Grammar
Verb
There are up to five forms for each verb: root, third-person singular, present participle, past, and past participle.
Dholuo | English |
---|---|
Buonjo/nyiero | Smile |
Ywak | weep |
wuotho | walk |
Medruok | improve |
wer | sing |
Fuolo | cough |
Kawo | take |
puonjo | teach |
miel | dance |
nyiero | laugh |
ringo | run |
Liyo | whistle |
rieko | clever |
dwar | hunt |
piem | competition |
agoro | Kind of termite |
Budo | soak |
Gwom | Creep |
Bur | Cave |
bwoyo | foam |
Mol | Creep |
Boro | Cave |
Budo | soak |
Third Person Singular Form of a Verb So, Third Person Singular Form of a Verb in Luo are words that ends in o.
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
watches | neno |
beats | goyo |
does | timo |
walks | wuotho |
visits | limo |
Present Participle Form of a Verb are identified by the word O at the end of it. For the third person singular it starts with letter “O” and ends with tye same letter“O”
Dholuo | English |
---|---|
Obiro | He/she is coming |
Oneno | He/she is |
Owuotho | He/she is walking |
Oringo | He/she is running |
Past and Past Participle Forms of the Verb starts with O or A. When O is used it means that it is he/she but when A is used it means I/me.
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
played | otugo/Atugo |
bought | Owilo/Awilo |
ran | Oringo/Aringo |
Example
English | Dholuo |
Lokang is playing | Lokang tugo |
Lokang played | Lokang otugo |
I am playing | Atugo |
I played | Atugo |
I was playing | Aatugo |
When communicating, especially in the past continuous, emphasis is placed on certain letters, such as stressing the letter 'A' as 'aatugo'."
an action
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
run | ringo |
hit | Goyo/tuomo |
travel | wuotho |
an event
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
rain | koth |
occur | otimre |
a situation
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
be | bedo |
seem | nenre |
have | Nitiere |
Adverbs
Adverbs in Dholuo are words that are repeated and in English, they are the words that end in -ly.
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
Slowly | Mos mos |
Quickly | Piyo piyo |
Powerfully | Tek tek |
Truthfully | Adieri adieri |
Adverb in Dholuo can also be joint by the word and(ka).
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
Yearly | Higa ka higa |
Hourly | Saa ka saa |
Monthly | Dwe ka dwe |
Daily | Pile ka pile |
Carefully | Tang' tang' |
Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns: enormous, doglike, silly, yellow, fun, fast. They can also describe the quantity of nouns: many, few, millions, eleven.
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
Many | Mang'eny |
Much | Ng'eny |
More | Moko |
Gigantic | Thuone |
Good | Ber |
Strong | Tek |
Fat | Chwe |
Fast | Piyo |
Foolish | Fuwo |
Bad | Rach |
weak | Nyap |
Slow | Mos |
Clever | Riek |
Adjective in the past
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
Lokang loved his job. | Lokang ohero tije |
Lokang is bored. | Lokang ojony |
Atieno is interested in politics. | Atieno ohero siasa |
Everybody was surprised that he passed the exam. | Ngato ang'ata ne obuok kane okadho penj |
I was shocked when I heard the news. | Ne ahum nono kane awinjo wachno |
Adjective in present continuous
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
Lokang is loving his job. | Lokang' ohero tije. |
Lokang job is boring | Tij Lokang' okmor |
Atieno thinks politics is interesting. | Atieno paro ni siasa ber |
It was surprising that he passed the exam. | Ne en bwok Ka neokadho penj |
The news was shocking. | Wach no ne en mar bwok |
Nouns
A noun is a word that names something: either a person, place, or thing.
Singular nouns
Dholuo | English |
---|---|
Akuru | Dove |
Oyieyo | Edible rat |
Ngato | person |
Ot | house |
Plural nouns
Dholuo | English |
---|---|
Nyiri | Girls |
Yawuowi | Boys |
Nyithindo | Children |
Jodongo | Elders |
Jotich | Employees |
Jogedo | Builders |
Joote | Messengers |
Udi/Ute | houses |
Countable nouns
In Dholuo, countable nouns acquire the singular form by adding 'ja' and the plural form by adding 'jo,' akin to the English practice of using articles such as 'a,' 'an,' and 'some' to denote singular and plural contexts.
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
Blacksmiths | Jatheth |
A South Sudanese | Ja Sudan ma Milambo |
A farmer | Japur |
A fisherman | Jalupo |
A builder | Jagedo |
A preacher | Jayalo |
A soldier | Jalweny |
Uncountable nouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
Bye | Oriti |
Hair | Yier |
Earth | Piny |
electricity | mach/sitima |
Water | Pi |
Sand | Kwoyo |
Nouns derived from the actions they do
In Dholuo, certain nouns are derived from actions, such as cutting or digging. To express the object used in these actions, a prefix "Ra" is added to the corresponding action word. For instance, in Dholuo, digging is referred to as "pur," and anything used for digging is denoted as "rapur."
English | Dholuo |
A hoe | Rapur |
Cutter | Rabeti |
Holder | Ramaki |
A cover | Raum |
A comb | Ragol |
Example of how top use
English | Dholuo |
I always use this hoe for digging | Atiyoga gi rapur ni e pur |
Use that cutter for cutting grass | Tii gi rabeti no e beto lum |
Where is the the comb, I want comb my hair | Ere ragol, adwaro golo yie wiya |
Pronounce
Pronoun are used in place of nouns.
Personal pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
I | An |
me | an |
you(sgl) | in |
you(pl) | gin |
he | en |
she | en |
it | en |
we | wan |
they | gin |
them | gin |
Possessive pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
mine | maga/mara/meka |
yours | magi |
your (plural) | magu |
his | mage |
hers | mage |
ours | Marwa/Mekwa |
theirs | Margi/maggi |
Relative pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
which | mane |
who | ng'a |
that | macha |
Demonstrative pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
this | mae |
that | macha |
these | magi |
those | maka |
Emphatic pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
myself | an |
yourself | in |
himself | en |
herself | en |
itself | en |
ourselves | wan |
Reflexive pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
myself | an |
yourself | in |
himself | en |
herself | en |
itself | en |
ourselves | wan |
Indefinite pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
none | Nono |
several | Mang'eny |
many | Mang'eny |
some | moko |
any | moro amora |
somebody | ngat moro |
nobody | Onge dhano |
Interrogative pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
which | mane |
who | ng'a |
what | ang'o |
Reciprocal pronouns
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
each other | Ng'ato ang'ata |
one another | Ng'ato ka ng'ato |
Articles
Articles are words that define a noun as specific or unspecific. there are two types of Articles e.g. definite and indefinite.
The articles
English | Dholuo |
The | To |
a, an | la, ja |
Definite article
The definite article is the word the(ma) in Dholuo. The definite article can be used with singular, plural, or uncountable nouns.
Using article the in sentence
Dholuo | English |
Wa chamo gweno ma ochiel | We are eating the firied chicken |
Lu yoo mar lokang | follow the lokang road/way |
Indefinite Article
The indefinite article takes two forms. It's the word a when it precedes a word that begins with a consonant. It's the word an when it precedes a word that begins with a vowel. In Dholuo the the indefinite words is ja
Using article a or an in sentence
Dholuo | English |
en ja pacho | He/she is a homie |
En obedo ja thum | he/she is a musician |
Nyuomo ja kanisa | Marry a church person |
Article with uncountable noun e.g. some(moko in Dholuo)
Uncountable nouns are nouns not so easy to count for instance sand, water, light. Uncountable nouns use the word some in place of the, a and an. In Dholuo some is translated as moko.
English | Dholuo |
Please give me some water. | Niya pi moko. |
Please give me some sugar. | Miya sukari moko |
Conjunction
A conjunction is a part of speech that is used to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences for example, And, As, Because, But, For, Just as, Or, Neither, Nor, Not only, So, Whether and Yet.
English | Dholuo |
And | Gi |
As | ka |
Because | Nikech |
But | to |
Just as | mana kaka |
Or | Kata |
Neither | kata |
Nor | Kata |
Not only | Ok Mano kende |
So | omiyo |
Whether | kata |
Yet | podi |
Also | Bende |
Constructing sentences
English | Dholuo |
Ouma and Okello | Ouma gi Okello |
He looked right as he turned | Ong'iyo bathe ka olokore |
His name is Lokang because he is a male | Nyinge en Lokang nikech en en wouyi |
It is cold but he showered | Piny ngich, kata kamano ne olwokore. |
Interjection
An interjection is a word that you throw in between sentences or thoughts to express a sudden feeling. These words include wow!, what?! etc. Interjection words in Dholuo include ee!, ka, thoo etc.
Preposition
Word that joint sentence together.
English | Dholuo |
He will walk to the market | Obiro wuotho Ka odhi e chiro |
He is a respected person | En ng'ama omi lwuor |
He said he was brave, wow he got it | Owacho ni en thuon, ee, oyude. |
Oh no, I can't believe that it is snowing here again! | A a, ok ayie ni pe chwer kendo |
The work is too big, phew it is done today. | Tijno duong', thoo, orumo kawuono |
wait! did you said it is finished? | Rit ane! Ne owacho ni orumo? |
wu! it was big. | Ee! ne oduong'. |
what! Did he say that? | ang'o ! Ne owacho kamano? |
You know um! I actually don't know much about it. | I ng'eyo ginene! an ok ang'eyo mang'eny kwome |
Like that, yes! | Mana kamano, ee! |
You see! He/she turned away. | I neno! owichore. |
Preposition
Preposition are in, on, at. They are i, e I
In(i).
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
in the morning. | ei okinyi |
In the afternoon | ei otieno |
In the evening | ei odhiambo |
On(chieng').
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
On Monday. | Chieng'wuok tich |
On the weekends. | E chieng' wikend |
On Christmas | E chieng'nyuol yesu |
At( E)
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
At weekends | E wikend |
At night | ei otieno |
At same time | E saa machal kama |
At Christmas | E nyuol Yesu |
under(ebwo)
English | Dholuo |
---|---|
under a tree. | Ebwo yen |
under a table. | Ebwo mesa. |
Under a chair. | Ebwo kom |
Under a law. | Ebwo chik |