Chapter 4: Talking About the Past

The Habitual Tense with -ga

Say what you usually do in Dholuo by adding -ga to the verb: achiemoga, aheroga kuon.

📚 Theory: More on Tenses: The Habitual Tense

The most common way to form the habitual tense is using ‘-ga’ after the verb.

Dholuo	English	Notes
Achiemoga	I usually eat	The -ga suffix at the verb indicates that the verb is done habitually.
Achieoga gokinyi	I usually wake up in the morning	Derived from the verb ‘chieo’ which means ‘to wake up’.
Aheroga kuon	I usually like Ugali	Derived from the verb ‘hero’ which means ‘to love’. Also, ‘kuon’ is the dholuo word for ‘Ugali’, the staple dish of Kenya.

Yambo

Isomoga ango?

You read usually + what?

What do you usually read?

Akinyi

Asomoga kwano to andikoga dholuo.

I read usually + math + and + I write usually + dholuo

I usually read math and write dholuo

Yambo

To idhiga skul

And + you usually go + school?

And do you usually go to school?

Akinyi

Asomoga ei ot.

I usually read + in + the house.

I usually read in the house.

Dholuo	English	Type	Notes
Isomoga	You usually read	Verb
Idhiga	You usually go	Verb
Kwano	Math	Noun	Derived from the verb ‘kwano’ which means ‘to count’.
Andikoga	I usually write	Verb	The verb ‘ndiko’ (to write) is derived from the kiswahili word for ‘writing’ which is ‘andika’.

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