Lesson 71 — How you know

One of Amatu's most distinctive moves: a tiny word at the end of a sentence that says how you know it — saw it yourself, worked it out, or heard it from someone else.

1 · Say this

la omei re (lah · OH-may · reh) She's coming — so I hear.

la omei is she's coming (Lessons 13, 33). Tack re on the end and you've added … according to what I'm told — you didn't see it, someone said so. The little word rides at the very end of the sentence.

2 · A closer look: three ways of knowing

Same sentence, three different sources:

Amatu	How you know
`la omei se`	I saw it myself (witnessed)
`la omei ke`	I gather / it seems (worked out)
`la omei re`	so I hear (someone told me)

mi ama tu se — I love you — and I know it for certain.

They're always optional — la omei alone is fine. You add one when how you know matters.

🌏 You already know this Some languages force this — in parts of the Amazon and the Andes you can't just say "it rained," you must say whether you saw it or were told. Amatu offers the same precision as a gentle option: se (saw), ke (figured), re (heard). It's a quietly honest way to talk.

⚠️ Watch out These three go last, after everything else: la omei re, not la re omei. And keep them short and clean — "seh," "keh," "reh," each one a quick beat.

3 · Your turn

Out loud:

She's coming, so I hear → la omei re
The dog is coming — I saw it → cho omei se
The cat is coming, it seems → mau omei ke
That person is coming, so I hear, but I'm not sure → nara omei re, ne no sen

4 · Tonight's phrase

la omei re — she's coming, so I hear — se saw it, ke figured it, re heard it.

30-second check

Cover the page. (1) Say she's coming, so I hear. (2) Say she's coming — I saw it. (3) Tell yourself which word means I saw it, I worked it out, I was told. Three for three? You can now mark not just what is true but how you came to know it.

⬅️ Back: Lesson 70 — Counting higher · ➡️ Next: Lesson 72 — A warm word