Sounds, Tones and Special Letters
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Lesson overview
How Twi is written and pronounced: tones and special letters.
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Pacing
Read the stem stem-last (question clause first), eliminate two distractors, then verify constraints.
How Languages marks this
Focus on how Languages scenarios frame constraints, qualifiers ("FIRST", "BEST", "MOST likely"), and boundary cases.
Watch out for
Technically true statements that do not solve the specific constraint in the scenario.
Lesson content
Overview
Twi (Twi (Akan)) is spoken in Ghana, where Akan is the most widely spoken language, and parts of Côte d'Ivoire. Before learning phrases, get to know how it sounds and how it is written.
How It's Written
Twi is written in the Latin alphabet with two extra vowels — ɛ (an open "e", as in "bed") and ɔ (an open "o", as in "pot"). Twi is tonal, but tones are not usually written.
Examples
Look closely at the marks in these greetings — you'll learn them in the next lesson: • Maakye — Good morning • Maaha — Good afternoon • Maadwo — Good evening • Ɛte sɛn? — How are you?
Learning Tip
Always learn a word together with its marks. Leaving them out can change the pronunciation — and in a tonal language, sometimes the meaning.
Practise
Say every word aloud, then take the 10-question check below (60% to pass) to unlock the next lesson. Stuck? Ask the AI tutor about this lesson. This course is in beta: it sticks to common, everyday language, but it has not yet been reviewed by native speakers, and many phrases have regional variants. If something looks wrong, please tell us.
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