Afaan Oromo/Chapter 07

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Chapter 7: Past Tense Verbs

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Narrative

An Oromo History (Seenaa Oromoo)

[Adapted from Ali and Zaborski (1990)]

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play Bara dheeraaf sabni Oromoo nagayaan aadaa, diinagdee fi polotikaa isaa oofuu ture. Yeroo kana keessatti diinagdeen biyya Oromoo akka gaariitti guddatte. Akkasumattiis aadaa fi sirni of bulchiinsaa bal'ate.

play Haa ta'u malee, toora jaarraa 15 irratti duulli Habashaa fi Mootummaa Islaamaa o'aa deeme. Kuni saba Oromoo yaada keessa seensise. Sabni Oromoo diina jajjabaa kana ofirraa dhorkuuf suuta-suutaan humna lolaa guddisuu jalqabe. Duulaaf sabni Oromoo hin jarjarre. Obsa wajjin duula Habashaa fi Mootummaa Islaamaa akeekatani eegan. Habashaa fi Mootummaan Islaamaa lafa Oromoo irratti wal lolan.

play Imaam Ahmed biyya Habashaa akka hamaatti cabse. Magaalota Habashaa tokko-tokkoon gube nama hedduus fixe. Akkuma ta'eti, duultuun Portugaal bara 1543 dhufani Habashaa gargaaran. Imaam Ahmed lola Portugaal wajjin godhame irratti kufe.

play Kana booda Amir Nur 1559, duultuu fi meeshaa duulaa fudhate Habashaa rukute. Amir Nur mootii Habashaa Galaawdiyos kan jedhamu ajjeese nama hedduus fixe. Amir Nuriif waan hafte biyya Habashaa of jala bulchuu. Kanaaf biyya isaatti deebi'e namaa fi meeshaa barbaachis qopheessuuf karaa galaana deemuu ture.

play Akka olitti jenne, sabni Oromoo duula Habashaa fi Mootummaa Islaamaa eegaa ture. Hoggaa Amir Nur Hasaloo ga'u duultuun Oromoo duultuu isaa rukutte. Hasalootti duultuun Mootummaa Islaamaa hedduu dhume. Amir Nur lubbu isaa baafate nama xiqqoo wajjin. Adaree-biyyoo gale. Hasaloo booda sabni Oromoo lafa isaa Habashaa, Mootummaa Islaamaa fi saba biraarraa suuta-suutaan haga jaarraa 18 harka isaa seensifate.

[For translation see here]

Verbs in the Affirmative

To express actions completed in the past, verbs are conjugated in the simple past tense. Verb groups described in Chapter 4 remain the same independent of verb tense. That is, if one knows the present-future conjugation pattern for a verb, one can accurately conjugate that verb in the simple past (or any other tense, for that matter). Compared to the present-future affirmative conjugation, only the final vowel changes to form the simple past. The table below shows how to change a verb conjugated in the present-future to the present negative and simple past affirmative.

final vowel in the present aff	ending in     present neg	ending in past aff
a	u	e
i	u	e
u	an	an(i)

So that “you learn” is baratta, “you don't learn” is hin barattu, and “you learned” is baratte.

The exceptions to this rule are the “to be” verbs: dha and jiruu. These verbs are only used in the present-future tense, and in the past tense are replaced by the verb turuu, which in the present tense means “to stay/wait”. To say “it is present” is jira, but “it was present” is ture. This verb is regular, as shown in the conjugation table below.

“To be” in the Simple Past
ani	nan ture	nuti	ni turre
ati	ni turte	isin	ni turtani
inni	ni ture	isaan	ni turani
isheen	ni turte

The preverbs nan (or -n suffix) and ni are used in the past tense just as they are in the present-future tense (see Chapter 4 for use of nan and ni).

Verbs in the Negative

Verbs in the simple past negative use the hin preverb (as in the present-future tense negative) and the simple past form from the 2nd person plural. The simple past negative is therefore the same for all persons. Context or a pronoun are required to clarify the person to whom the verb is referring. To say “I didn't know” is “ani hin beekne”, “you didn't know” is “ati hin beekne”, “they didn't know” is “isaan hin beekne”, etc.

Like dha, miti is only used in the present-future tense. In the past tense, it is replaced by hin turre, meaning “was/were not”.

Verbs from the main conjugation groups are shown below for present affirmative, present negative, past affirmative, and past negative.

Deemuu — 'to go' (regular verb)
	Present		Past
	Affirmative	Negative	Affirmative	Negative
ani	nan deema	hin deemu	nan deeme	hin deemne
nuti	deemna	hin deemnu	deemne	hin deemne
ati	deemta	hin deemtu	deemte	hin deemne
isin	deemtu	hin deemtan	deemtani	hin deemne
inni	deema	hin deemu	deeme	hin deemne
isheen	deemti	hin deemtu	deemte	hin deemne
isaan	deemu	hin deeman	deemani	hin deemne

Nyaachuu — 'to eat' (-chuu verb)
	Present		Past
	Affirmative	Negative	Affirmative	Negative
ani	nan nyaadha	hin nyaadhu	nan nyaadhe	hin nyaanne
nuti	nyaanna	hin nyaannu	nyaanne	hin nyaanne
ati	nyaatta	hin nyaattu	nyaatte	hin nyaanne
isin	nyaattu	hin nyaattan	nyaattani	hin nyaanne
inni	nyaata	hin nyaatu	nyaate	hin nyaanne
isheen	nyaatti	hin nyaattu	nyaatte	hin nyaanne
isaan	nyaatu	hin nyaatan	nyaatani	hin nyaanne

Haasa'uu — 'to talk' (-oof- verb)
	Present		Past
	Affirmative	Negative	Affirmative	Negative
ani	nan haasa'a	hin haasa'u	nan haasa'e	hin haasoofne
nuti	haasoofna	hin haasoofnu	haasoofne	hin haasoofne
ati	haasoofta	hin haasooftu	haasoofte	hin haasoofne
isin	haasooftu	hin haasooftan	haasooftani	hin haasoofne
inni	haasa'a	hin haasa'u	haasa'e	hin haasoofne
isheen	haasoofti	hin haasooftu	haasoofte	hin haasoofne
isaan	haasa'u	hin haasa'an	haasa'ani	hin haasoofne

Danda'uu — 'to be able' (-ees- verb)
	Present		Past
	Affirmative	Negative	Affirmative	Negative
ani	nan danda'a	hin danda'u	nan danda'e	hin dandeenye
nuti	dandeenya	hin dandeenyu	dandeenye	hin dandeenye
ati	dandeesa	hin dandeesu	dandeese	hin dandeenye
isin	dandeesu	hin dandeesan	dandeesani	hin dandeenye
inni	danda'a	hin danda'u	danda'e	hin dandeenye
isheen	dandeesi	hin dandeesu	dandeese	hin dandeenye
isaan	danda'u	hin danda'an	danda'ani	hin dandeenye

Vocabulary from the Narrative

aadaa	culture, tradition
ajjeesuu	to kill
akeekachuu	to observe
akka	like, as
akkasumatti	in this way
akkuma	just as, just like
akkuma ta'eti	somehow
baafachuu	to escape, flee
bal'achuu	to widen
bara	time period, era
bara dheeraaf	“for a long time”
biyya	country
cabsuu	to break
deebi'uu	to come back, return
dheera	tong
dhorkuu	to forbid, prevent
dhumuu	to be finished, completed
diina	enemy
diinagdee	economy
duula	battle, campaign
duultuu	soldiers
eeguu	to wait
fixuu	to finish, exterminate
fudhachuu	to take, receive
ga'uu	to reach, be enough
gargaaruu	to aid, assist
gubuu	to burn
guddachuu	to grow, develop
guddisuu	to increase
haa ta'u malee	but, however
Habashaa	Habasha, Abyssinian (from Amhara)
hafuu	to remain
hamaa	mean, vicious, evil
hamaatti	viciously
hoggaa, yoom	when (relative pronoun)
humna	power, force
humna lolaa	army [lit. “fighting force”]
jaarraa	century
jabaa	strong
jala	under
jalqabuu	to begin
jarjaruu	to be in a hurry
kana booda	after this
karaa galaana	by sea
kufuu	to fall, die in battle
lafa	land
lola	fight
loluu	to fight
lubbu	life
magaalaa	town, city
meeshaa	goods, materials
meeshaa duulaa	Weapons [lit. “fighting materials”]
mootii	king
mootummaa	kingdom
o'aa	hot
obsa	patience
obsa wajjin	patiently [lit. “with patience”]
of bulchiinsaa	self-governance
of jala bulchuu	to control
polotikaa	political system
qopheessuu	to prepare, make ready
rukutuu	to hit, strike
saba	people, nation
seensisuu	to cause to enter
seenuu	to enter
sirni	system
tokko-tokkoon	one by one
wal loluu	to fight each other
yaada	thought, idea
yeroo	time
yeroo kana keessatti	“at this time”

Notes

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