Verbs
Irregular Verb: To Have
Understand the verb 'to have' and its uses.
Irregular Verb: to have (qabaachuu)
The verb qabaachuu (to have), is important to the Afan Oromo language. The following table shows examples of the verb qabaachuu to express possession. As typical, the verb comes after the object in the sentence. (Money I have; A pen do you have? etc).
Present Tense
| Pronoun | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| I have... | Ani...qaba | Ani... hinqabu |
| You have (m/f) | Ati...qabda | Ati... hinqabadu |
| You have (pl) | Isin...qabdu | Isin... hinqabdan |
| He has... | Inni...qaba | Inni...hinqabu |
| She has... | Isheen... qabdi | Isheen... hinqabdu |
| They have... | Isaan...qabu | Isaan... hinqaban |
| We have... | Nuti...qabna | Nuti... hinqabnu |
Past Tense
| Pronoun | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| I had... | Ani... qaba ture | Ani...hinqabun ture |
| You had (m/f) | Ati...qabda turte | Ati... hinqabduturte |
| You had (pl) | Isin... qabdu turtan | Isin... hinqabdan turtan |
| He had... | Inni...qaba ture | Inni...hinqabuture |
| She had... | Isheen... qabdi turte | Isheen...hinqabduturte |
| They had... | Isaan...qabu turan | Issan...hinqaban turan |
| We had... | Nuti...qabna turre | Nuti...hinqabnuturre |
- I have a cat. - (Ani) adurreenqaba.
- He does not have a cat. - (Inni) adurree hinqabu.
- We had clothes. - (Nuti) ufata qabna turre.
- You didn't have a dog. - (Ati) saree hinqabadu turte.
- Ethiopia (she) has riches. - Itiyoophiyan(isheen) sooreyyii qabdi.
Note that speaking in possessive past tense (I didn't have, you didn't have, etc) requires you to conjugate qabaachuu first, then turuu.