Oshikwanyama/Oundjolowele

Chapter 8

Exercise 1
Label the drawing on page 41 using the words in the preceding list.

Quick Tip

As you see from the previous word list, vele is the Oshikwanyama word for being in pain. So, to express pain in a certain part of the body, you do as follows:


 * headache: Ohandi vele omutwe.
 * stomach ache: Ohandi vele medimo. (i.e., “in the stomach”)
 * back ache: Ohandi vele ombuda.
 * Caution: If you say, Ohandi vele momutwe, you are saying "I am sick in the head", i.e. "I am crazy."

Exercise 2
Read the dialogue. Answer the following questions in Oshikwanyama.

Jeff: Wa lele po nawa, meme? Meme: Heeno, Jeff. Ove wa lele po nawa? Jeff: Ayee Meme. Ohandi vele. Meme: Oto vele shike? Jeff: Ohandi vele medimo. Meme: Owa tameka okuvela naini? Jeff: Onda tameka onghela. Meme: Owa pumbwa shike? Jeff: Onda hala okumona Ndokotola. Meme: Eewa, tuye koshipangelo.


 * 1) Jeff oku li ngaipi? Omolwashike?
 * 2) Jeff ota vele peni?
 * 3) Jeff okwa li e udite nawa onghela?
 * 4) Jeff na Meme otava ka ninga shike?
 * 5) Otava ka ya peni?

OMUKWANYAMA TA TI: ~ Ou ta ti fya. Ou ta ti kala ko. ~Someone says die, another says stay. (Everyone has friends and enemies.)

Grammar Corner: Feelings

In English, we say “I am sick.” In Oshikwanyama, as we have seen, we say ohandi vele. Ohandi is a subject concord, linking the (unstated) subject to the verb, which in this case is vele. It seems that “to be sick” is a verb in Oshikwanyama. As it turns out, most statements about one’s state of being are expressed with verbs in Oshikwanyama.

Where in English you would use the verb “to be”, in Oshikwanyama it is unnecessary.

To express other feelings, such as “happy” or “angry”, we use the past tense subject concord.

For example, onda hafa means “I am happy”.

It may be helpful to think that these “feeling verbs” express an idea of becoming: because handuka means “to become angry”, onda handuka means “I have become angry”, or more simply “I am angry”.

Therefore, when talking about how someone feels in the present, we use the past tense.

It is possible to use other tenses. Oho handuka can be translated as “You (always) get angry” and Tate ota ka hafa means “Tate will be happy”. The past tense of these verbs is similar to that of stative verbs: “I wanted a beer” is said as onda li nda hala obiila. “He was angry” is okwa li a handuka.

Here are some examples of the sort of verb that is used in this manner:

Exercise 3
How are you feeling today? Why?

Example: I am hungry because I did not eat today => Onda fya ondjala shaashi inandi lya nena.

OMUKWANYAMA TA TI: ~ Etembo olufo. ~Moving (eg to another house) is chance. (Have sympathy for someone in difficult times – next time it might be you.)

Grammar Corner: Conversational Words 

Some of these words are used differently than they are in English, so we should look at them one-by-one.

Ngeenge

For positive statements, the conditional part of the sentence is placed in the past tense, but the verb is in the present-tense form:

Ngeno

Ngeno is used to talk about unreal or improbable situations. You have to put the word ngeno in both parts of the sentence.

Mbela

Used as in English.

Otashi dulika / Otashi shiiva

Also used as in English:

If you want to say it's possible that something will happen, you have to use the subjunctive voice (see Grammar Corner: Subjunctive Verbs)

Exercise 4
Hafeni just came home and is telling you about a problem he has. Translate what he is saying into English. “Ooooh, meme. Ohai ku lombwele kombinga yokakadona kange. Okwa hala tu hombolwe, ndee ame onda hala okuya kOmbaye ndi ka kale novakulunhu vange. Uuh, onda tila, man. Otashi shiiva ina hala okuya naame nondi mu hole unene. Mbela ohandi ka kala apa, ngeenge ina hala okuya.”

Grammar Corner: Object Pronouns 

Consider the following translations:

The first statement of each pair states the object of the sentence directly: “the porridge”, “the tomatoes”.

In the second statements, the noun objects are replaced with their corresponding object pronouns: “it”, “them”.

In English, object pronouns must agree with the kind of noun they replace (“her”, “it”, “them”).

Object pronouns in Oshikwanyama agree with the class (prefix) of noun they replace.

A complete table of prefixes and object pronouns can be seen below:

As we see from the first examples, the object pronoun goes between the subject concord and the verb. If the last vowel in the subject concord is a, it changes to e. For example, ota changes to ote in ote shi mono (he/she sees it). For commands, the object pronoun goes before the verb:

Like in English, personal pronouns have special object pronouns:

Grammar Corner: Demonstratives

“This”, “that”, and “the other” all answer the question, “Which one?”.

They demonstrate to the listener which object out of a group the speaker is referring to, and so we call them demonstratives. T

here is a different set of demonstratives for each noun class; the suffixes are the same, but the prefixes vary.

Listed below are the prefixes for the different noun classes:


 * The second version of "yonder" is used for extra emphasis.
 * Pa / pu, ku, and mu are not prefixes, but actual nouns.

A few examples might be necessary:

It’s probably frustrating to see the massive prefix list. Don’t worry about it. Just remember eshi and osho for unnamed things, ou and oo for people (singular), and ei and oyo for class 5 nouns, and you will be understood.

Exercise 5
Fill in the demonstratives for the words in the table below. The first one has been completed for you.

Exercise 6
Translate the following sentences into Oshikwanyama.


 * 1) What is this?
 * 2) Who is that?
 * 3) Did you see that goat?
 * 4) I want those books over there.
 * 5) This porridge is delicious.
 * 6) I love you.
 * 7) I want it (the thing).

OMUKWANYAMA TA TI:

~ Waa na mutanda ku na ngombe.

~If you don’t have a calf, you don’t have a cow.

(You must plan for the future. / If you don’t have children, you have no nation.)

Grammar Corner:The Passive Voice

Consider the following examples:

The second statement in each pair is in the passive voice. The subject of those sentences is the person or thing being acted upon. For most Oshikwanyama verbs, simply take off the final vowel and add -wa to form the passive voice.

Thus, pula (ask) becomes pulwa (be asked).

For one syllable verbs, add the ending -wa to the present form of the verb. For example, pe (give) becomes pewa (be given):