Afaan Oromo/Chapter 08

85px|left|Oromo flag85px|right|Ethiopian flag Chapter 8: Adverbs ⇐ Back to Previous Chapter Back to Contents Continue to Next Chapter ⇒ Adverbs may modify the manner of an action (e.g., “he talks loudly”), indicate the time of action (“I will go to Addis tomorrow”), give location (“my house is far from here”), or indicate degree (“I like it a lot”). Bus Station 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_ch08_playall.ogg no Play all Imalaa: Sa'aatiin meeqa? oromo_ch08_line01.ogg no play Gargaaraa: Sa'aatii lama fi walakaa. oromo_ch08_line02.ogg no play Imalaa: Sa'aatii meeqatti otobisii gara Jimma deema? oromo_ch08_line03.ogg no play Gargaaraa: Sa'aatii afuritti deema. oromo_ch08_line04.ogg no play Imalaa: Amma otobisiichi asi jira? oromo_ch08_line05.ogg no play Gargaaraa: Lakki. Amma asi hin deemu. Ganama asitti argama. oromo_ch08_line06.ogg no play Imalaa: Hammam dheerata Jimma ga'uf? oromo_ch08_line07.ogg no play Gargaaraa: Asirra sa'atti sadii fudhata. oromo_ch08_line08.ogg no play Imalaa: Kan biraa isaa dura kan deemu jira? oromo_ch08_line09.ogg no play Gargaaraa: Kan dursu amma hin jiru. Baasiin Jimma sa'atti kudha lama, sa'atti afur, fi sa'atti saddeetitti. oromo_ch08_line10.ogg no play Imalaa: Tole. Galatomi. oromo_ch08_line11.ogg no play Gargaaraa: Homaa miti. oromo_ch08_line12.ogg no play [For translation see here] Adverbs of Manner Adverbs of manner can be formed from a verb, by putting the modifying verb in the simple past, or from an adjective or noun, by using the locative or instrumental declension. Using the Simple Past as an Adverb An adverbial phrase may be constructed using two verbs together, with the adverbial verb coming first and in the simple past form. Examples: “Inni jabeesse hojjate” — “He worked hard” [lit. “He made strong worked”] “Isheen laaffifte dubbatte” — “She spoke softly” [lit. “She made soft spoke”] “Ani daafe nan deema” — “I will hurriedly go” [lit. “I hurried will go”] Using the Instrumental Case as an Adverb Nouns have several cases they can take, including the subject (nominative) and direct object (accusative) mentioned in Chapter 5. The instrumental case is one of the many kinds of indirect object forms a noun can take and demonstratives that the noun is a means, analogous to the English “with” or “by”. There are three ways to form the instrumental case: For nouns that end in a consonant, -iin is suffixed. For example, bishaan is water, and bishaaniin is “with/by water”. For nouns that end in a short vowel, the final vowel will be lengthened and either a -n or -tiin suffixed. For nouns that end in a long vowel, -n, -tiin, or -dhaan may be suffixed. For example, abshaalummaa is “cleverness”, so that abshaalummaan/abshaalummaatiin/ abshaalummaadhaan means “with cleverness” or “cleverly”. Using the Locative Case as an Adverb Another indirect object form a noun can take is the locative case which is used like the English “at” or “in”. This is formed with the -(i)tti suffix. For example, guutuumaa is “fullness” or “completeness”, and guutuumaatti is “in full” or “absolutely”. 3 Kinds of “How” In English, we may ask “how?” to mean 1) “in what state?”, as in “how are you?”, 2) “in what way?”, as in “how do you bake a cake?”, or 3) “to what extent?”, as in “how far did you run?”. To ask about the state of something, akkam(i) is typically used, as in “akkam jirta?” or “akkami ganama kana?”. “Akkam” or “akkami” are also common ways to say a simple “hi”. To describe the method of something, akkamitti is most often used. Akkamitti most literally means “in what way”. To inquire about quantity, meeqa means “how much/many”. For other kinds of extent, hammam (hagam may be more common in some dialects) can be put in front of adjectives. For instance “how far?” is “hammam fagoo?”, but “how many kilometers?” is “kiiloomeetirii meeqa?”. Time Adverbs Telling Time The Ethiopian clock, like the Ethiopian calendar, is different than what we use in America and Europe, what Ethiopians call ferenji time (FT). The sun rises at 1:00 Ethiopian time (ET, also called Habasha time), which is equivalent to 7:00am FT. Noon is thus 6:00 ET, and ET can be calculated by adding or subtracting 6 hours from FT. Instead of AM and PM, there are four periods of the day, identified in Oromo by ganama (morning), waaree booda (afternoon), galgala (evening), and halkan (night). Examples: Ferenji time         Ethiopian time Oromo 8:00am 2:00 in the morning ganama (keessa) sa'atii lama 2:00pm 8:00 in the afternoon         waaree booda (keessa) sa'atii saddeet, or guyya (keessa) sa'atii saddeet 9:00pm 3:00 in the evening galgala (keessa) sa'atii sadii 4:00am 10:00 at night halkan (keessa) sa'atii kudhan For expressing minutes before or after the hour, fi (“and”) is used for after the hour, and hanquu/ hir'uu (“incomplete”) is used for before. Ethiopian time         Oromo 2:05 sa'atii lama fi (daqiiqaa) shan [lit. “2 o'clock and 5 (minutes)”] 2:10 sa'atii lama fi (daqiiqaa) kudhan 2:15 sa'atii lama fi ruubi [lit. “2 and a 4th”] 2:30 sa'atii lama fi walakkaa [lit. “2 and ½”] 2:35 sa'atii sadii jechu/ta'u (daqiiqaa) digdamii shan hanquu/hir'uu 2:45 sa'ati sadii jechu/ta'u ruubi hanquu/hir'uu 2:55 sa'ati sadii jechu/ta'u (daqiiqaa) shan hanquu/hir'uu Temporal Modifications of a Verb To indicate that an action occurs at intervals, the time period can be repeated, as in “guyyaa guyyaa” to mean “everyday”. The -uu suffix is also sometimes used, so that guyyuu also means “everyday” Examples: weekly, every week — torban torban monthly, every month — ji'a ji'a yearly, every year — bara bara or waggaa waggaa always, everytime — yeroo hunda, hooggayyuu, or yoomuu The locative suffix -tti is used for specifying an action taking place in or during a certain time. Examples: at night — halkanitti at once — amma ammatti meanwhile — gidduutti or hangasitii To signify “in” to mean “after”, as in “in one week” or “after one week”, one may use keessaatti, booda, or dhufu. Examples: “We will start work next week.” — “Nuti torban dhufu hojii jalqabna.” “I will leave for Adama in 4 days.” — “Ani gara Adaamaa guyyaa afur keessaattin deema.” “She will return next month.” — “Isheen ji'a booda deebiiti.” To express duration, as in “for 3 days”, one may use the -f suffix. “Until” can be expressed by hamma or hanga. Examples: until now, yet — hanga ammaatti “I will be in Adama for 3 days” — “Guyyaa sadiif Adaamaarran jira.” “Don't start until I return” — “Hamma nan deebi'a hin jalqabin.” More constructions for time clauses are discussed in Chapter 15. Place Adverbs To express “at” or “to”, most often the locative suffix -tti is applied. To express “from”, either irraa or a -rraa suffix can be used. Examples: here — as(i) to here, in here — asitti from here — asirra there — achi to there, in there — achitti from there — achirra “I'd like to invite you to my house.” — “Mana kootti si affeeruun barbaade.” “In what month do you return from Jima?” — “Ja'i kamitti Jimmarraa deebiita?” Other locational relations are described using prepositions and postpositions as discussed in Chapter 10. Adverbs of Degree Both baay'ee and hedduu mean “many, much, a lot”. Baay'ee is also used where English would use “very”. For “small” or “few”, xinnaa, xinnoo, xiqqaa, and xiqqaa are most common, where the -oo ending is for the feminine (xinnoo is less than xinnaa). Bicuu and maddee also mean “little, few”. Examples: baay'ee gaarii dha — “it's very good” biyyaa Oromoo keessa laga hedduu jira — “There are many rivers in Oromia” Afaan Oromoo xinnoon beeka — “I know a little Oromo” For repeated actions si'a or hoggaa can be used like the English “times”. “Twice” is therefore si'a lama [lit. “two times”], for example. Hamma, used early for time adverbs, more generally means “as much as”. For example, “lend me as much as you can” would be “hamma dandeessu naaf liqeessi”. Vocabulary: Time Words yeroo time erga since irra deebi'i again duruu, dursee already guyyaa day ganama morning barraaqa, obboroo early morning saafaa noon waaree mid-day waaree booda afternoon galgala evening halkan night ganamatti in the morning galgalatti in the evening halkanitti at night har'a today kaleessa yesterday bor, boru tomorrow edana, har'a galgala tonight eda last night iftaan the day after tomorrow torban week torban kana this week torban dhufu next week torban darbe last week ji'a, baatii month waggaa, bara year barana this year waggaa/bara darbe last year waggaa/bara dhufu next year abadan never yeroo hundumaa, hooggayyuu, yoomuu always yeroo tokko tokko sometimes yeroo baay'ee/hedduu Usually, often guyyuu, guyyaa-guyyaatti everyday sekoondii second daqiiqaa minute sa'aatii hour Vocabulary: Degree and Manner Words suuta slowly dafee, battaluma fast, quickly laafaatti softly jabaatti, cimaatti hard akkana like this akkasi like that wal fakkaataa similar iddoo isaa instead gaarii, dansaa, bayeessa well badaa badly wajjin with walitti, walii-wajjin together malee without, except -s, akkasumas also sirriitti, guutuutti exactly qofaa, kophaa only tarii perhaps, maybe kanaaf(u) therefore baay'ee very ⇐ Back to Previous Chapter Back to Contents Continue to Next Chapter ⇒