Afaan Oromo/Chapter 06

85px|left|Oromo flag alt=Traditional Colors|right|85x85px|Abba gadaa Chapter 6: Adjectives ⇐ Back to Previous Chapter Back to Contents Continue to Next Chapter ⇒ Shopping Conversation To play audio files, click the word, not the speaker icon. All audio files are OGG format, which are handled differently by different browsers. See help page for help playing these files. oromo_ch06_playall.ogg no Play all Gurguraa: Maal isin gargaaru adde? oromo_ch06_line01.ogg no play Maamilaa: Jakkeettiin barbaade. Tokko kan naaf ta'u jira? oromo_ch06_line02.ogg no play Gurguraa: Lakkoofsa meeqa barbaadda? oromo_ch06_line03.ogg no play Maamilaa: Soddoma. oromo_ch06_line04.ogg no play Gurguraa: Bifa akkamii jaalatta? oromo_ch06_line05.ogg no play Maamilaa: Gurraachan jaalladha. oromo_ch06_line06.ogg no play Gurguraa: Isa kana ilaali. oromo_ch06_line07.ogg no play Maamilaa: Sirritti natti ta'e. Gaatiin saa meeqa? oromo_ch06_line08.ogg no play Gurguraa: Inni qarshii dhibba lama fi shantama. oromo_ch06_line09.ogg no play Maamilaa: Inni dooqeen kun hoo? oromo_ch06_line10.ogg no play Gurguraa: Wal qixxee dha. oromo_ch06_line11.ogg no play Maamilaa: Inni diimaan sun meeqa? oromo_ch06_line12.ogg no play Gurguraa: Inni sun qarshi dhibba lama qofa dha. Inni garu baayee isinitti guddata. oromo_ch06_line13.ogg no play Maamilaa: Tole, isa kanan fudhadha. oromo_ch06_line14.ogg no play [For translation see here] Gender of Adjectives Oromo adjectives can be male, female, or neutral. Masculine adjectives are used with masculine nouns, feminine adjectives modify feminine nouns, and neutral adjectives can be used with any noun. All non-neutral adjectives can be made masculine or feminine by attaching the appropriate suffix. Masculine suffixes for adjectives are: -aa, -aawaa, -acha, and -eessa. Feminine suffixes are: -oo, -tuu, -ooftuu, and -eettii. Standard morphology rules apply when attaching suffixes. Examples: English meaning     Masculine Feminine adorable jaallatamaa jaallatamtuu beautiful bareedaa bareedduu fast si'aawaa si'ooftuu sweet mi'aawaa mi'ooftuu fat furdaa furdoo small xinnaa, xiqqaa     xinnoo, xiqqoo messy boosacha booseettii black gurraacha gurraattii poor hiyyeessa hiyyeettii skinny godeessa godeettii Neutral adjectives (e.g., adii – “white”) use the same form for both masculine and feminine nouns. Plural of Adjectives When adjectives are used to modify a noun, typically the noun remains in the singular and number is shown by the adjective only. Plural adjectives are formed by repeating the first syllable. Examples: English Singular Plural white adii adaadii beautiful     bareedduu     babareedduu dry gogaa gogogaa Some masculine adjectives will change their ending to -oo when pluralized. Some of these do not repeat the first syllable as a plural marker. Examples: English Singular Plural knowledgeable     beekaa beekoo strong cimaa ciccimmoo large guddaa guguddoo high olaanaa     olaanoo In written Oromo, the noun may be pluralized as well as the adjective, so that “nama sosoressa lama” and “namoota sosoressa lama” are correct ways to say “two rich people”. In conversational Oromo, the first method, keeping the noun in the singular, is more common. The same method of repeating the first syllable is used in verbs for repeated actions. For instance, ciruu is “to chop”, while cicciruu is “to chop finely”. Adjectives with Pronouns To express an adjective with a pronoun, as in “the black one”, one can simply use the correct pronoun in front of the adjective, as in “isa gurraacha”. The pronoun used will depend on its role in the sentence, so that “The black one looks nice” would be “Inni gurraachi gaarii fakkaata”, while “I want the black one” would be “Isa gurraacha nan barbaada”. Demonstrative pronouns are used to express “this”, “that”, “these”, and “those”, and are shown in the table below. Some dialects use feminine demonstrative pronouns for feminine nouns. The Wellega dialect uses the masculine form only for demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative Pronouns This That These Those Nominative kun(i) [f. tun(i)] sun(i) kunniin [f. tunniin] sunniin Accusative kana [f. tana] sana kanneen [f. tanneen] sanneen Demonstrative pronouns can be combined with pronouns and adjectives to express ideas such as “this one” or “that big one”. Accusative (direct object) Nominative (subject) the red one isa diimaa inni diimaan the red ones isaani diimaa isaan diimaan the (many) red ones isaani didiimaa isaan didiimaan this one isa kana inni kun(i) this red one isa diimaa kana inni diimaan kun(i) these ones isaani kanneen isaan kunniin these red ones isaani diimaa kanneen isaan diimaan kunniin that one isa sana inni sun(i) that red one isa diimaa sana inni diimaan sun(i) those ones isaani sanneen isaan sunniin those red ones isaani diimaa sanneen isaan diimaan sunniin Case and Definiteness Expressed by Adjectives Adjectives show the same case as the noun they modify. Adjectives modifying a subject noun will undergo the same suffix patterns as described in Chapter 5. Examples: “How much is that red one” — “Inni diimaan sun meeqa?” “The 2nd horse went” — “Fardichi lamaffaan deeme” or “Fardi lamaffichi deeme” For definite nouns, either the noun or the adjective may take the definite suffix, but not both (as in the example above). This suffix will also show case. Examples: “The rich man came” — “Namni sooressichi dhufe” or “Namachi sooressi dhufe” “The rich man's brother came” — “Obboleessi kan nama sooressicha dhufe” or “Obboleessi kan namicha sooressa dhufe” A noun modified by more than one adjective will have only the first adjective showing case and definiteness. The other adjectives will appear in their dictionary (accusative) form. Example: “The big black spear is missing” — “Eeboon guddichi gurraacha bade.” Participles Participles, as known as verbal adjectives, modify nouns based on actions. In English, examples include “the sleeping lion” (sleeping being a present participle), and “the fallen leaves” (fallen being a past participle). Present Participles Oromo has no direct equivalent to the English present participle. “The sleeping lion lay under a tree” would be more literally translated from Oromo as “The lion lay under a tree while sleeping” or “Sleeping, the lion lay under a tree”. This construction is formed by adding an -aa suffix to the root of the dependent verb while the main verb is in its natural tense. The present participle is used like an adjective and comes after the noun it modifies, but it does not show case, gender, or number. The given example would thus be translated as “Leenci rafaa muka jala ciise” (“The lion, sleeping, lay under a tree”). In the Wellega dialect, present participles of -chuu verbs end in -chaa, while eastern dialects use -taa. More examples: “Inni nyaachaa (nyaataa) deema” — “He goes while eating” or “Eating, he goes” “Dubbachuun makiinaa oofaa gaarii miti” — “Talking while driving a car is not good” Past Participles The past participle can be constructed in Oromo by using kan plus the simple past verb form (simple past discussed in Chapter 7). Thus, “the married couple went to Asela” would be “namoonni lamni kan fudhani gara Assella deemani”. For related actions (e.g., “the couple, having married, went to Asela”), see Chapter 15 for use of the gerundive. The past participle can be used to form adjectives from verbs. For example, “to be angry” is aaruu, while “angry (adj.)” is expressed by kan aare (see Chapter 12 for more on using verbs to express emotion). More examples: Verb Adjective (past participle) baratuu – to learn kan barate – educated, learned fuudhuu – to marry kan fudhe – married wal'aanuu – to treat kan wal'aane – treated ta'uu – to become kan ta'e – existing leenji'uu – to train, develop kan leenji'e – trained, developed, civilized galma'uu – to register kan galma'e – registered To express past participles in the negative, the verb is in the simple past negative (e.g., “uneducated” is kan hin baranne). Chapter Vocabulary obbo Mr., sir adde Ms., ma'am lakkoofsa size, number bifa appearance, style gargaaruu to help ilaaluu to see yaaluu to try safaruu to weigh, measure safarachuu to try on fudhachuu to take, receive naaf for me natti on me wal qixxee equal, same amount qofa only asi, addana here achi there tokkollee any, none hunda, cufa, cufti, mara all, every tokko tokko some tokkoon tokkoon each lachuu, lamaanuu both biraa other, another guddaa, guddoo big xiqqaa, xiqqoo, xinnaa, xinnoo small bal'aa wide dhiphaa, dhiphoo narrow, tight dheera long gabaabaa, gabaabduu short gurraacha, gurraattii black adii white dooqee blue diimaa red booraa, keelloo yellow magariisa green dhiilgee purple birtukaanii orange daammii brown gaarii good gadhee bad bareedaa, bareedduu, miidhagaa, miidhagduu beautiful fokkisaa, fokkistuu ugly barbaachisaa necessary baay'ee very hedduu, baay'ee a lot muraasa, maddee, bicuu a little, few ⇐ Back to Previous Chapter Back to Contents Continue to Next Chapter ⇒