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Chapter 7
Owu uka peni?
| Ngoye:Oshi li ngiini? |
| Taxi driver:Oshi li nawa. Ongiini? |
| Ngoye:Onawa |
| Taxi driver:Owa hala peni? |
| Ngoye:Onda hala popepi nopoosa. Oshi li nawa? |
| Taxi driver:Eewa. Londa. |
| Ngoye:Ingapi, tate? |
| Taxi driver:Oodola ntano. Tu ye! |
| Ngoye:Eewa, tu ye |
| (driving, approaching destination) |
| Ngoye:Tate, goyoka kolulyo komalobota. |
| Taxi driver:Eewa. |
| Ngoye:Goyoka kolumoho kostalata. |
| (approaching destination) |
| Ngoye:Otandi zi mo mpaka. |
| Taxi driver:Mpaka? |
| Ngoye:Eeno, tate. |
| Taxi driver:Eewa. |
| Ngoye:Eewa, owu na oshendja? |
| Taxi driver:Eeno, tate... Taamba. |
| Ngoye:Eewa. Tangi unene, tate. . |
| English |
Oshindonga |
| Head (somewhere) |
Uka (uku) |
| Get in |
Londa |
| Get out/off |
Za (zi) mo |
| Stop |
Thikama |
| Here |
Mpaka |
| There |
Mpoka |
| Near |
Popepi |
| Far |
Kokule |
| Turn |
Goyoka |
| Car |
Oshihauto/Ohauto |
| Lift |
Olefa |
| Hitchhike |
Kwata olefa |
| Bus |
Ombesa |
| Combi |
Okambesa |
| To the left |
Kolumoho |
| To the right |
Kolulyo |
| Directions |
Oombinga |
| Town |
Ondolopa |
| Church |
Ongeleka / Omambo |
| Police station |
Opolisi |
| Post office |
Opoosa |
| Office |
Ombelewa |
| Petrol station |
Omahooli / Oseevisa |
| How much? |
Ingapi? |
| It is too expensive. |
Ondilo unene. |
| I only have ... |
Ondi na ... owala |
| Don’t cheat me. |
Ino nyokoma ndje |
| I don’t have enough money. |
Kandi na iimaliwa ya gwana. |
| Stop light |
Omalobota |
| Road |
Opate |
| Street |
Ostalata |
| Path |
Ondjila |
| I need a lift. |
Onda pumbwa olefa. |
| Where are you going? |
Oto yi peni? |
| Do you have change for . . . ? |
Owu na oshendja y____________ |
| Where is my change? |
Oshendja yandje? ( oyi li peni?) |
| Stop here/ there. |
Thikama mpaka/mpoka. |
| I am getting out here/ there. |
Otandi zi mo mpaka/mpoka. |
| Stop for my friends. |
Thikamena ookuume kandje. |
Exercise 1
Construct a dialogue between yourself and a friend who you have not
seen in
a long while. This occurs at a hitch-point while waiting for a lift. Discuss
where
you are going, what you will do there, how things are at home, etc.
Grammar Corner: Coming and Going
“ To come” and “to go” are expressed
with the same verb,
okuya. For the first person ngame,
it is written as follows:
| |
Past |
Present |
Future |
| To go |
Onda ya – I went |
Otandi yi – I am going |
Otandi ka ya – I will go |
| To come |
Onde ya – I came, or I am coming (familiar) |
Otandi ya – I am coming |
Otandi ke ya – I will come |
In the present tense, “go” is written yi and “come” is
written ya. In the past and future tenses, they are both ya.
In all tenses, for “to come”, if the last vowel of the subject
concord is an a, it changes to an e. Thus,
“
He is coming” is said Ote ya and “He is
going” is said Ota yi.
In addition, there are some more going-and-coming verbs:
| English |
Oshindonga |
| Go back |
Shuna |
| Come back |
Galuka |
| Come from |
Za (Zi) |
| Arrive |
Thika (Thiki) |
In English, the word “return” can be used for both “go
back” and “come back”, but in Oshindonga you must be
specific.
Exercise 2
Translate the following statements into Oshindonga:
1. Y’all come back now, y’hear?
2. I am going back to America after two years.
Tip: “After”, in this case, translates to konima.
3. I am from Angola.
4. I am going to Zimbabwe.
5. Where are you coming from?
6. Go to hell.
ANIWA:
~ Ohi ya tsa mumwe nohima. ~
A fish is cooked with a tortoise.
(You have to take the bad things with the good.)
Grammar Corner: Noun Classes: Subject Concords
At this point, we know the subject concords for people
only – that
is, only for noun
class 1. The other noun classes have corresponding sets of subject concords,
but only
for the third person of course. In the table below, we organize the subject
concords according to the noun prefixes:
| Noun prefix |
Past Subject Concord |
Present Subject Concord |
Future Subject Concord |
| omu- |
okwa |
ota |
ota ka |
| aa- |
oya |
otaya / otaa |
otaya ka / otaa ka |
| omi- |
odha |
otadhi |
otadhi ka |
| e- |
olya |
otali |
otali ka |
| oma- |
oga |
otaga |
otaga ka |
| oshi- |
osha |
otashi |
otashi ka |
| ii- |
oya |
otayi |
otayi ka |
| oo- |
odha |
otadhi |
otadhi ka |
| uu- |
owa |
otawu |
otawu ka |
| olu- |
olwa |
otalu |
otalu ka |
| oka- |
oka |
otaka |
otaka ka |
| oku- |
okwa |
otaku |
otaku ka |
| anything else (group 5, singular) |
oya |
otayi |
otayi ka |
There is also a table for the stative verb subject concords, which we also
put here for
the sake of completeness:
| Noun prefix |
Past Subject Concord |
Present Subject Concord |
Future Subject Concord |
| omu- |
okwa li e |
oku |
ota ka kala e |
| aa- |
oya li ye |
oye |
otaa ka kala ye |
| omi- |
odha li dhi |
odhi |
otadhi ka kala dhi |
| e- |
olya li li |
oli |
otali ka kale li |
| oma- |
oga li ge |
oge |
otaga ka kala ge |
| oshi- |
osha li shi |
oshi |
otashi ka kala shi |
| ii- |
oya li yi |
oyi |
otayi ka kala yi |
| oo- |
odha li dhi |
odhi |
otadhi ka kala dhi |
| uu- |
owa li wu |
owu |
otawu ka kala wu |
| olu- |
olwa li li |
olu |
otalu ka kala lu |
| oka- |
oka li ke |
oke |
otaka ka kala ke |
| oku- |
okwa li ku |
oku |
otaku ka kala ku |
| anything else (group 5, singular) |
oya li yi |
oyi |
otayi ka kala yi |
We will talk more about these later; for now perhaps you can concentrate
on the present
tense only. Not all of this is used all of the time – you will probably
not master the past and
future stative subject concords until at least a few months down the line.
As we said before,
they are only here in the hopes that they might be useful to you in the
future. |
