Afaan Oromo/Chapter 01

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Chapter 1: Numbers

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Maamila: Makorooniin jiraa? play
Abba suuqi: Jira. Kan akkamii barbaadda? play
Maamila: Gosa isa guddaa. Kiiloo walakkaa kenni. play
Abba suuqi: Tole. Waan biraa? play
Maamila: Kibiriitiin jira? play
Abba suuqi: Eeyee, meeqa barbaadda? play
Maamila: Gatiin isaa meeqaa? play
Abba suuqi: Darzana tokko qarshii shan. play
Maamila: Mi'aa dha. Hin hir'atu? play
Abba suuqi: Tole, qarshii afur danda'ama. play
Maamila: Dimshaasha meeqa? play
Abba suuqi: Afur fi torba saantima shantama qarshii kudha tokko saantima shantama dha. play
Maamila: Kunoo. Galatoomi. play
Abba suuqi: Atis galatoomi. play

[For translation see here]

The Numbers in Oromo

Numbers come after the noun they modify, so that “two mangoes” is “mangoo lama”, just as “five birr” is “qarshii shan” and 200 is dhibba lama. Ordinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix -ffaa or -affaa to the number. Fractions can be expressed by saying the numerator as a cardinal number and then the denominator as an ordinal number.

Numbers

0 — zeeroo, duwwaa	40 — afurtama
1 — tokko	50 — shantama
2 — lama	60 — jahaatama, ja'aatama
3 — sadii	70 — torbaatama
4 — afur	80 — saddeettama
5 — shan	90 — sagaltama
6 — jaha, ja'a	100 — dhibba (tokko)
7 — torba	101 — dhibba (tokko) fi tokko
8 — saddeet	102 — dhibba (tokko) fi lama
9 — sagal	...
10 — kudhan	200 — dhibba lama
11 — kudha tokko	201 — dhibba lama fi tokko
12 — kudha lama	...
...	1000 — kuma (tokko)
20 — digdama	2000 — kuma lama
21 — digdamii tokko	2043 — kuma lamaa fi afurtamii sadii
22 — digdamii lama	5327 — kuma shan dhibba sadii fi digdamii torba
...	1,000,000 — Kitila (tokko)
30 — soddoma	1,000,000,000 — Bitila or Kumla (tokko)
31 — soddomii tokko	1,000,000,000,000 — Tirtira or Kumsa (tokko)
...	1,000,000,000,000,000 — Boran or KumKumla (tokko)

Ordinals

1st — tokkoffaa
2nd — lamaffaa
3rd — sadaffaa
4th — arfaffaa, afraffa
5th — shanaffaa
6th — jahaffaa
7th — torbaffaa
8th — saddeetaffaa
9th — sagalaffaa
10th — kurnaffaa, kudhaffaa
11th — kudha tokoffaa
…

Fractions

1/2 — walakkaa (tokko lamaffaa)
1/3 — siisoo, nuusii (tokko sadaffa)
1/4 — kurmaana, ruubi (tokko arfaffaa)
7/8 — torba saddeetaffaa

Combining Numbers

When the same number is repeated, it applies to all items. Thus, “lama lama” means “everything is two (birr)”. Two numbers said together indicate amount of birr for number of items, as in “lama sadii” for “two (birr) for three (items)”.

Chapter Vocabulary

maamila	customer
abba suuqi	shop keeper
“___ jira?”	“Do you have ___?” [lit. “Is ___ present?”]
meeqa	how much/many
“Gatiin saa meeqaa?”	“How much is its price?”
Barbaadda?	“Do you want?”
barbaaduu	to want
bituu	to buy
“___ bituun barbaada”	“I want to buy ___”
qarshii	Ethiopian birr
saantima	cent (100th of a birr)
deebii	change [lit. “response”]
“Mi'aa dha”	“It's expensive”
“Rakasa dha”	“It's cheap”
gudda	big
“Kan akkami?”	“What kind?”
kilo tokko	one kilo
“Meeqa barbaadda?”	“How many do you want?”
“Meeqa si keenu?”	“How many shall I give you?”
“Waan biraa?”	“What else?”
“Hin hiratu?”	“Is this your best price?”
“___ naa keeni”	“Give me ___”
kunoo	“Here you are”
fidi	take it
danda'ama	“It's possible”
tole	O.K.
eeyee	yes
lakkoofsa	number
darzana	dozen
dimshaasha	total
fi	and
tuqaa	(decimal) point
kibiriitii	matches
waan biraa	something else
galatoomi	thank you

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