꯟTREN STE-shan
- Train station
- ꯕꯁBAS
- Bus
- ꯑꯦꯌꯔꯄꯣꯔꯠAIR-port
- Airport
- ꯇꯤꯀꯦꯠ ꯑꯃ ꯄꯤꯕꯤꯌꯨTI-ket a-MA pi-BI-yu
- One ticket, please
The English word is universally understood and used on signage. Drop any noun into the same slot and the sentence keeps working.
Literally "how should I go to ...?".
Left. Directions in Manipur come with a lot of hand movement, so watch as much as you listen.
Right. ꯌꯦꯠ ꯊꯪꯕ (YET THANG-ba) is the right-hand side, and ꯑꯣꯏ ꯊꯪꯕ (OI THANG-ba) the left-hand side, if you want the fuller form.
ꯆꯨꯝꯅ (CHUM-na) means straight or correctly and ꯆꯠꯂꯨ (CHAT-lu) is the command "go". The same ꯆꯠ (CHAT) appears in ꯆꯠꯂꯨꯔꯦ (chat-LU-re), the goodbye from lesson one.
Literally "at this place". ꯃꯐꯝ (ma-PHAM) is place and the ꯗ (da) ending marks location, the way "at" does in English.
The railway reached Manipur only recently, at Jiribam; the line to Imphal is still being built.
Buses and shared vehicles connect Imphal to the hill districts. Within the city, shared autos are the everyday option and cheap, but agree the fare before you sit down.
Imphal airport is the main way in and out of the state.
Same item, number, verb pattern as every order in lesson two. Change ꯑꯃ (a-MA) to ꯑꯅꯤ (a-NI) for two tickets.