Welcome back! In today’s lesson we will be looking at how to make basic Igbo sentences.
You’ve learnt some basic phrases in Igbo and verbs and now we will be moving on to the next stage, which is making sentences in the present continuous tense.
In English, the present continuous tense is usually formed by adding ‘ing’ to the end of verbs, for example “eat” + “ing” = “eating”, “go” + “ing” = “going”, etc. In Igbo, the present continuous tenses is formed by using something called “auxiliary verbs”.
So how are auxiliary verbs formed in Igbo?
Auxiliary verbs are formed following two major steps.
- Creating Bound verbs
- Adding “Na-” to the Bound verb
This might all sound like a whole lot of jargon now, but it will become a lot clearer in the following explanations…
How to create Bound verbs in Igbo
Bound verbs in Igbo are created by adding the prefix “a” or “e” to Igbo verbs.
To know whether to add “a” or “e” to the verb we have to use the vowel harmony rule to you were first introduced to in the Igbo pronouns lesson.
Quick recap
Essentially Igbo verbs can be divided into 2 groups which I will call Group 1 (which has light vowels) and Group 2 (which has heavy vowels) the verbs in the groups are
Group 1 contains the following vowels
e, i, o, u
Group 2 contains the following vowels
a, ị, ọ, ụ
Remember in the Igbo Vowel Harmony rule, the vowels in each group go together in word formation, they don’t criss-cross.
Here is an easy 3 step method to create bound verbs in Igbo
- Find the last letter of the Igbo verb
- Find out which group that letter belongs to
- Add “a” or “e” depending on which group it belongs to
- Add the letter to the beginning of the verb
Example 1
Create the bound verb of the verb “rí”
- Find the last letter of the Igbo verb
“í”
- Find out which group that letter belongs to
Group 1
- Add “a” or “e” depending on which group it belongs to
Since the last letter “í” belongs to Group 1 (e, i, o, u), then you will use “e” as “e” also belongs to group 1.
- Add the letter to the beginning of the verb
Prefix Verb Bound verb
è + rí = èrí
That wasn’t too complicated was it? Let’s create another bound verb
Example 2
Create the bound verb of the verb “gụ́”
- Find the last letter of the Igbo verb
“ụ́”
- Find out which group that letter belongs to
Group 2
- Add “a” or “e” depending on which group it belongs to
Since the last letter “ụ́” belongs to Group 2 (a, ị, ọ, ụ), then you will use “a” as “a” also belongs to group 2.
- Add the letter to the beginning of the verb
Prefix Verb Bound verb
à + gụ́ = àgụ́
Here are some examples of creating Bound verbs in Igbo
Prefix Verb Bound verb
è + rí = èrí
è + sí = èsí
à + gụ́ = àgụ́
à + gá = àgá
Creating Auxiliary verbs in Igbo (i.e. Speaking in the “ing” tense)
Now, we have learnt how to form bound verbs.
The second step is to add the conjunction ‘na-’ with a hyphen in front of the bound verbs to form auxiliary verbs. See examples below:
Conjunction with hyphen Bound verb Auxiliary verb English
nà- + èrí = nà-èrí eating
nà- + èsí = nà-èsí cooking
nà- + àgụ́ = nà-àgụ́ reading
nà- + àgá = nà-àgá going
Now that you have learnt how to form auxiliary verbs, you can now make simple present continuous tense sentences in Igbo.
Here are some example sentences below
Igbo sentences in the present continous tense
| Igbo | English |
| Èméká nà-èrí ńrī | Emeka is eating (food) |
| Há nà-àgụ́ ákwụ́kwọ́ | They are reading (book) |
| Ńné m nà-èsí ńrī | My mother is cooking (food) |
| Àdá nà-àgá ụ́kà | Ada is going to church |
| Ọ́ nà-àráhụ́ ụ́rā | He/she/it is sleeping |
| Ànyị́ nà-áchị̀ ọ́chị̀ | We are laughing |
| Chíọ́má nà-àbị́á | Chioma is coming |
| Ńnà ḿ nà-ányà ụ́gbọ́àlà | My is driving (car) |
| Ényì ḿ nà-àgbá égwū | My friend is dancing |
| Chímà nà-àsá ákwà | Chima is washing cloth |
Making simple present continuous tense sentences in Igbo is quite simple and easy.
Now try to make some of your own Igbo sentences in the present continous tense.
The special case of “I” in Igbo
Just like with Igbo Pronouns, the English word “I” is treated slightly differently in Igbo.
To make simple present continuous tense sentence using ‘I am’ in Igbo is slightly different to above.
In present continous sentences using “I am” which is ‘Ánà m’ in Igbo, you don’t add “na-” in front of the bound verb, you just use the bound verb.
Here are some example sentences below,
Example present continous tense sentences in Igbo using “I am”
| Igbo | English |
| Ánà m èrí ńrī | I am eating (food) |
| Ánà m àṅụ́ ḿmírī | I am drinking water |
| Ánà m àsá àhụ́ | I am bathing |
| Ánà m àgụ́ ákwụ́kwọ́ | I am reading (book) |
| Ánà m àbị́á | I am coming |
I know this might have been a lot, learning about bound verbs and auxiliary verbs e.t.c and all these things that you don’t even have to think about when speaking English (because you’re a native speaker).
But it does get easier, just make sure to keep coming back to this lesson until you’re confident in making these Igbo sentences.
Great effort!
See you next lesson