Missierek mar ir-rahal ghax in-nanna kien jghidilha biex iggibilna t-tfal -
jew tifel jew tifla. Ara giet in-nanna bi Tumosu.
 
Missierek mar fuq il-vapur. Kien hemm kaxxa, fetahha, u minflok wahda sab
tnejn. Hekk nghidlu lit-tifel li ghandu 13-il sena. Issa jemmen u ma jemminx
ma nafx. Imma ma naghtihx sodisfazzjon ta' kif u x'fatta, ghax m'ghandix dak
il-wicc.
 
 
 
ara - see.sg.imp
bi - with
biex - in order to ; so that
dak - that
fatta - kind ; sort ; way ; manner
fetah - open.3M.perf
fuq - on
ghandu - at him
ghax - why ; because [adv]
giet - come.3F.perf
hekk - so ; thus
hemm - there
iggib - bring.3M.perf
imma - but ; however
issa - now
jew - or
jemmen - believe.3M.impf
jemminx - believe.3M.impf.neg
jghid - ask.3M.impf
kaxxa - box
kien - be.3M.perf
kif - how
li - relative clause marker
ma - negative particle for negative verbs
mar - go.3M.perf
m'ghandix - not at me
minflok - instead [adv]
missier - father
nafx - know.1sg.neg
naghtihx - give.1sg.neg
nanna - grandmother
nghidlu - say.2pl.perf
rahal - village
sab - find.3M.perf
sena - year
sodisfazzjon - satisfaction
ta' - of
tfal - child.pl
tifel - child.M
tifla - child.F
tnejn - two
Tumosu - <proper name>
u - and
vapur - ship
wahda - one.F
wicc - face
xi - what
x' - what
 
il- - the
in- - the
ir- - the
t- - the
lit- - to the
 
-ek - your [suf]
-ha - her ; it [object]
-ilha - to us [suf]
-ilna - to her ; to it [suf]
-ih - him ; it [object]
 
pronunciation:
 
x -  .sh.
h -  null or .kh.
q -  glottal stop
gh - null or .a.
c -  .ch.
g -  .g. or .j.
j -  .y.
 
I thought this would make a change from the normal English to whatever
translation exercises. The text is genuine anthropological research, done
for a book called "Folklore of an Island". The passage discusses the origin
of babies.
 
---
Fabian
Ikun li dik il-kitba tpatti it-tieba ta' qalb ta' patruni tieghi.
Ikun li ttaffi ugigh tal-Mitlufin u tal-Indannati.
Ikun li ilkoll li jaqraw il-kitba, qalbhom ihobbu is-Sewwa u l-Unur.
U b'dak l'ghamil, nithallas tax-xoghol iebes.