Afaan Oromo/Chapter 06

Chapter 6: Adjectives

Shopping Conversation
Gurguraa: Maal isin gargaaru adde? ''Maamilaa: Jakkeettiin barbaade. Tokko kan naaf ta'u jira?'' Gurguraa: Lakkoofsa meeqa barbaadda? Maamilaa: Soddoma. Gurguraa: Bifa akkamii jaalatta? Maamilaa: Gurraachan jaalladha. Gurguraa: Isa kana ilaali. Maamilaa: Sirritti natti ta'e. Gaatiin saa meeqa? Gurguraa: Inni qarshii dhibba lama fi shantama. Maamilaa: Inni dooqeen kun hoo? Gurguraa: Wal qixxee dha. Maamilaa: Inni diimaan sun meeqa? ''Gurguraa: Inni sun qarshi dhibba lama qofa dha. Inni garu baayee isinitti guddata.'' Maamilaa: Tole, isa kanan fudhadha.

[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.

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.

Some masculine adjectives will change their ending to -oo when pluralized. Some of these do not repeat the first syllable as a plural marker.

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 can be combined with pronouns and adjectives to express ideas such as “this one” or “that big one”.

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” &mdash; “Inni diimaan sun meeqa?” “The 2nd horse went” &mdash; “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” &mdash; “Namni sooressichi dhufe” or “Namachi sooressi dhufe” “The rich man's brother came” &mdash; “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” &mdash; “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” &mdash; “He goes while eating” or “Eating, he goes” “Dubbachuun makiinaa oofaa gaarii miti” &mdash; “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).

To express past participles in the negative, the verb is in the simple past negative (e.g., “uneducated” is kan hin baranne).