Lesson 21 — I see you, I hear you

Two of the warmest things you can say to a person — and two of the most ordinary verbs in any language.

1 · Say this

mi ori tu (mee · OH-ree · too) I see you.

The same I–verb–you shape you've used since Lesson 1. The new word is ori — see, look. And in Amatu, as in English, I see you can be plain sight or something much warmer.

2 · A closer look: seeing, and hearing

Amatu	Says	Means
`ori`	"OH-ree"	see / look
`nawa`	"NAH-wa"	hear / listen

Two senses, two verbs, both in the frame you know. So you can swap one for the other and say the matching thing:

mi nawa tu — I hear you. / I'm listening.

And the moves you already make still work:

mi no nawa tu — I don't hear you. (the flip-word no from Lesson 3)

la ori mi — she sees me. (with la from Lesson 13 in the doer's seat)

You can point either verb at anyone, not just you. Drop nara (person, people) into the last seat:

mi ori nara — I see people. / I see a person.

💛 The feeling I see you and I hear you carry the same double meaning in Amatu that they do in English — not just the eyes and ears, but you are noticed, you are heard. mi ori tu, said softly to someone who feels invisible, does the same quiet work in either language.

⚠️ Watch out nawa is "NAH-wa" — that middle w is the w of wet (the same one from we, Lesson 14), never a v. Two clean, open syllables, both full of "ah."

3 · Your turn

Out loud:

I see you → mi ori tu
I hear you → mi nawa tu
I don't hear you → mi no nawa tu
I see people → mi ori nara

4 · Tonight's phrase

mi ori tu — I see you — paired with mi nawa tu — I hear you.

30-second check

Cover the page. (1) Say I see you. (2) Say I hear you. (3) Say I don't hear you. Three for three? You can now tell someone they're noticed — with your eyes and with your ears.

⬅️ Back: Lesson 20 — Recap · ➡️ Next: Lesson 22 — My mother, my father