A Few Simple Hmong Words

The Basic Hello

NyOb ZoO Os...HeLLo ThErE...if you've notice the first three words you'll be thinking that it makes no sense but it makes perfect sense if you can read hmong...it means exactly what comes after..."Hello there"...how you pronouce it is not knee-ob zoo(as in the animal zoo) and Oz-as in wizerd of oz...in hmong the word nyob is pronouce like Nuh...but say it longer instead of a quick nuh...nuhhh...now take that nuhhh and instead of the nuh sound add a "all" sound to it...nhall...the next word zoo is pronouce like Xiong with a Z in hmong...and lastly the os makes a "alll" sound...so when you say all three together it'll say "Nhall ziong alll"...the word nyob alone means stay...the word zoo alone means good...and the word os alone has no meaning alone...but when you put all three together they'll mean "Hello ThEre"

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The Basic Goodbye

Another simple hmong word to learn is to say "goodbye"...Saying "goodbye" in Hmong is fairly easy because there are only two words...Here is how "goodbye" is spelled in Hmong..."Mus Zoo"...here is how you migh pronouce it...the "mus" makes a moo sound like the cow moo...and the "zoo" is still pronouce the same as it was in "Nyob Zoo Os"...Once again you see the word "zoo" but with "mus"...it means "goodbye"...the word "mus" alone means "go" and the word "zoo" alone means "good" as I said earlier...so mus zoo from this section...

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How To ask For Someone's Name

When you talk to someone new, a very good thing to know about them is there name...so here is how to ask someone in Hmong "Whats Your Name??"...You spell this phrase like this..."Koj lub npe hu ua li cas???"...if you've noticed, asking for a persons' name is much harder then asking for their name in English...anyways...here is how you pronouce each word in the phrase...the "koj" is pronouce like "gall"...but say it fast...the "lub" is pronouce like "lu"...the "npe" is pronouced like "bey"...the "hu" is pronouced as what it looks like...the "ua" makes a "oaa" sound...the "li" is pronouced as it looks like too...or "lee"...and lastly the "cas" is pronouced like "cas" in Hmong but it is to hard to spell it out to sound like English...the closest I can get it to spell into English terms is "nyaij" keep the N silent and say it with only one synonym...Now what each mean alone...the word "koj" alone in Hmong means "you"...the word "lub" means nothing alone...the word "npe" means "name" in Hmong...the word "hu" alone means "call"...the word "ua" alone means "do"...the "li" means nothing alone in Hmong...and the word "cas" means nothing by itself in Hmong too...

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How To ask "How Old Are You"

Well here is another simple phrase...but it is the hardest of all that you've learned so far...well enough time boring you lets start on the lesson...First off is how it looks like..."Koj muaj puas tsuag xyoo"?...second is how you say each word...Koj you've learned already so if you forgot scroll back up...The word "muaj" is new and it is pronouced like a kissing sound...muahh...The next word "puas" is said like what it looks like but leave the "s" silent, so basically it could look like this "pua"...The word "tsuag" is pronounced like cher...not cher as in the singer cher but cher as in cherry...And last is the word "xyoo"...it is almost pronouced the same as the other Hmong word "zoo" but instead of a Z you keep it with a X as in Xiong...Well now it's time to tell what each word means alone...Koj means "You"...muaj means "have"...puas doesn't mean anything alone and so do tsuag...but puas with tsuag and muaj all means like "how many"-muaj puas tsuag-...lastly the word xyoo means "year" alone in the Hmong language...

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