Oshikwanyama/Oshifima oshinyenye

Chapter 4

Oshifima oshinyenye 

Tula omeva mombiya na tula ombiya pediko. Fulukifa omeva nde to tula mo oufila. Pilula noluko ominute omilongo mbali. Tula oshifima poshiyaxa noluko. Teelela ile oto pi. Lya nombelela ile nombidi. Oshifima oshinyenye!

OMUKWANYAMA TA TI:

~ Lya odididi u didilike. Lya okadila u diladile.Lya omhuku u pukuluke. Lya ongungu ungungumane.

~Eat an ant and remember. Eat a bird and think. Eat a mouse and be alert. Eat a bulb and be calm.

(It is important to remember, think, be alert, and be calm.)

Grammar Corner: Infinitives and Commands

Infinitives 

Recall the verbs we saw in Chapter 2, Exercise 1:

On the left side, we have infinitive verbs in English. On the right, we have infinitive verbs in Oshikwanyama. Fortunately, they are used in the same way in both languages. Notice that the Oshikwanyama infinitive verbs are the past/future verb forms with the prefix oku-. The only exceptions are those verbs beginning in vowels. For these, change oku- to okw- and double the vowel, e.g. oku + imba => okwiimba.

By now, you’ve probably noticed that the past and future forms of verbs (not the subject concords) are always the same. Often the present tense is the same as the past and future: Onda kofa, ohandi kofa, ohandi ka kofa. Because this is the case, we will stop writing verbs in past / present / future tables, and just write (in this case) kofa. For verbs like “eat”, we will write lya (li): Onda lya, ohandi li, ohandi ka lya. The present form is put in parentheses.

Commands

To form a command in Oshikwanyama, just say the past / future tense of the verb without a subject concord:

Grammar Corner: Habitual Actions 

Observe the following translations:

Like in English, the present simple tense in Oshikwanyama is used to talk about actions that are ongoing. This kind of subject concord is formed from the normal present tense, but replacing the first t with an h when applicable.

Exercise 1

Respond to the following questions in Oshikwanyama.


 * 1) Ou hole okunwa obiila?
 * 2) Oho li oshifima?
 * 3) Oho li oshikombo?
 * 4) Owa hala okunwa onamunate?
 * 5) OvaNamibia ove hole okulya ombelela. Naave, ou hole?
 * 6) Oho nu okofi ile otee?
 * 7) Oho li ombwa?
 * 8) Ondi hole okulya oukuki. Ove ou hole?

Exercise 2

''Translate the following commands into Oshikwanyama. ''


 * 1) Boil water!
 * 2) You (plural) come now.
 * 3) Please bring bread.
 * 4) Eat fat cakes.
 * 5) Cook frog!
 * 6) Bring beans.
 * 7) Go to the toilet.
 * 8) Please give me the oshifima and ombidi
 * 9) Bring the apple!
 * 10) Please give me the tea.
 * 11) Help me one dollar.