Questions & The 5 W's

In Luganda questions are just a change in intonation, just like in English without the word order changing.

• Omanyi oluganda → You know Luganda → Do you know Luganda?

• Anaagenda mu katale enkya. → He is going to the market tommorrow → Is he going to the market tommorro?

• Emmere ewooma → The food is delicious → Is the food delicious?

• Enkuba etonnya → It is raining → Is it raining?

PARTICIPLES ~ most of them are present at the end of a sentence unless its the subject of a sentence (who, what)

WHO → ani

• in this case, ‘who’ may be the object of the sentence. If that is the case, it is placed in the front of the word. If its an object, it is placed at the end.

  On‘ani? ——————→ Who is this?

  Ani yalidde eryenvu? → Who ate the banana?

  Ani abeera wano? —--→Who lives here?

WHOM → ani/ n’ani

• Obeera n’ani? —→ Whom do you stay with?

WHOSE → ky’ani

• Ompadde ekitabo ky’ani? → Whose book did you give me?

WHAT → ki/kiki

• Ekyo kiki? ———→ What is that?

• Kiki ekikuluma? —→ What are you suffering from?

WHEN → ddi

• Watuuka wano ddi? ————→ When did you get here?

• Ogenda okukomawo ddi? —-→ When are you coming back?

• Omuzannyo gutandika ddi? -→ When is the match starting?

WHERE → wa

• Ova wa? ————————→ Where are you from?

• Olaga wa? ———————→ Where are you going?

• Akatale kali ludda wa? ——→ Where is the market?

WHY → (Ku)lwaki

• Lwaki togenze mukyaalo? —→ Why didn’t you go to the village?

• Lwaki oyiga oluganda? ——→ Why do you learn Luganda?

HOW → -tya

• Since this is a suffix, you must add the verb prefix as to make the sentence correct.

  Ofumba otya matooke? ——→ How do you cook matooke?

• When adding an adjective, simply conjugate the adjective and then add the conjugated ‘tya’.

  Oluguudo lwanvu lutya? ——→How long is the road?

HOW LONG → Bbanga ki?

• When talking about a period of time in Luganda the term for period, interval or timeframe is used: Ebbanga.

  Omaze wo bbanga ki? —————-→ How long have you been around for? (lit.: What period of time have you finished around here?)

  Kitwala bbanga ki okuva wano paka jjinja. ——-→ How long does it take to get from here to Jinja?

HOW OFTEN → emirundi emeka

• When talking about how often something happens in Luganda you literally say “how many times”, even though not a precise answer is expected.

  Jjaja wo omukyalira emirundi emeka? ————-→ How often do you visit your grandmother?

  Onoojja emirundi emeka e Kampala? ————--→ How often will you be coming to Kampala?

HOW FAR → Olwanvu ki?

• ‘How far’ in Luganda is expressed through the expression ‘what distance’

  Okuva e Makerere okutuuka Mengo waliyo lwanvu ki? ———-→ How far is Makerere from Mengo? (lit.: Coming from Makerere reaching Mengo what distance is there?)

HOW MUCH/MANY → Meka?

• Muli bameka? ——→ How many (people) are you?

• Ssente mmeka? —→ How much money do you charge? (lit.: How much money?)

Relative Pronouns

Present Tense Positive

• In expressing who/what some sentences you simply just continue the sentence.

  • Omusajja anyamba ennyo agenze. ———→ The man who helps me a lot left. (lit.: The man helps me a lot left)

• You can also insert the word ‘gwe’.

  • Omusajja gwe anyamba ennyo agenze. ———→ The man who helps me a lot left. (lit.: The man helps me a lot left)

• If the verb prefix starts with a consonant, then you add the respective vowel.

  • Omanyi omuwala ayimba? ————————→ Do you know the girl who is singing?

Present Tense Negative

• Muganda wange omuntu atagaba. ————-→ My sister/brother is a person who doesn’t share.

• Tompa ovaceddo agateyongedde. ——————→ Don’t give me the avocados that are not ripe.

• Abayizi abatakola bulungi tebayingira essomero lino. ——→ The students who did not perform well do not get into this school.

Past Tense

• The difference is that an extra vowel is added before the verb.

  • Omukazi yafumba emmere → Omukazi eyafumba emmere agenze.

  • The woman cooked food. --→ The woman who cooked food left.

Relative Where → GYE (location)

Interrogative ‘Oba’ (WHETHER)

• Simanyi oba ajja. ——————→ I don’t know whether he is coming or not.

• Tagambye oba bagenze. ———→ He didn’t say whether they had left.

• Omanyi oba alya kawunga? —-→ Do you know whether he eats Posho?