-uu and -chuu Verbs

In afaan Oromoo, the infinitive form of the verb usually ends in -uu. This would be the word you look up in a dictionary when looking for a meaning for the verb. For example, If I said:

I go to work.- Ani hojiin deema.

I would look up the word deemuu in a dictionary to see that it means “to go.”

There are two large groups that make up most verbs and that is -uu verbs and -chuu verbs. The -chuu verb form is often what is called an autobenefactive form. The autobenefactive often has an ending of -achuu or -echuu depending on spelling. This essentially means that the verb is implying you are doing the action for yourself. Sometimes very similar -uu verbs and -chuu verbs can exist with either no or only minor differences, such as bituu and bitachuu where both mean that something is being bought. Sometimes, there is a larger difference, such as between jiruu and jiraachuu. Jiruu means “to be present” and jiraachuu means “to live.” You can see how these two words would be related through the use of an autobenefactive ending to mean something like “to be present for yourself,” or to shorten it “to live,” for jiraachuu.

Verbs are powerful words as they explain the action that is going on in the sentence. In afaan Oromoo the conjugations for these verbs are fairly standard so it is an easy way to start strengthening your speaking by using the correct conjugation based on the person involved. Often the subject of a sentence can be left out and the meaning is still clear based on the context. For learners, I suggest using the subject in your sentences to start as a mistake in sentence word order or verb conjugation is less likely to stop a conversation.

Afan Oromo by Abebe Bulto

For this weeks book Afan Oromo by Abebe Bulto, this comes up on pages 28-31 where qabaachuu and jiraachuu are stated as being the infinitive form for the verbs “to have” and “to be present,” but they would be the autobenefactive form of the verbs qabuu and jiruu. When the verbs are conjugated out in the book to demonstrate you see sentences like:

I have a cat.- Ani adurreen qaba.

This would be an example of the verb qabuu, also meaning “to have” and conjugated out like this in comparison to the conjugation for qabaachuu:

Similarly, the verb jiraachuu is given examples like:

There is coffee.- Bunni jira.

This would again be conjugations for the similar verb jiruu, which is conjugated out like this in comparison to the verb jiraachuu:

The information that Bulto supplies in the book is correct in usage, and I enjoy reading through many of the example sentences that are in the book. I would suggest that these two examples be changed to the –uu versions I have given rather than the autobenefactive verb forms that were chosen.