Afaan Oromo/Chapter 04

Chapter 4: Present-Future Tense Verbs

Phone Conversation
Daniel: Haloo? Etana: Eessa jirta? ''Daniel: Manan jira. Maal barbaadde?'' Etana: Kaameraa qabdaa? ''Daniel: Eeyyeen qaba. Maaliif?'' ''Etana: Naaf ergistaa? Mana barumsaatti footon kaafadha. Kaameraa hin qabnu.'' ''Daniel: Tole. Siifan fida.'' Etana: Kan biraa, galmee Ingliffaa qabdaa? ''Daniel: Hin qabu. Amiin tokko qabdi.'' ''Etana: Tole. Ishee nan gaafadha. Galatoomi.'' Daniel: Rakkoon hin qabuu.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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?” &mdash; “What (is) it?” “Maqaan kee eenyu?” &mdash; “What [lit. Who] (is) your name?” “Gatiin saa meeqa?” &mdash; “How much (is) its price?” “Akkam ati?” &mdash; “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.

Examples:

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” &mdash; “Jiman jiraadha” or “Jima nan jiraadha” “I want to eat” &mdash; “Nyaachuun barbaada” or “Nyaachuu nan barbaada” “Yes, I have” &mdash; “Eeyyeen qaba” or “Eeyyee, nan qaba”

For other forms, an optional preverb ni may be used. Typically, if there is no object in the sentence, the ni is mandatory.

Examples: “Do you want a bijaj [motorcycle taxi]?” &mdash; “Baajajii ni barbaadda?” or “Baajajii barbaadda?” “He works” &mdash; “Inni ni hojjeta” (but not “Inni hojjeta”) “It's enough” &mdash; “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.

Examples:

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 &mdash; “It's not a problem” Sun kitaaba koo miti &mdash; “That is not my book” Ani lammii Itoophiyaa miti &mdash; “I am not Ethiopian”