Conjugation and negation of common Igbo verbs
Verbs are doing words. In Igbo, there are no masculine or feminine verbs. It’s all the same.
Vowel harmony:
To discuss verbs, it is important to first discuss vowel harmony. Igbo vowels are grouped into two as you will see below.
There are 8 vowels in Igbo:
A, e, i, o, u, ị, ọ, ụ
They are grouped into 2:
‘a’ group: a, ị, ọ, ụ The leader of this group is ‘a’. This is also called the ‘light’ group.
‘e’ group: e, i, o, u The leader of this group is ‘e’. This is also called the ‘heavy’ group.
Vowels in a particular word (not just verbs) tend to come from the same group, example: ‘ije’ - to go; ‘ịbịa’ - to come; ‘ụlọ’ - house; ‘imi’ - nose. There are exceptions, for instance, where a word has been formed from two or more other words, eg: ‘ụlọego’ - bank (this has been formed from the words, ‘ụlọ’, and ‘ego’ - money).
While conjugating a verb, the vowels in the verb in most cases would be from the same group.
To conjugate a verb eg: ‘ije’ or ‘ịga’ which mean the same thing by the way (to go); follow these steps
First, remove ‘i’ or ‘ị’ from the infinitive, leaving the root.
To conjugate in the present or future tenses, note the vowel already in the root, and note which group it belongs to (light or heavy). Then identify the leader of that group (‘a’ or ‘e’). Replace the ‘i/ị’ that was removed with the leader of the group identified. Attach a prefix na- (present tense) or ga- (future tense) to complete the conjugation.
OR
Attach a suffix for past, present perfect, and the imperative tenses. We will show examples as we do each tense below.
Ezinaulo.com hosted by Ife, has a good teaching on Igbo verbs. As a native speaker, I didn’t particularly pay attention to the verb rules as it came naturally. Ife’s post on Igbo verbs inspired this post.
Maazị Godson Echebima’s book, ‘A Textbook of Igbo Grammar’, is a really great resource and reference book; I refer to it a lot in my Igbo teaching, and blog-post writing.
To conjugate in the present tense, here’s the formula:
[na-] + e/a + root
Using ‘ije’ as an example. Ije - to go. It is in the infinitive form, so, yet to be conjugated.
1. Remove ‘i’, and you have ‘je’, which is the root.
2. Note the vowel already in the root, in this case ‘e’. This belongs to heavy group.
3. Find out the leader of the heavy group. It is ‘e’.
4. Replace the ‘i’ that you removed with the leader, ‘e’, and you have ‘eje’.
5. Then add ‘na-’ as a prefix, giving you ‘na-eje’.
Ije -> je -> eje -> na-eje
To make a simple sentence with the conjugated verb, add a subject and an object.
I’ve added a subject ‘m’, and an object ‘ahịa’ to ‘na-eje’ to make the first sentence below:
M na-eje ahịa - I am going to the market (M - I; ahịa - market)
Ị na-eje ahịa - You are going to the market
Ngọzị na-eje ahịa - Ngozi is going to the market
Use a name/pronoun as the subject, find a suitable object, and make your sentence.
Future tense: ([ga-] + e/a + root )
Using ‘ije’ as an example. Ije - to go. It is in the infinitive form, so, yet to be conjugated.
1. Remove the ‘i’ or ‘ị’ from the infinitive, leaving the root, ‘je’.
2. Note the vowel already in the root, in this case ‘e’. This belongs to heavy group.
3. Find out the leader of the heavy group. It is ‘e’.
2. Replace the ‘i’ that you removed with ‘e’, and you have ‘eje’.
3. Then add ga- as prefix, to give you ‘ga-eje’.
Ije -> je -> eje -> ga-eje
Sentence examples:
M ga-eje ahịa
Ị ga-eje ahịa - You will go to the market
Ngozi ga-eje ahịa
Past tense: (root + r + last vowel)
Using ‘ije’ as an example. Ije - to go. It is in the infinitive form, so, yet to be conjugated.
1. Remove ‘I’ or ‘ị’ from the infinitive, leaving the root, ‘je’.
2. Add ‘r’ as a suffix, as per the formula above; to get ‘jer’
3. Then add the last vowel in the verb root, in this case ‘e’; giving you ‘jere’.
Ije -> je -> jer -> jere
M jere ahịa - I went to the market
Ị jere ahịa
Ngozi jere ahịa
Some verbs do not obey this rule eg:
To be - ịnọ, ịdị, ịbụ
To live – ibi
To want- ịchọ
To make these ones past tense, add ‘bu’ as suffix to the verb root. Eg:
Ịnọ -> nọ -> nọbu
M (nọbu) Abịa state – I (was/used to be) in Abia State
Imperative tense (command tense): (root + e/a/ọ/o)
1. Remove ‘i’ or ‘ị’ from the infinitive
2. Then add ‘e’ or ‘a’ as suffix depending on which group of vowels the vowel in the verb root belongs to. For some verbs, ‘ọ/o’ is used as suffix instead of ‘a’, eg: where the verb root ends in the vowel ‘ụ/u’ or in ‘ọ/o’.
Using 4 verbs below:
Ije -> je -> jee eg: Biko jee ahịa
Ịga -> ga -> gaa
Ịgụ -> gụ -> gụọ (or Ịgụ -> gụ -> gụa) eg: Jee gụọ akwụkwọ - go, read
Ịlụ -> lụ -> lụọ eg: Lụọ ya - marry him/her
Present perfect/past participle: (command + la)
Or (root + e/a/ọ/o + la )
1. Remove ‘i’ or ‘ị’ from the infinitive.
2. Write the verb in its imperative form (command/request). This is done by adding ‘e’ or ‘a’ as suffix depending on which group of vowels the vowel in the verb root belongs to. For some verbs, ‘ọ’ is used as suffix instead of ‘a’. However if you use ‘a’, you will still be understood.
3. Then add ‘la’ as a further suffix (in Anambra version, this would be ‘go’).
Using ‘ije’
Ije -> je -> jee -> jeela
M jeela ahịa - I have gone to the market
Ị jeela ahịa - You have gone to the market
Ngozi ejeela ahịa
Notice I added ‘e’ as prefix for ‘Ngozi’. This is added when you are using names in sentences or using the plural or multi-letter pronouns like ‘anyị’, ‘unu’, ‘ha’.
Eg:
Ha ejeela ahịa - They have gone to the market
Unu ejeela ahịa - You all have gone to the market
Anyị ejeela ahịa - We have gone to the market
Negative verbs :
Present tense: here, we negate the helper ‘na-‘ by adding ‘ghị’ as suffix, and removing the hyphen. Eg:
M na-aga ahịa – I’m going to the market/shop
M naghị aga ahịa – I am not going to the market
Future tense: we negate the helper ‘ga-‘ by adding the suffix ‘ghị’, and removing the hyphen. Eg:
M ga-aga ahịa – I will go to the shop
M gaghị aga ahịa – I will not go to the shop
Past tense: we negate the verb root by adding the suffix ‘ghị’.
Root + ghị
Eg: with the verb ‘ịga’:
Root + ghị = Ga + ghị = gaghị
M gaghị ahịa – I didn’t go to the market (negative)
M gara ahịa – I went to the market (positive)
Imperative tense: the suffix added is different. We also add a prefix, a/e depending on vowel harmony. The we add ‘la’ or ‘na’ as suffix to the imperative form.
E/A + positive command + la
Eg:
Jee ahịa – go to the market
E +jee+la ahịa
Ejeela ahịa – don’t go to the market
Present perfect tense: add ‘beghị’ as suffix to the verb root. If the verb follows a plural pronoun or name(or indeed, a multi-letter word), add a/e as prefix. Eg:
Ije – to go
Je + beghị
Jebeghị
M jeela ahịa – I have gone to the market
M jebeghị ahịa – I have not gone to the market
Ngọzị ejeela ahịa
Ngọzị ejebeghị ahịa
Using the formulas/patterns above, conjugate the following verbs in your preferred tense:
Ime - to do
Iri - to eat
Isi - to cook