Reading Afaan Oromo

Reading Afaan Oromo

Learning the names of the letters will be beneficial to start reading afaan Oromo. Letters have only one sound, their own sound especially the “vowels” have to be rehearsed thoroughly.

1. Qubee abacaa (Letters of the alphabet)

Capital	Small	Name of letters are bold ones
A	a	Aadaa; a as in add
B	b	baala; ba as in back
C	c	caaltuu; almost chaa sound
D	d	daarii; da as in dam
E	e	Eebba; e as in edge
F	f	faaggaa; fa in fat
G	g	gaarii; ga as in gas
H	h	haala; ha as in hat
I	i	ifa; i as in it
J	j	jaarsa; ja as in jam
K	k	kaasuu; ka as c in cat
L	l	laagaa; la as in large
M	m	maagaa; ma as in mat
N	n	naannaa; na as in nag
O	o	ooluu; o as in on
P	p	paappayyaa; pa as in pan
Q	q	qaaruu; guttural “ka”
R	r	raagaa; ra as in rat
S	s	saala; sa as in saga
T	t	taakkuu; ta as in tar
U	u	uumaa; oo as in ooze
V	v	vaasiliinii; va as in vat
W	w	waamuu; wa as in watch
X	x	xaafii; nearer to “ta”
Y	y	yaada; ya as in yard
Z	z	zaanyaa; za in zap

Quboota qindii/ paired letters

Ch ch	Irreecha; cha as in chapter
Dh dh	dhaabaa; no equivalent near to “da”
Ny ny	Nyaata; gn as in cognac
Ph ph	Salphaa; pha no equivalent nearer to “pa”
Sh sh	Shaashaatuu; sha as in shabby
Zh zh	Mazhangir; ge as in mirage

Qubee= letter; abacaa= alphabet

Oromo vowels

Short: a, e, i, o. u

Long: aa, ee, ii, oo, uu

NB: An Oromo vowel has only one sound except being short and long. That sound is the same with name of the letter in the above table. Listen carefully on how c, q, dha, ny, pha are sounded; practice pronouncing with native speaker.

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2. Vowels and Consonants

Afan Oromo is written in the way it is spoken. Listen to a native speaker for better understanding of long and short sounds and soft and hard ones. Carefully follow the following presentations.

A. Vowels (dubbachiiftuu)

a. Oromo vowels have ten versions. Their sound is like their names. English vowels have at least two sounds; like “a” in ate and bat, “e” in bell and eel, “i” in “it” and “mine”, “o” in born and zoo, “u” in “up” and “use”. The Oromo ones have only one sound except being long and short. Single vowels (a, e, i, o, u) have short sounds. Double same vowels (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu) have long sound. Diffirent vowels cannot stand together unless divided by apostrophe. There is no silent vowel. Look how the following English words, “mud and mat” “far and fur”are written had they been afaan Oromo.

a, mud (mad) fur (far)

aa, mat (maat) far (faar)

Afaan Oromo is written as spoken. Most vowels in English words tend to be long when transliterated into Afaan Oromo. Say the words and listen to your own sound. ‘a’ sound in mud and fur are short, while that in mat and far are long. So when you see single sound in afaan Oromoo try to shorten its sound, and when double elongate it. Read the following words:

b. Short vowels

• e beccoo, benii
• i cinii, cina
• o dotii, dombii
• u furrisa, furma

c. long vowels

• aa aanaa, aara
• ee beela, beekaa
• ii ciimmaa, ciisuu
• oo doofaa, doomaa
• uu fuula, fuudha

Pronounce the following words:

a.
lafa (land)
gara (towards, part)
bona (hot rainless season)
laga (river, stream)

The above are short vowel words, say loud and listen to yourself

b.
laafaa (soft)
gaara (mountain)
boona (pride)
laagaa (palate)

(pronounce each and listen; are there differences between a & b? Hunda dhawii of dhaggeeffadhu. a fi b gidduu gargarummaan jiraa?)

Those with one vowel are short on the tongue (kan dubbachiiftuu tokko qaban arraba irratt ni gabaabbatu (la, ga, bo, la) those that have two are long. (kan lama qaban dheeroo dha laa, gaa, boo, laa). Say loud repeatidly and observe the difference. Read interchangingly one long, one short. Say “lafa” and then “laafaa” etc. (walduraa duuba laafaa fi jabaa dubbistuu yaali, lafa jedhii laafaa jedhi.)

A vowel has its own name’s sound. Long sounds are made only with pairs of similar vowels. These are aa, ee, ii, oo, uu. Long sound can come at the beginning of a word also. Example: eegee, eebba. No double consonant at the start of a word. Practice the following. (sagalee dheeraan dura qooqaan dhufuu ni dandahu. Fk. eegee, eebba. Dubbifamaaan lama dura qooqaati hin galu.

Take one from column “A” (short sound) and one from “B” (long sound) consecutively and read. Look how misspelling could make difference. (Kan toora “A” keessa jiru fakkeenya sagalee gabaabaati, kan “B” keessaa kan dheeraati, walduraa duuba dubbistuu yaali).

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B. Consonants (dubbifamaa)

a. In Afaan Oromo consonants can be soft or hard. Single consonants are soft and double are hard.

Example:
elect (ellekt)
element (element)
the “l” in elect is hard while that in “element” is soft when sounded, observe as you speak. The bold ones in brackets are how the Oromoo would have written them.

b) three consonant are not used next to each other without apostrophe. (dubbifamaan sadii qooqa tokkoo keessatt hudhaa malee walitt hin haanan)

c) Two consonants are hard. No other consonant is necessary to harden it, Eg. In word “waldaa” “d’is hard but additional “d” is not needed the “l” infront is enough to make it hard. (Dubbifamaan lama walitt jaboo waan tahaniif jabeesuuf sadaffaan hin dabalamu. Fk.waldaa yoo jennu “d”n jabaadha jabeessuuf “d” itt hin daballu “l”n fuldura jiru ni gaha).

d) irra buta (slide) eg farda, vowel sound between r and d is weak so slipped over.

e) two consonants cannot come at the end is said to be the rule but this writer prefers to put “tt” at the end than “tti” to minimize space use

f) Read the following and distinguish between soft and hard sounds of consonants:

Note

1. “fi” attached to a word and “fi” standing alone have different meanings. The first means “to or for”, the second means “and”. “fi” is inserted after a space. This writer prefers the attached without “i” Eg. Daawwiif kenni. Daawwii fi Liiban obbolaa dha (Give it for Daawwii. Daawwii and Liiban are brothers).
2. Some dialect variations

   a) Words that start with vowel at times take “h” infront. (Qooqota dubbachiistuun jalqaban duratt kan “h” galchan jiru.) Example: arba=harba, eebba=heebba, ifachuu=hifachuu, olola=holola, urjii=hurjii etc.

   b) at places there are those who replace “lch” by “sh” Eg. bulchaa=bushaa, gaalcha=gaasha, galchaa= gashaa, oolchuu=ooshuu, galchuu=gashuu etc.

NB:

1. adjectives come after the nouns they qualify in Afaan Oromo Eg. uffata adii, nama gurraacha, indaaqqoo dhaltuu, muka gabaabaa, bishaan bulluqa, haadha tiyya (bold ones are adjectives white, black, female, short, boiling and my)
2. Look the order of words; subject is first verb is last: An fardan kaachisa; Tolaan tarfballee oofaa. (as it stands this means: I horse ride, Tolaa aeroplane flies), not I ride horse; Tolaa flies aeroplane, the general rule can be stated as (subject+object+verb)
3. c, dh, ph, q, x: these letters are not common in English, listen to native speaker carefully and try to imitate as to how they are pronounced.
4. Paired letters

   Second letter is added to the original to change its sound. These are: ch, dh, ny, ph, sh, ts, zh. The added letters are h, y and s. Ch and ny are always hard. Sh and zh are always soft. Dh and ph add d and p to form hard vowel (hoddhuu; qopphee). There is no Oromo word beginning with ts, p, and v; they are used to write foreign or adopted words. “Z” is also not known in Oromo dialects. For this reason older people pronounce it as “s”(eg. for zero, they say seero). “Ph” can come in the middle of Oromo word. (ts, p, v,z, zh are loan words, “qooqota ergisaa”)

5. Hudhaa/the apostrophe (‘)

   The apostrophe (‘) has an important role in writing Afaan Oromo. The (‘) replaces an unwritten glottal letter. It indicates that a letter is omitted from a word at that point. Literally hudhaa means “that chokes” or “bud”..

   a) More than one different vowels or more than two similar ones are separated by the apostrophe (‘) see next example. Eg. du’a instead of dua; qe’ee instead of qeee are written.

   b) Sounds not clear also use the (‘) Eg. rom’uu (It is almost like romphuu when pronounced)

   c) Some times if “l” and “dh” come together “dh” is replaced by (‘) Eg. Instead of baldhina bal’ina; Instead of Muldhataa Mul’ataa. There are those that replace dh with ll like saying, Ballinaa, Mullataa; instead of saying jaldhachuu, jallachuu or jal’achuu.

   d) to contract two words laying side by side in a sentence one ending the other biggining with vowel it is possible to use( ‘); instead of “mana isaa” saying “mana’saa”. It can simply be said “Mana saa”.

   d) (‘) can be replaced by “h” in some cases. Eg. Instead of ta’uu tahuu.

6. Irra buta: Two consonants that can be pronounced without a vowel between them like “st” in student, “br” in brick; (dubbifamtooti adda addaa yoo qooqa tokkoo keessatt walcinaa jiraatan sagalee irra butaa qabaatu. Fk. Dhoksaa; barumsa; tumsa; ifsa. Dubistuun osoo gidduu hin jiraatin ni dubbifamu jechuu dha.)

To study the above may be boring. But it pays if you go through with patience.

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Introductory Conversation

There are regions in Oromiyaa where the informal mode of address is used for every body. That seems to be the traditional standard. But there are some regions, in which it could be offensive. This practice is found in continental Europe not in modern English.Therefore one has to understand its significance.

Pronoun “you” (in English singular and plural)

Afaan Oromoo:
Singular “sii”
Plural “isin”
Formal “isin”

Pronoun “he”/she

English
Singular “he”/she
Plural “they”
Formal (he, she, they)

Afaan Oromo
Singular “isa”/isee
Plural “isaan”
Formal “isaan”

In short, use the plural forms for respect or formal address. When addressing a peer, juniors or family member use “si” as object. But “ati” as subject.

Inni si waama (he calls you). “si” used as object

Inni isa eega (he is waiting for him) Observe how third person masculine changes form when used as subject and object ( he and him)

Ati eenyu? Who are you? (Singular and informal).

Isin eenyu? Who are you (plural and formal)

Inni eenyu? Who is he (singular and familiar)

Isaan eenyu? Who is he (formal) or who are they? Observe the following:

Bulaa inni si waama. (Bulaa he is calling you)

Bulaa, Ooncho, Badhaatu, inni isin waama (Bula, Ooncho, Badhaatu, he is calling you). = familiar

Obbo Gamta, inni isin waama (Mr Gamta, he is calling you). = formal

Waamii, kottu (Waamii, come) = familiar

Obbo Waamii kottaa (Mr Waamii come) = formal

Sii! Kottu. (hey you! come) =informal

Isin! Kottaa. (hey you come)=Formal and plural

NB: for more understanding refer to Part IV below.

Attam or akkam both mean “how”some say “attam” others say “akkam”.

Singular & informal	Prular & formal
oolte (spent the day)	ooltan (spent the day)
jirta (are/exist)	jirtu (are/exist)