Afaan Oromo/Chapter 04

85px|left|Oromo flag85px|right|Ethiopian flag Chapter 4: Present-Future Tense Verbs ⇐ Back to Previous Chapter Back to Contents Continue to Next Chapter ⇒ Phone 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_ch04_playall.ogg no Play all Daniel: Haloo? oromo_ch04_line01.ogg no play Etana: Eessa jirta? oromo_ch04_line02.ogg no play Daniel: Manan jira. Maal barbaadde? oromo_ch04_line03.ogg no play Etana: Kaameraa qabdaa? oromo_ch04_line04.ogg no play Daniel: Eeyyeen qaba. Maaliif? oromo_ch04_line05.ogg no play Etana: Naaf ergistaa? Mana barumsaatti footon kaafadha. Kaameraa hin qabnu. oromo_ch04_line06.ogg no play Daniel: Tole. Siifan fida. oromo_ch04_line07.ogg no play Etana: Kan biraa, galmee Ingliffaa qabdaa? oromo_ch04_line08.ogg no play Daniel: Hin qabu. Amiin tokko qabdi. oromo_ch04_line09.ogg no play Etana: Tole. Ishee nan gaafadha. Galatoomi. oromo_ch04_line10.ogg no play Daniel: Rakkoon hin qabuu. oromo_ch04_line11.ogg no play [For translation see here] Verb Groups for Conjugation Most Oromo dictionaries will list verbs in their infinitive (e.g., beekuu - “to know”), and all infinitives end in -uu. The verb stem is this infinitive form with the final -uu dropped. The stem of beekuu is therefore beek-, and the verb is conjugated by adding suffixes to this stem (e.g., beekti - “She knows”). Oromo verbs fall into one of four groups based on their stem ending. Group 1: Regular Verbs Most verbs in Oromo are “regular”, that is, they attach the regular person- and number-based suffix to their stem without any changes to the stem or suffix. These are verbs with stems that do not end in: a double consonant, ch, a vowel, y, or w. The present-future conjugations for deemuu are shown below as an example with suffixes in bold. Deemuu – 'to go' ani deema     nuti deemna ati deemta     isin deemtu inni deema     isaan deemu isheen deemti     Verbs that don't fall into one of the other three categories follow this pattern of conjugation. Group 2: Double-consonant Ending Stems If the verb stem ends in a double consonant, a slight modification of the regular verb conjugation must be made because Oromo does not allow three consonants to occur in a row. For nuti, ati, isin, and isheen forms, an i is added to the regular suffix. The example of arguu is given below with suffixes in bold. Arguu – 'to see' ani arga     nuti argina ati argita     isin argitu inni arga     isaan argu isheen argiti     Other verbs that follow this pattern include: gadduu, rommuu, and gorsuu. Group 3: -chuu Verbs Many verb infinitives end with -chuu. For these verbs, the ch changes to dh in the ani form and to t for all other forms. Then the standard suffixes are applied. The example of nyaachuu is given below with stem changes and suffixes in bold. Nyaachuu – 'to eat' ani nyaadhaa     nuti nyaanna ati nyaatta     isin nyaattu inni nyaata     isaan nyaatu isheen nyaatti     Note that the t changes to n for the nuti form. This morphology is covered in the next section of this chapter. Other verbs in this group include: jirachuu, fudhachuu, argachuu, guddifachuu, barachuu, and gubachuu. Group 4: Vowel-Ending Stems (Irregular Verbs) Infinitives that end with -a'uu , -o'uu, -u'uu, -e'uu, and -i'uu behave as regular verbs for ani, inni, and isaan forms. However, for the other forms, the stem and/or suffix will deviate from regular conjugations. Irregular verbs are discussed in more depth in the grammar appendix. Below are examples of the main patterns of irregular verb conjugation. Du'uu – 'to die' ani du'a     nuti duuna ati duuta     isin duutu inni du'a     isaan du'u isheen duuti     Haasa'uu – 'to talk' ani haasa'a     nuti haasoofna ati haasoofta     isin haasooftu inni haasa'a     isaan haasa'u isheen haasoofti     Boo'uu – 'to cry' ani boo'a     nuti boonya ati boosa     isin boosu inni boo'a     isaan boo'u isheen boosi     Danda'uu – 'to be able to' ani danda'a     nuti dandeenya ati dandeesa     isin dandeesu inni danda'a     isaan danda'u isheen dandeesi     The verb “To be” The verb for “am/are/is” in the present tense is expressed by dha, which does not conjugate. Often, it is left off for simple sentences. One can say, for example, “nuti duwwattoota” or “nuti duwwattoota dha” to mean “we are visitors”. Sentences and questions where the subject is left off typically use dha, as in “fayyaa dha?” and “gaarii dha”. Questions using interrogative pronouns do not typically include dha. Examples: “Maal inni?” — “What (is) it?” “Maqaan kee eenyu?” — “What [lit. Who] (is) your name?” “Gatiin saa meeqa?” — “How much (is) its price?” “Akkam ati?” — “How (are) you?” Morphology Certain consonants will change when placed before or after other particular consonants. These morphological changes are predictable and follow the table below. The most common changes are: 1) an initial t in a suffix will change to d if the stem ends in b, g, d, and 2) an initial n in a suffix will change to an r or l if the stem ends in r or l, respectively. + Morphology Table original morphed bt bd gt gd dt dd xt xx qt qx tn/xn/dn/dhn nn dht tt st ft sn fn rn rr ln ll Examples: verb stem suffix final verb   English meaning qab + ta → qabda 'you have' bit + na → binna 'we (will) buy' jir + na → jirra 'we are' ilaal + na → ilaalla 'we see' nyaat + na → nyaanna 'we eat' fix + ti → fixxi 'she finishes' baas + tu → baaftu 'you (pl.) remove' Verbs in the Affirmative For the first person singular (ani) form, the suffix -n (or -an to a consonant) must be added to the word preceding the verb, or the preverb nan must be used to express the verb in the affirmative. In speaking, the first method is the most common. Examples: “I live in Jimma” — “Jiman jiraadha” or “Jima nan jiraadha” “I want to eat” — “Nyaachuun barbaada” or “Nyaachuu nan barbaada” “Yes, I have” — “Eeyyeen qaba” or “Eeyyee, nan qaba” For other forms, an optional preverb niThe ni is often pronounced “in”, which unfortunately sounds very similar to the negative marker hin. For instance, ni ga'a for “it's enough” is typically pronounced in ga'a. One must listen to the conjugation of the verb to determine if it's in the affirmative or negative (e.g., hin ga'u “it's not enought”). may be used. Typically, if there is no object in the sentence, the ni is mandatory. Examples: “Do you want a bijaj [motorcycle taxi]?” — “Baajajii ni barbaadda?” or “Baajajii barbaadda?” “He works” — “Inni ni hojjeta” (but not “Inni hojjeta”) “It's enough” — “ni ga'a” Verbs in the Negative To express “not/don't/doesn't” in Oromo the word hin is added before the verb (either as an attached prefix or as a separate word), and the last vowel in the verb conjugated in the affirmative changes as follows: a → u, i → u, u → an. Deemuu is given as an example below. Deemuu – 'to go' ani hin deemu     nuti hin deemnu ati hin deemtu     isin hin deemtan inni hin deemu     isaan hin deeman isheen hin deemtu     Examples: Affirmative Negative Ani nan beeka – “I know” Ani hin beeku – “I don't know” Isaan ni deemu – “They go” Isaan hin deeman – “They don't go” Isheen ni dandeessi – “She can” Isheen hin dandeessu – “She can't” Isin ni haasoofta – “You (pl.) will talk” Isin hin haasooftu – “You (pl.) will not talk” The exception to this is the negative form of dha, which is miti meaing “am not/are not/is not”. Like dha, miti does not conjugate for person or number. Examples: Rakkoo miti — “It's not a problem” Sun kitaaba koo miti — “That is not my book” Ani lammii Itoophiyaa miti — “I am not Ethiopian” Chapter Vocabulary jiruu to be present nyaachuu to eat jirachuu to live deemuu to go dhufuu to come barbaaduu to want jaalachuu to like, love qabuu to have ergifachuu to borrow ergisuu to lend kaafachuu to take a picture fiduu to bring gaafachuu to ask, inquire galmee jechoota dictionary kan biraa also, in addition rakkoo problem “rakkoon hin jiru”, “rakkoo hin qabu” “no problem” Notes ⇐ Back to Previous Chapter Back to Contents Continue to Next Chapter ⇒