Foreword

 
A dictionary is a didactic work formed by a set of articles in which an entry constitutes a word, each one independent of each other and arranged in a given order, most often alphabetically. Although this dictionary represents only a part of all the words that exist in the Tem language, it contains more than 4,500 entries with several sub-entries, with an illustrative sentence for each verb and idiomatic expression.

The main goal of this dictionary is to help the speakers of Tem to write their mother tongue. It will also serve as a reference work for teachers and literacy specialists regarding the orthography. It represents a step towards standardization of Tem in written form. It gives others a reference document to learn Tem vocabulary and some of the grammar. It will also be helpful for Tem speakers who understand French to greater appreciate the richness of their mother tongue. For Tem speakers who have learned to read and write in Tem, it will assist them in learning French.

Those who are interested in reading an introduction to the grammar of Tem can consult the five volumes of the following work in French:
L'introduction à la langue tem. ADELME-TEM (cf. Ouvrages consultés).

This dictionary is a joint effort between CLTem (Tem Language Committee) and SIL Togo-Benin, a branch of SIL International. As there are certainly gaps in this dictionary, the compilers welcome your suggestions for improvement and for the ongoing development of the language.