berɛ bɛn (When)

When: Berɛ Bɛn

Level 2

Berɛ bɛn means when, literally which time: Berɛ bɛn na wobɛba? (When will you come?)

How It Works

1. Building the question
Berɛ means time, and bɛn after a noun means which. Together they ask when:

  • Berɛ bɛn na wobɛba? (When will you come?)
  • Wobɛba berɛ bɛn? (When will you come?)

The first form follows Question Words With na. The second keeps berɛ bɛn at the end, where the answer would go.

2. Past questions
When berɛ bɛn comes first, a past verb at the end of the clause takes its clause-final form: Berɛ bɛn na woduruiɛ? (When did you arrive?), Berɛ bɛn na wobaeɛ? (When did you come?).

3. More exact time nouns
Put a different time noun before bɛn:

  • da bɛn (which day)
  • afe bɛn (which year)

To ask the clock time, say Abɔ nnɔn ahe? See Telling the Time.

4. Answering
Answer with a time word or day: ɔkyena (tomorrow), Memeneda (Saturday). See Today, Tomorrow and Now and Days of the Week.

5. Question or statement?
Berɛ a ... no (the time that) is not a question. It introduces a time in a statement: Berɛ a meduruu fie no, na ɔredidi (When I got home, he was eating). Akuapem spells the noun bere.

Examples (5)

  1. Berɛ bɛn na wobɛba?

    When will you come?

    Word by Word: time which FOC you-will-come

  2. Wobɛba berɛ bɛn?

    When will you come?

    Word by Word: you-will-come time which

    Berɛ bɛn can also stay at the end, where the answer goes.

  3. Berɛ bɛn na woduruiɛ?

    When did you arrive?

    Word by Word: time which FOC you-arrived

    Duruiɛ is the past at the end of a clause.

  4. Berɛ bɛn na wowareeɛ?

    When did you get married?

    Word by Word: time which FOC you-married

  5. Da bɛn na wobɛkɔ Kumase?

    Which day will you go to Kumasi?

    Word by Word: day which FOC you-will-go Kumasi

    Da bɛn asks for a day rather than a time.

Common Mistakes

  • Using berɛ a (the time that) to ask a question.

    Berɛ a wobɛba?
    Berɛ bɛn na wobɛba?

    Berɛ a introduces a time inside a statement. To ask when, use bɛn: berɛ bɛn.

  • Keeping the before-object past form when berɛ bɛn comes first.

    Berɛ bɛn na wobaa?
    Berɛ bɛn na wobaeɛ?

    Nothing follows the verb, so the past takes its clause-final form: baeɛ.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

berɛ bɛn (When)Level 2When: Berɛ Bɛn

Learn This First

When is built from bɛn and the na pattern.

Words in This Pattern

berɛberebɛnɛda