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Panctuation

Question mark(?) is used with the interrogatives e.g. who, why, when, what etc. They are used to end the question.

English	Dholuo
What is your name?	Nyingi ng'a?
How old are you?	In jahigni adi?
Where do you come from?	I ya kanye?
When did you arrive?	Ichopo kara ang'o?
When are they?	Gin kanye?
Why are looking at me that way?	Ang'o ma omiyo ing'iya kamano?

Exclamation mark(!) is used for command statements.

English	Dholuo
What has happened!	Ang'o ma otimore!
Why don't you come!	Dak ibi!
Who was that!	Macha ne ng'a!
Bring it here!	Kele kae!
Bi kae!	Come here!
Don't joke with me !	Kik itug koda!
Leave me alone!	Weya kenda !

Quotation mark('', “”) are either double or single quotes are for quoting statements from another person or reporting something from someone.

English	Dholuo
He said, “I will come tomorrow”.	En ne owacho ni, “abiro kiny”.
I said, “what is wrong?”	Awacho ni, “ang'o marach?”
According to Obol, 'It was a sad story…"	Kaluwore gi Obol, “ne en wach marach…”
‘It was raining yesterday’, Odul said.	‘koth ne chue nyoro’, Odul owacho.
"I love my children so much and I am ready to anything to make them happy", said Otieno.	"Ahero nyithinda ahinya kendo aikora mari timo gimoro amaora ma miyogi mor", Otieno owacho.

Comma(,) is used to mark a breathing point in a sentence. Some sentences are too long to read the whole thing so we put comma to say you can breath here. It is also used to break things.

English	Dholuo
One, two, three, and four.	Achiel, ariyo, adek, gi ang'wen.
This sentence is too long, we offer a breathing place here.	Wach ni bor, wa chiwo kar yueyo.
I am Lokang, you are Otieno, and we are Luo writers.	An Lokang, in Otieno, kendo wan jondik Dholuo.
When we arrived home, we did not find Otieno.	Kane wacho pacho, ne ok wayudo Otieno.
Three student are absent from School, Lokang, Otieno and Oduol.	Jopuonjre adek obare sikul, Lokang, Otieno kod Oduol.

Semicolon(;) is used to end long sentence which have comma in it.

English	Dholuo
In the morning I take tea and wash my face; in the afternoon I cook food and sleep.	Gokinyi amadho chai kendo alwoko pat wang'a; godiochieng' atedo chiemo kendo anindo.
We arrived late; our bus broke down; then they made it run again.	Ne wachopo molewo; bas ne okethore bang'e olose ma oringo kendo.
I need to sleep now; I have to wake early for the journey.	I adwaro nindo sani; onego achiew chon ne wuoth.
Life is so hard for my family; I have to work hard in order to assist them.	Ngima tek ne anyuolana; nyaka ati matek eka akony gi.
Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing: they are still young and learning.	Ng'uon ne gi nikech ok ging'eyo gima gitimo; pod gi tindo kendo gipuonjore.

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