Afaan Oromo/Chapter 08

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Chapter 8: Adverbs

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”).

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Imalaa: Sa'aatiin meeqa? play
Gargaaraa: Sa'aatii lama fi walakaa. play
Imalaa: Sa'aatii meeqatti otobisii gara Jimma deema? play
Gargaaraa: Sa'aatii afuritti deema. play
Imalaa: Amma otobisiichi asi jira? play
Gargaaraa: Lakki. Amma asi hin deemu. Ganama asitti argama. play
Imalaa: Hammam dheerata Jimma ga'uf? play
Gargaaraa: Asirra sa'atti sadii fudhata. play
Imalaa: Kan biraa isaa dura kan deemu jira? play
Gargaaraa: Kan dursu amma hin jiru. Baasiin Jimma sa'atti kudha lama, sa'atti afur, fi sa'atti saddeetitti. play
Imalaa: Tole. Galatomi. play
Gargaaraa: Homaa miti. 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

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