Lwuor 

Grammar

Verb
There are up to five forms for each verb: root, third-person singular, present participle, past, and past participle.

DholuoEnglish
Buonjo/nyieroSmile
Ywakweep
wuothowalk
Medruokimprove
wersing
Fuolocough
Kawotake
puonjoteach
mieldance
nyiero laugh
ringorun
Liyowhistle
riekoclever
dwarhunt
piemcompetition
agoroKind of termite
Budosoak
GwomCreep
BurCave
bwoyofoam
MolCreep
BoroCave
Budosoak


Third Person Singular Form of a Verb So, Third Person Singular Form of a Verb in Luo are words that ends in o. 

EnglishDholuo
watches neno 
beatsgoyo
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”

DholuoEnglish
ObiroHe/she is coming
OnenoHe/she is 
OwuothoHe/she is walking
OringoHe/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.

EnglishDholuo
playedotugo/Atugo
boughtOwilo/Awilo
ranOringo/Aringo

Example

EnglishDholuo
Lokang is playingLokang tugo
Lokang playedLokang otugo
I am playing Atugo
I playedAtugo 
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

EnglishDholuo
runringo
hitGoyo/tuomo
travelwuotho


an event

EnglishDholuo
rainkoth
occurotimre


a situation

EnglishDholuo
bebedo
seemnenre
haveNitiere

 



 

Adverbs
Adverbs in Dholuo are words that are repeated and in English, they are the words that end in -ly.

EnglishDholuo
SlowlyMos mos
QuicklyPiyo piyo
PowerfullyTek tek
TruthfullyAdieri adieri


Adverb in Dholuo can also be joint by the word and(ka).

EnglishDholuo
YearlyHiga ka higa
HourlySaa ka saa
MonthlyDwe ka dwe
DailyPile ka pile
CarefullyTang' 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.

EnglishDholuo
ManyMang'eny
MuchNg'eny
MoreMoko
Gigantic Thuone
GoodBer
StrongTek
FatChwe
FastPiyo
FoolishFuwo
BadRach
weakNyap
SlowMos
CleverRiek

 

Adjective in the past

EnglishDholuo
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

EnglishDholuo
Lokang is loving his job.Lokang' ohero tije.
Lokang job is boringTij 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

DholuoEnglish
AkuruDove
OyieyoEdible rat
Ngatoperson
Othouse


Plural nouns

DholuoEnglish
NyiriGirls
YawuowiBoys
NyithindoChildren
JodongoElders
JotichEmployees
JogedoBuilders
JooteMessengers
Udi/Utehouses

 

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. 

EnglishDholuo
BlacksmithsJatheth
A South SudaneseJa Sudan ma Milambo
A farmerJapur
A fishermanJalupo
A builderJagedo
A preacherJayalo
A soldierJalweny


Uncountable nouns

EnglishDholuo
ByeOriti
HairYier
EarthPiny
electricitymach/sitima
WaterPi
SandKwoyo

 

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."

EnglishDholuo
A hoeRapur
CutterRabeti
HolderRamaki
A coverRaum
A combRagol

Example of how top use 

EnglishDholuo
I always use this hoe for digging Atiyoga gi rapur ni e pur
Use that cutter for cutting grassTii gi rabeti no e  beto lum
Where is the the comb, I want comb my hairEre ragol, adwaro golo yie wiya

 

Pronounce
Pronoun are used in place of nouns.
 

Personal pronouns

EnglishDholuo
IAn
mean
you(sgl)in
you(pl)gin
heen
sheen
iten
wewan
theygin
themgin


Possessive pronouns

EnglishDholuo
minemaga/mara/meka
yoursmagi
your (plural)magu
hismage
hersmage
oursMarwa/Mekwa
theirsMargi/maggi


Relative pronouns

EnglishDholuo
whichmane
whong'a
thatmacha


Demonstrative pronouns

EnglishDholuo
thismae
thatmacha
thesemagi
thosemaka


Emphatic pronouns

EnglishDholuo
myselfan
yourselfin
himselfen
herselfen
itselfen
ourselveswan


Reflexive pronouns

EnglishDholuo
myselfan
yourselfin
himselfen
herselfen
itselfen
ourselveswan


Indefinite pronouns

EnglishDholuo
noneNono
severalMang'eny
manyMang'eny
somemoko
anymoro amora
somebodyngat moro
nobodyOnge dhano


Interrogative pronouns

EnglishDholuo
whichmane
whong'a
whatang'o


Reciprocal pronouns

EnglishDholuo
each otherNg'ato ang'ata
one anotherNg'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

EnglishDholuo
TheTo
a, anla, 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

DholuoEnglish
Wa chamo gweno ma ochiel We are eating the firied chicken
Lu yoo mar lokangfollow 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

DholuoEnglish
en ja pachoHe/she is a homie
En obedo ja thumhe/she is a musician 
Nyuomo ja kanisaMarry 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.

EnglishDholuo
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.

EnglishDholuo
AndGi
Aska
BecauseNikech
Butto
Just asmana kaka
OrKata
Neitherkata
NorKata
Not onlyOk Mano kende
Soomiyo
Whetherkata
Yet podi
AlsoBende


Constructing sentences

EnglishDholuo
Ouma and OkelloOuma gi Okello
He looked right as he turnedOng'iyo bathe ka olokore
His name is Lokang because he is a maleNyinge en Lokang nikech en en wouyi
It is cold but he showeredPiny 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.

EnglishDholuo
He will walk to the marketObiro wuotho Ka odhi e chiro
He is a respected personEn ng'ama omi  lwuor
He said he was brave, wow he got itOwacho 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).

EnglishDholuo
in the morning.ei okinyi
In the afternoonei otieno
In the eveningei odhiambo

 

On(chieng').

EnglishDholuo
On Monday.Chieng'wuok tich
On the weekends.E chieng' wikend
On ChristmasE chieng'nyuol yesu


At( E)

EnglishDholuo
At weekendsE wikend
At nightei otieno
At same timeE saa machal kama
At ChristmasE nyuol Yesu


under(ebwo)

EnglishDholuo
under a tree.Ebwo yen
under a table.Ebwo mesa.
Under a chair.Ebwo kom
Under a law.Ebwo chik