Advanced Grammar

Tenses, Verb Forms, and Advanced Sentence Structures

Acholi is a tonal language. The various intonation used in a sentence determines whether a sentence is in the past or present tense, except for the future. However, precision can be derived by use of different adverbs of time denoting the respective times of reference.

Very Near Past Tense (Today Past Tense)

Uses the adverb nakanen. Structure: Adv + SP + Verb.

Acholi	English
Nakanen acamo	I ate today
Nakanen wacamo	We ate today

Near Past and Present Tense

Has no markers (zero morpheme). Structure: SP + Verb.

Acamo would mean both "I am eating" and "I have eaten."

Far Past Tense

Also a zero morpheme, however speakers sometimes denote it with a dummy "do" / "bin". Structure: SP + do + SP + V.

Acholi	English
Abin acamo	I did eat / I ate
Wabin wacamo	We did eat / we ate

Future Tense

Marked by -bi-. Structure: SP + bi + V.

Acholi	English
Abicamo	I will eat
Wabicamo	We will eat
Gubicamo	They will eat
En obicamo	S/he will eat

Negatives

Two negative markers cut across all three persons: "ku" or "pe".

Structure: SP + Negative + V, or SP + V + Negative.

1st person:

Acholi	English
Pe atedo	I did not cook
Atedo ku	I did not cook
Pe watedo	We did not cook
Watedo ku	We did not cook

2nd person:

Acholi	English
Pe itedo	You did not cook
Itedo ku	You did not cook
Pe wutedo	You (pl.) did not cook
Wutedo ku	You (pl.) did not cook

3rd person:

Acholi	English
Pe otedo	He/she did not cook
Otedo ku	He/she did not cook
Pe gutedo	They did not cook
Gutedo ku	They did not cook

The Verb "To Be"

The verb "to be" takes different forms in Acholi.

Present tense — represented by "tye" or subject prefixes:

Acholi	English
Atye kany	I am here
Wutye kwene	Where are you (pl.)?
Acamo	I am eating
Gicamo	They are eating

Past tense — represented by "onongo" (was/were):

Acholi	English
Onongo watye ka cam laworo	We were eating yesterday
Lotino onongo gitye ka cam laworo	The children were eating
Onongo anino	I was asleep
En onongo onino	S/he was asleep

The Conditional "If"

The conditional "if" in Acholi is divided into future and past.

Future — marked by "ka":

Acholi	English
Ka inene	If you see him/her
Ka wunene	If you (pl.) see him/her

Past — marked by "ka onongo" or "onongo":

Acholi	English
Ka onongo pe ibino	If you had not come
Ka onongo en pe obino	If s/he had not come
Ka onongo cak oony	If the milk had poured/spilt
Ka onongo latin okok	If the child had cried

Imperative

Imperatives are marked by the suffix -i on the verbs:

Infinitive	Imperative	English
Kato (to pass)	kati	pass
Tedo (to cook)	tedi	cook
Cito (to go)	citi	go

The Subjunctive

The subjunctive is formed by changing sentences into interrogative forms and/or adding the participle "ba":

Acholi	English
Adony ba?	Can I come in?
Wadony ba?	Can we come in?
Gudony ba?	May/Can they come in?

Prefixes

Subject prefixes are attached to the verbs:

Singular	Plural
An – (I)	Wan – (We)
In – (You)	Wun – (You pl.)
En – (S/he, it)	Gin – (They)

Suffixes

The most common verbal suffix is -o (infinitive), which deverbalizes verbs into nouns:

Verb	Noun
penyo (to ask)	peny (examination)

Adjectives

Adjectives take subject pronoun prefixes of countable nouns only in the plural form:

Singular	Plural
Latin (child)	Lotino (children)
Ladit (elder)	Lodito (elders)
Gweno (chick)	Gweni (chicken)

Example sentences:

Acholi	English
Latini ryek	The child is bright
Lotinoni ryek	The children are bright
Gweno mit	Chicken is delicious
Gweni mit	Chicken are delicious

Common Adjectives

English	Acholi
Beautiful / ugly	leng / lik
Brave	cwinye nwang
Clever	ryek
Cold / hot	ngic / lyet
Deceitful	goba goba
Delicious	mit
Difficult / easy	tek / yot
Dirty / clean	col / leng
Drunk / sober	omer / pe omer
Empty / full	iye nono / opong
Far / near	bor / cok
Fierce	ger
Fresh	nyen
Happy / sad	yom cwiny / cwer cwiny
Hard / soft	tek / yom
Heavy / light	pek / yot
Lazy	lawackum
Tall / short	bor / cek
Naked	ludok
Old / young	otii / pud tidi (pe otii)
Painful	rem / lit
Raw	numu
Rich / poor	olony / lacan
Ripe	ocek
Sharp / blunt	bit / oluu
Strong / weak	tek / goro
Sweet / sour	lim / wac
Thick / thin	kinong / rep
Wide / narrow	lac / ding