Chapter 4: Talking About the Past

Yesterday’s Past Tense with Nyo

Talk about yesterday in Dholuo with nyoro, shortened to nyo, and conjugate verbs like wuotho (to walk) in that tense.

📚 Theory: More on Tenses: The Past Tense of Yesterday

The word ‘nyoro’ means ‘yesterday’. It is often contracted to ‘nyo’ and is used to form the past tense of yesterday.

Here’s how to conjugate verbs in past tense using ‘nyoro’ or ‘nyo’.

English (Present Tense)	Dholuo (Present Tense)	English (Past Tense)	Dholuo (Past Tense)
I am walking	Awuotho	Yesterday, I walked	Nyo awuotho
You are walking	Iwuotho	Yesterday, you walked	Nyo iwuotho
He/She is walking	Owuotho	Yesterday, he/she walked	Nyo owuotho
We are walking	Wawuotho	Yesterday, we walked	Nyo wawuotho
You (plural) are walking	Uwuotho	Yesterday, you walked	Nyo uwuotho
They are walking	Giwuotho	Yesterday, they walked	Nyo giwuotho

Yambo

Nyoro nyo ionge

Yesterday + yesterday you were not present.

You were absent

Akinyi

Nyo adhi e puodho.

Yesterday I went + to + the farm

I went to the farm

Yambo

Nyo ipuro?

Yesterday you farmed?

You farmed?

Akinyi

Nyo adoyo

Yesterday I weeded

I weeded.

Dholuo	English	Type	Notes
Nyo ionge	Yesterday, you were not present	Verb	It’s a contraction of ‘nyoro ionge’
Nyo ipuro	Yesterday, you farmed	Verb	It’s a contraction of ‘nyoro ipuro’.
Nyo adoyo	Yesterday, I weeded	Verb	It’s a contraction of ‘nyoro adoyo’.

Create a free account to unlock the interactive exercises for this lesson and track your progress. The lessons stay free to read, always.

Answer the daily Dholuo prompt or post your own recording on Echo. Other learners listen, and a native Luo speaker reviews how you sound.