Present tense
1.Present tense.
Present tense tells us about things happening now or currently.
| English | Lango |
| He/she is drinking Alcohol. | En tye a mato kongo. |
| He is eating a lot. | En tye a cem adwong. |
| He is studying often that is why he is smart. | En tye a kwan totwal/atek en omio en ryek. |
Things that continue for a short time.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I’m living with some friends until I find a place of my own. | An a tye a bedo kede owote mogo wang a nwongo ka bedo mera an. |
| You’re working hard today. | Yin i tye i tiyo teko tin. |
2. Present continuous tense.
Present continuous tense tells us about things happening all the time or something that loops or repeat itself.
In English, the present continuous tense is determined by do or s at the end of the word.
In Lango, the word (tye a - it/she/he is) indicates that it is present continuous.
| English | Lango |
| He/she hunts. | En dwaro. |
| He eats a lot. | En camo a dwong. |
| He studies often that is why he's smart. | En kwano polkare en omio en ryek. |
Things that continue for a short time.
| English | Lango |
| Okello isn’t lazy. He works hard most of the time. | Okello kome pe wac. En tio atek dwong a cawa/kare. |
| My parents live in Lira. They have lived there all their lives. | Onywal na bedo Lira. Gin o'bedo kano kwo gi duc. |
3. Present simple tense (I do - an atimo) using plural in present perfect.
| Plural (English) | example (English) | example (Lango) |
|---|---|---|
| They, we, you. | look, herd, work etc | neno, kwao, tio etc |
Constructing a sentence
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| You teach at Lokang. | Yin i pwonyo i Lokang. |
| I work at Lokang. | An a tio i Lokang. |
| They look after the babies. | Gin ogwoko otino. |
| We herd the goats. | Wan okwao dyegi. |
Using singular in present perfect tense.
| Singular (English) | example (English) | Example (Lango) |
|---|---|---|
| He, She, It. | works, teaches, does etc | Tio, pwonyo, timo etc |
Constructing a sentence
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| Lokang teaches at Lokang. | Lokang pwonyo i Lokang. |
| He works at Lokang. | En tio i Lokang. |
| He herds the goats. | En kwao dyegi. |
We use do/does - tim/timo to make questions and negative sentences.
| Plural | Example (English) | Example (Lango) |
|---|---|---|
| Do/don't | I/we/you/they work? drive? | an/wan/gin tio? pugo/dwoo? |
Constructing a sentence
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| Where do you come from? | Yin i yaa i kwene? |
| I don't go away very often? | An pe a woto tenge polkare? |
| Singular | Example (English) | Example (Lango) |
|---|---|---|
| Does/doesn't. | he/she/it/you drives? | En/yin dwoo? |
Constructing a sentence
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| What does this word mean? | En lok ni gonyo ngo? |
| Rice doesn’t grow in cold climates. | Ocere pe dongo i ping angic. |
We use the present simple tense to say how often we do things.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I get up at 7:00 o’clock every morning. | An a yaa malo cawa 1:00 odiko ducu. |
| How often do you go to the dentist? | Yin polkare i woto bot dakatal lak awene? |
| Lokang doesn’t drink tea very often. | Lokang pe mato chai polkare. |
| Okello usually goes away two or three times a year. | Okello polkare woto tenge iryo onyo idek i mwaka. |
I promise / I apologise etc.
Sometimes we do things by saying something.
For example;-
when you promise to do something,you can say;- ‘I promise …’;
when you suggest something, you can say ‘I suggest …’:
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I promise I won’t be late. | An acikere pe a rii. |
What do you suggest that I do? I suggest that you learn Luo languages. | I tamo ni an a tim ngo? A tamo ni i pwony leb Luo. |
4. Past tense - Okato.
Past tense tells us about things that happen a while ago or sometimes back.
Past tense in Lango is determined by the letters A and O at the beginning and ends with O.
| English | Lango |
| He walked. | En owoto. |
| I studied. | An akwano. |
| She bathed the baby. | En olwoko atin. |
5. Past simple tense (I did - a/an timo)
But many verbs are irregular.
The past simple tense does not end with -ed.
In Lango,these words use the verbs ending with O.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| Lokang wrote a course on Lango language. | Lokang ocoo kwan i leb Lango. |
| We saw Owiny in Lira yesterday. | Wan oneno Owiny iyi Lira aworo. |
| They harvested our groundnuts three times last week. | Gin oputo amaido wa idek cabit okato. |
In questions and negative sentences,we use did/didn’t + infinitive.
For example;-
enjoy - maro, see - neno, go - woto etc.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I enjoyed the meeting today. Did you enjoy it? | An amaro ka cokere tin. In i maro ka cokere? |
| I didn’t buy anything because I didn’t have any money. | An pe awilo ginoro keken pien nwongo a pe kede cente. |
Did you herd the cattle today? No, I didn't. | Yin i kwao en dok tin? Pe,pe a kwao. |
Sometimes do is the main verb in the sentence.
For example;-
Did you do? - yin i timo?, I didn’t do - pe a timo.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| What did you do this week? | Yin i timo ngo i cabit ni? |
| I didn’t do anything. | Pe a timo ginoro keken. |
The past of (am/is/are - was/were).
| I/he/she/it. was/wasn’t | Was. I/he/she/it? |
| We/you/they. Were/weren’t | Were. We/you/they? |
Constructing a sentence
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I was annoyed because they were late. | An nwongo yia owang pien gin nwongo ogal. |
| Was the weather good when you were on x-mass? | Nwongo piny ber ikare me nwongo itye i nywale yesu? |
| They weren’t able to come because they were so busy. | Gin nwongo pe twero bino pien gin nwongo tye tic odio gi atek. |
| I wasn’t hungry, so I didn’t eat anything. | An nwongo kec pe oneka,omio pe a camo ginoro keken. |
| Did you go out last night or were you too tired? | Yin i woto oko aworo iwor onyo nwongo i ol atek. |
6. Past continuous tense (doing verbs).
| he/she/it was | playing/ doing, /working. |
| we/you/they were | playing/ doing/ working. |
Constructing sentences
I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing it at a certain time.
The action or situation started before this time, but had not finished.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| Last year during this time,I was living in Panyikwara. | Mwaka okato kodi ikare ni, nwongo a tye abedo Panyikwara. |
| What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night? | Nwongo itye i timo ngo cawa angwen me iwor? |
| I waved to Awino, but she wasn’t looking. | An amoto Awino,ento en nwongo pe tye anena. |
7. Future tense
Future tense talks about things happening in time to come or something that has not happened yet.
The word will be indicates something happening in the future and in Lango the word is bino.
| English | Lango |
| He/she will be a writer. | En bino bedo acoc. |
| They will be late. | Gin bino rii. |
8. Present continuous tense (I am doing -an atye atimo) with a future meaning.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I am teaching Lango language for 8 years now. | An atye apwonyo leb Lango dong mwaki 8 amani. |
| I love writing since I knew how to read and write. | An amaro coc pien a ngeo kite me kwano kede coyo. |
| The pupils were enjoying PE yesterday. | Otino nwongo tye amaro rwayo ler aworo. |
| I understand what I am doing. | An aniang gin ame atye timo. |
9. Present simple tense (I will do - an a timo) with a future meaning.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I will start my new job on monday. | An acako timo tic na anyen i ceng-okiko. |
| I will write slowly till next year. | An a coyo momot naka mwaka abino. |
| I will do my homework till June this year. | An a timo ticpacu naka odunge mwaka ni. |
| He will swim slowly till he crosses the river. | En a kwang momot naka en ngolo nam. |
Will - a.
We use I’ll (I will - an a) when we’ve just decided to do something.
When we say ‘I’ll do something’,we announce our decision.
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| I will come early today. | An a bino tin con. |
| I will see him tomorrow. | An a nene diki. |
| I will promote my culture. | An a tingo tekwaro na. |
| I will praise them for what they have done. | An a pwoyo gi pi gin a me gin otimo. |
Shall - otwero is always in question(s).
| English | Lango |
|---|---|
| Shall we go? | Wan otwero wot? |
| Shall she leave? | En twero yaa? |
| Shall they come? | Gin twero bino? |
| Shall it go? | En twero wot? |