Ah! Mate, I will alight at the this thing.

As much as Ghanaians speak English and I can understand everything they say, there are some expressions that are exclusive to Ghanaian English and I thought I would share some of them in case you hear me using them too!

to alight – verb meaning getting off the tro-tro or any other moving vehicle

tro-tro – most popular means of transport in Ghana: usually an old European cargo vans loaded with way too many people

mate – driver’s helper in a tro-tro who yells out the window the location of the next stop and collects the money

“Ghana, here…” – used whenever a Ghanaian wants to explain how things are in Ghana

Ah! – Expression to show surprise, disgust, disagreement or disbelief and repeated many times in a sentence

You seh? – What did you say?

the this thing – same as “the thingy” in Canada and used whenever the person doesn’t remember a word and assumes you know it

to chop – to eat; chop bar is a small restaurant

small small – small amount of something; as in “I’m learning small small”

you try – most popular reply when I try saying something in the local language probably meaning “you are really bad at this but I appreciate your efforts”

pass here – can mean walk through here, keep walking or cross the street depending on the gesture

small boy – small kid who can run errings for you

are you getting me? - attached to the end of every other sentence to ensure the other person is paying attention

sorry sorry – expression to show someone cares for you even if they had nothing to do with you getting hurt, sick or lost