Tag: afaanoromoo
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Reported Speech
In general, I dislike reported speech. It isn’t horrible but even for native speakers it isn’t impossible to lose track of exactly who it was that performed the actions. For speakers of afaan Oromoo as a second language, people are not always forgiving of mistakes in considering how well someone speaks. The example from stood…
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Boontuu fi Hoolaa Ishee by Maaykil Daani’eel Ambaachew
This is a cute little book about a girl and her friendship with a sheep. Of course the sheep is not originally supposed to be a pet, but through mischief the girl is able to save the sheep. I enjoyed the read but there were no new words or different situations for me to encounter…
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Dialect Differences
Afaan Oromoo is spoken across a wide area of east Africa. There are maybe common features that have been identified but an official dialect has not been created or confirmed for things written in the language. These differences can be like preference for certain words or sentence structures but the other option is allowed or…
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Lukkuu Cimtuu by Biruktaawit Xigaabuu
This is one of the books in the Tsehai Loves Learning series. These books were originally written in Amharic but have been translated into afaan Oromoo. Sadly, the website does not seem to be accepting orders and it was more difficult to find more from the 32 book series last time I was in Addis…
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Newspaper Reader Selection One: Jaha Dhalte
The first selection in the Oromo Newspaper Reader is about a sheep giving birth to six lambs. This is a great book as I said, as every single word is explained in depth. For me now it is relatively easy but a beginner might be wondering why they see lamaa being used in a sentence…
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Oromo Newspaper Reader, Grammar Sketch, and Lexicon by Tucho et al
Another of my absolute favorite books, and one of the initial books I bought (you can see some of the damage on the cover from shipping this from abroad to Ethiopia as I couldn’t find it in country). This is another book that mainly serves a reference goal now with the lexicon and grammar sketch.…
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And also…
Today a relatively short post to start the day and maybe a longer one later. From reading Kibbeefi Waaqoo you see a lot of –is constructions in rhe sentences. This like; Waarituunis, isaanis, ilkaanis appear often at the start of sentences. The addition of -is to these words implies an “and also” meaning to the…
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Kibbeefi Waaqoo by Addunyaa Barkeessaa
As I said earlier, Grammatical Sketch is kind of a boring book to just read through so I am trying to get more short books in this week. This is Kibbeefi Waaqoo, another Mega Publishing graded reader by Addunyaa Barkeessaa. Another relatively early reader, but this one sees a lot more use of transitions in…
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The Focus Marker
Now I would like to talk a little about focus markers. This also touches on the subject of different dialects of afaan Oromoo. I would like to look at focus markers that are used with the predicate, specifically nan, hin, in, and ni. Although, some dialects may differ, these markers are used usually directly before…
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A Grammatical Sketch of Written Oromo by Catherine Griefenow-Mewis
This is probably one of my favorite books and, in addition to the Oromo Newspaper Reader and Lexicon, one of the first books about afaan Oromoo that I ever read focusing on the grammar aspect of the language. Grammatical Sketch is clearly a reference work and it would be unlikely for someone to read through…