ᎣᏏᏲ ᎩᎾᎵᎢ
osiyo ginali'i
The English phrase "hello friend" is translated into Cherokee as ᎣᏏᏲ ᎩᎾᎵᎢ (osiyo ginali'i).
This phrase is a friendly greeting used to say hello to a companion.
How do you pronounce it?
osiyo ginali'i
Did you know?
- The syllabary used to write this greeting was invented in the 1820s by a man named Sequoyah, who could not read or write English before creating it.
- Cherokee uses a syllabary where each character represents a whole syllable rather than a single letter, meaning the shapes in ᎣᏏᏲ represent sounds like 'o' and 'si' and 'yo'.
- Cherokee is a polysynthetic language, meaning a single complex word can function as an entire English sentence.
Example conversation
Two friends meet unexpectedly on a walking path.
- AᎣᏏᏲ ᎩᎾᎵᎢ!Osiyo ginālī!Hello friend!
- BᎣᏏᏲ! ᎥᏍᎩ ᎢᏓᏓᏅᏔᏅᎢ.Osiyo! Vsgī ī-da-da-nv-ta-nv-ī.Hello! We are together now.
- AᎥᏍᎩ, ᎣᏏᏳ ᎢᏓᏓᏅᏔᏅᎢ.Vsgī, osiyu ī-da-da-nv-ta-nv-ī.Yes, it is good that we are together.
- BᎣᏏᏲ ᎩᎾᎵᎢ, ᎢᏓᏓᏅᏔᏅᎢ.Osiyo ginālī, ī-da-da-nv-ta-nv-ī.Hello friend, let's be together.
