Owa uka peni?
|
Chapter 7
Owa uka peni?
| Ove: Oshi li ngaipi? |
| Taxi driver: Oshi li nawa. Ongaipi? |
| Ove: Onawa. |
| Taxi driver: Owa hala peni? |
| Ove: Onda hala popepi nopoosa. Oshi li nawa? |
| Taxi driver: Eewa. Londa. |
| Ove: Ingapi, tate? |
| Taxi driver: Eedola nhano. Tu ye! |
| Ove: Eewa, tu ye. |
| (driving, approaching destination)
|
| Ove: Tate, ngolyoka kolulyo komalobota. |
| Taxi driver: Eewa. . |
| Ove: Ngolyoka kolumosho kostalata. |
| (approaching destination)
|
| Ove: Ohandi di mo apa. |
| Taxi driver: Apa? |
| Ove: Heeno, tate. . |
| Taxi driver: Eewa. |
| Ove: Eewa, ou na oshendja? |
| Taxi driver: Heeno, tate... Tambula. |
| Ove: Eewa. Tangi unene, tate. |
| English | Oshikwanyama |
|---|---|
| Head (somewhere) | Uka (uku) |
| Get in | Londa |
| Get out/off | Dja (di) mo |
| Stop | Fikama Here Apa |
| Here | Apa |
| There | Opo / Penya |
| Near | Popepi na |
| Far | Kokule |
| Turn | Ngolyoka |
| Car | Oshihauto/Ohauto/Otuwa |
| Lift | Olefa |
| Hitchhike | Kwata olefa |
| Bus | Ombesa |
| Combi | Okambesa |
| To the left | Kolumosho |
| To the right | Kolulyo |
| Directions | Eembinga |
| Town | Odolopa |
| Church | Ongeleka / Omambo |
| Police station | Opolifi |
| Post office | Opoosa |
| Office | Ombelewa |
| Petrol station | Omahooli / Oseevisa |
| Stop light | Omalobota |
| Road. | Opate |
| Street | Ostalata |
| Path | Ondjila |
| I need a lift. | Onda pumbwa olefa. |
| Where are you going? | Oto i peni? |
| Do you have change for . . . ? | Ou na oshendja y____________ |
| Where is my change? | Oshendja yange? ( oi li peni?) |
| Stop here/ there. | Fikama apa/opo. |
| I am getting out here/ there. | Ohandi di mo apa/opo. |
| Stop for my friends. | Fikamena ookaume kange. |
| I want to go to . . . . | I want to go to . . . . |
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 similar verbs:
| English | Oshikwanyama |
|---|---|
| Come | Uya |
| Go | Ya (I) |
For the first person ame, it is written as follows:
| Past | Present | Future | |
|---|---|---|---|
| To go | Onda ya – I went | Ohandi i – I am going | Ohandi ka ya – I |
| To come | Onde uya – I came, or I am coming (familiar) | Ohandi uya – I am coming | Ohandi ke uya – I will come |
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 i. "He will come" is Ote ke uya. The u in uya is often left off, both in speech and in modern writing (Onde ya).
In addition, there are some more going-and-coming verbs:
| English | Oshikwanyama |
|---|---|
| Go back | Shuna |
| Come back | Aluka |
| Come from | Dja (Di) |
| Arrive | Fika (Fiki) |
In English, the word “return” can be used for both “go back” and “come back”, but in Oshikwanyama you must be specific.
Exercise 2
Translate the following statements into Oshikwanyama:
- Y’all come back now, y’hear?
- I am going back to America after two years. Tip: “After two years”, in this case, translates to konima yeedula mbali.
- I am from Angola.
- I am going to Zimbabwe.
- Where are you coming from?
- Go to hell.
OMUKWANYAMA TA TI:
~ Mweenda-nakanya iha puka. ~
A traveller with a mouth doesn't get lost.
(Ask directions.)
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- (person) | okwa | ota | ota ka |
| ova- | ova | otava / otaa | otava ka / otaa ka |
| omu- (not people) | owa | otau | otau ka |
| omi- | oda | otadi | otadi ka |
| e- | ola | otali | otali ka |
| oma- | okwa | otaa | otaa ka |
| oshi- | osha | otashi | otashi ka |
| oi- | oya | otai | otai ka |
| olu- | ola / olya | otali / otalu | otali ka / otalu ka |
| oka- | oka | otaka | otaka ka |
| ou – (plural) | ova | otava | otava ka |
| ou- (singular) | owa | otau | otau ka |
| oku- | okwa | otaku | otaku ka |
| o- (anything else – group 5 singular) | oya | otai | otai ka |
| ee- (group 5 plural) | oda | otadi | otadi ka |
There are also subject concords for stative verbs:
| Noun prefix | Past Subject Concord | Present Subject Concord | Future Subject Concord |
|---|---|---|---|
| omu- (person) | okwa li e | oku | ota ka kala e |
| ova- | ova li ve | ove | otava ka kala ve |
| omu- (not people) | owa li u | ou | otau ka kala u |
| omi- | oda li di | odi | otadi ka kala di |
| e- | ola li li | oli | otali ka kala li |
| oma- | okwa li ku | oku | otaa ka kala ku |
| oshi- | osha li shi | oshi | otashi ka kala shi |
| oi- | oya li i | oi | otai ka kala i |
| olu- | olwa li lu / ola li li | olu / oli | otalu ka kala lu |
| oka- | oka li ke | oke | otaka ka kala ke |
| ou- (plural) | ova li ve | ove | otava ka kala ve |
| ou- (singular) | owa li u | ou | otau ka kala u |
| oku- | okwa li ku | oku | otaku ka kala ku |
| - (anything else -group 5 singular) | oya li i | oi | otai ka kala i |
| ee- (group 5 plural) | oda li di | odi | otadi ka kala di |
We will talk more about these later; for now 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 hope that they might be useful to you in the future.
