Lesson 33 — Come and go

You've been able to say I'm leaving since Lesson 4. Today you get its other half — the word for moving toward, not away. With both, you can talk about every coming and going.

1 · Say this

mi omei (mee · OH-may) I'm coming. / I'll come.

mi is I (Lesson 1). The new word is omei — come, approach, move toward. It's the mirror of vanu (go, leave) that you've had since Lesson 4: one heads away, one heads your way.

2 · A closer look: the toward/away pair

Amatu	Says	Means
`omei`	"OH-may"	come / approach
`vanu`	"VAH-noo"	go / leave

They slot into the very same spot, so everything you can do with one you can do with the other:

tu omei? — Are you coming? (lift your voice at the end, as you've done since Lesson 3)

la omei — She's coming. (with la from Lesson 13)

cho omei — The dog's coming. (your cho from Lesson 32)

mi no omei — I'm not coming. (the flip-word no from Lesson 3)

🧭 Why it's built this way Amatu sorts motion by direction relative to you: omei is toward the speaker, vanu is away. You don't change the word to fit who's moving — the same omei serves I come, you come, the cat comes. Point it at whoever's moving — a friend, a nara (person), an cho (dog), a mau (cat) — and you're done.

⚠️ Watch out omei ends in the ei sound — "ay," as in say. Stress the first beat: "OH-may," not "oh-MAY." And keep the o pure and round, never "uh."

3 · Your turn

Out loud:

I'm coming → mi omei
Are you coming? → tu omei?
The cat's coming → mau omei
The dog will come tomorrow → fu cho omei (with fu, tomorrow, from Lesson 27)

4 · Tonight's phrase

mi omei — I'm coming — the toward-you twin of mi vanu, I go.

30-second check

Cover the page. (1) Say I'm coming. (2) Ask are you coming?. (3) Say which word heads toward you and which heads away. Three for three? You can now describe motion in both directions — the whole back-and-forth of people, dogs, and cats arriving and leaving.

⬅️ Back: Lesson 32 — Dog and cat · ➡️ Next: Lesson 34 — I have