Possessive Pronouns
Learn how to express possession in Oromo.
Possessive
Possessive grammar is used to express ownership of something. One way to show possession is using the possessive pronouns, shown in the following table. As you can see from the sample sentences in Afan Oromo, the possessive pronoun is spoken before the verb, so literally translated, it would sound like Yours it is; Mine it is, etc. For my, the words kan koo or kan kiya can be used interchangeably (depends on regional dialect). The kan portion of these phrases are typically spoken when a pronoun is used, and there is no object.
| Subject Pronoun | Possessive Pronoun | Afan Oromo |
|---|---|---|
| I (ani) | my / mine | kan kiya (koo) |
| you (ati) | your/ yours (m/f) | kan kee |
| you pl. (isin) | your/yours m/f. pl.) | kan keesaan |
| he/ it (inni) | his | kan isaa |
| she (ishee) | her/ hers | kan ishee |
| they (issan) | their / theirs (m/f. pl) | kan isaanii |
| we (nuti/nu'i) | our / ours | kan keenya |
Examples
- Is this his / hers? - Kan isaa tii? (m)/kan isheetii? (f)
- Is this yours? - Kun kan keetii?
- This is yours. - Kun kan keeti.
- It is mine. - Kun kan kooti.
- Our country is big. - Biyyi keenya gudda dha.
- My shoes are white. - Kopheen koo adii dha.
- Its price is cheap. - Gattin isaa rakasa.
When considering if something belongs to someone, the suffixes ti or tii are used. Ti indicates a statement, while tii indicates a question (Kun kan keetii?). Notice in the examples, the sentences without a pronoun, don't use kan.
Another way to express possession is to add a suffix to the end of a noun that refers to the owner. As you can see in the following table the noun hojjii (meaning work or job) is followed with the suffix for each pronoun. In the following table, the bold text highlights the suffix that is added to the noun to indicate possession.
| my job | hojjii kiya/koo |
| your job (m/f) | hojjii kee |
| your job (m/f. pl) | hojjii keesaan |
| his job | hojjii isaa |
| her job | hojjii ishee |
| their job (m/f. pl) | hojjii isaanii |
| our job | hojjii keenya |
- I love my wife. - Ani hadhaa manaa koo nan jaaladha.
- Your dog is big. - Sareen kee guddaa dha.
- His house is beautiful. - Mannii isaa baredaa dha.
- Her name is Haimanot. - Maqaan ishee Haimanot dha.
- Their car is white. - Konkolatan isaanii adii dha.
- Our baby is a girl. - Da'iimti keenyadubara/dhalaa* dha.
*Dubara means girl in western Oromia. It is dhalaa in other regions.
You'll notice many sentences end with dha meaning is. This verb conjugation will be explained in a later section. If you are already familiar with the vocabulary, you'll notice that saree, maqaa, and konkolata are all nouns. In these sentences, an n has been added as suffix to each noun. The n shows its specificity, like a definite article.