Luo (Dholuo) Phrases and Basics

The Language

Luo, or Dholuo, as it calls itself, is spoken by more than three million people, mostly located in southwestern Kenya; Nyanza Province in particular. Languages in Kenya are often divided into Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic; Luo is Nilotic. According to the Ethnologue website (see links below), Luo is in the Nilo-Saharan language family. The three most closely related languages to Kenyan Luo are the languages of the Acholi and Lango in Uganda, and the Alur language in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both Lango and Acholi languages are sometimes referred to as "Lwo" by native speakers. Because Luo speakers are centered in southwest Kenya, there are significant populations of Luo speakers across the borders in both Tanzania and Uganda. Luo occasionally borrows from Kiswahili, as Kiswahili has a larger vocabulary, and is one of the official national languages of Kenya. There are also cases of words shared between Luhya and Luo, despite their disparate (Bantu vs. Nilotic) origins. Examples include words for "yes" and "no."

Trivia:

• Luo is the mother tongue spoken by about 13% of the population of Kenya. This makes it roughly the third most popular tribal dialect in Kenya, behind Kikuyu (22%) and Luhya (14%). These figures are everywhere on the internet, so are probably somewhat out of date.
• Raila Odinga, a Luo, is the son of Kenya's first vice president, and is one of Kenya's most powerful politicians today.
• US Senator Barack Obama has a partially Luo heritage.
• Uganda's first post-independence head of state, prime minister Milton Obote, was from the Lango tribe. He began his education in Lira and Gulu.
• Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony's last name means to help in both Acholi and Luo. Acholi is the language predominantly spoken in the area in northeast Uganda that Kony's army has terrorized for the last twenty years.

Motivation for this webpage

I lived in Kenya for two years, and traveled throughout East Africa. I learned to speak Kiswahili, as well as bits of Luo and Luhya, during my stay in Busia, Kenya. (Unfortunately, I hardly picked up any Teso.) I even learned a few words of Acholi during my trip to Kitgum, Uganda. I particularly enjoyed Luo, though, as it was both handy during trips to Kisumu, the nearest major city to Busia, and occasionally useful when negotiating prices in Nairobi. Plus it turned out to bear a resemblance to the Acholi Lwo language. Upon returning to the US, I saw that there were surprisingly few resources on the internet for picking up simple Luo phrases, so I thought I'd write a few down.

External Links

Wikipedia entry | Betsy McCall's careful discussion of Luo verbs. | Rice University Luo Grammar papers from Spring 1998
Ethnologue: Luo (Kenya) | Acholi (Uganda) | Lango (Uganda) | Alur (Dem. Rep. Congo)

Pronunciation note

The distinction between ng' and ng is like the difference between the ng sounds in the english words hanger and anger. The word nanga, meaning cloth, uses the same ng sound as in anger, where the g can be heard distinctly; the word ang'wen, meaning four, uses the ng' sound similar to that used in the English word hanger, where the g is not distinct.

Also note that a trailing y after a consonant, as in the word meaning tomorrow, kiny, is barely pronounced, so in this example, the word comes out sounding much like the English word keen.

From the Wikipedia:

I want water, adwaro pii
I am thirsty, riyo nega (ABO translates thirst as riyo, and thirsty as bedo gi riyo.)
Thank you, ero kamano
Child, nyathi
Student, nyathi skul
Sit, bed
Stand,Stop, chung
Hunger, kech
I am starved, kech nega
Father, baba (ABO says, wuoro. Baba is Kiswahili.)
Mother, mama (ABO says, dhako or miyo as well. Mama is Kiswahili.)
God, nyasaye
To help, kony (The verb in Acholi is exactly the same. The Lord's Resistance Army--a band of rebels that has terrorized villages in northeast Uganda, kidnapped thousands of children, forced them to be child soldiers, and carried out a variety of other atrocities against civilians--is led by a man named Joseph Kony.)
Man, dichuo
Woman, dhako
Boy, wuowi
Girl, nyako
Book, buk (or kitabu, the Kiswahili word.)
Youth, rawera
Pen, kalam
Short, curuari
Trousers, curuach long
Table, mesa
Plate, san
lock, rarind
Leader, jatelo,ruoth
Bring, kel
Go, dhi
Go back, dog
Come back, dwog
Run, ring
Walk, wuoth
Jump, dum
Rain, koth
Sun, chieng
Moon, duwe
Fish, rech
I want to eat, adwaro chiemo
Grandpa, kwaru,kwara (According to ABO, kwaro.)
Grandma, dani,dana (According to ABO, dayo.)
White man, ja rachar
Black man, ja rateng

To teach, pwonjo (I teach, apwonjo)
To learn, pwonjore (You learn, ipwonjo) (Note that this is the verb for teach, but with the reflexive suffix added. Kiswahili also uses this structure: To teach is kufunza, while to learn is to teach oneself, kujifunza.)
To run, ringo
To eat, chiemo (or chamo, according to ABO)
To drink, madho or modho
To sleep, nindo
To want, dwaro
To know, ng'eyo
To like, hero
To see, neno
To rise, malo
To support, teno
To return, duoko (or duogo; ABO only lists the former.)
To scare, buogo (or bwogo; ABO only lists the former.)

Other vocabulary:

Animal sounds (from Vivian Cook's Words and Meanings Page):

A cat says: ywak
A dog says: guu guu
A sheep says: meee
A cow says: mboo
A rooster says: kokorioko

From Kenya's Daily Nation, 2005, "Don't ignore the Luo, Raila tells President"

When he rose to speak, President Kibaki avoided politics and did not answer Mr Odinga's request. He spoke only about education and hard work. The Head of State however delighted the crowd with a Luo phrase: "Ng'ama teni ema iteno (Support only he who also supports you)".

From Jim Harries

'Wach en gi teko' is a favourite Luo phrase. It can be translated as 'a word has power'.

From African Proverb of the Month

Today a popular song is Unbwogable which combines English and the Dholuo word "bwogo" ("to scare") so a good translation is [We Are or I Am] Unscareable/Fearless/Unbeatable. It was used in the December, 2002 political campaign as a rallying cry for the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) candidate Mwai Kibaki who was elected the new President of Kenya.

From the Ave Maria DHOLUO page. Not news, but a high google hit in 2005.

Hail Mary (1) Mirembe Maria, Ipong' nema, Ruoth obet kodi, I jahawi kuom mon duto, Gi wesu Nyathi ma e iyi, jahawi. Maria Matakatifu, Min Nyasaye, Ikwanwae wa joketho kawuono gi kar thowa. Amina.

Editor's note: according to the source webpage, this came from a 1931 Italian text. This looks like a mixture of Luo, Luhya, and Kiswahili. Mirembe, for example, is very close to the Luhya greeting, Murembe, but is not Dholuo as far as I know. Likewise, Matakatifu is Kiswahili for Saint/Holy, but is also not Dholuo.

Hail Mary (2) Misawa maria Iponggi nema ruoth obed kodi In jahawi kwoum mon gi Jesus nyathi manie iyi jahawi. Maria matakatifu Min Nyasaye kwanue wan Jo ketho kawuono gi kar thowa. Amin.

Editor's note: This version is from Tom Onditi, and appears to be more accurate.

ABO refers to Asenath Bole Odaga's English-Dholuo Dictionary, printed by Lake Publishers & Enterprises Ltd., Kisumu, Kenya

Owen Ozier

In the old days of the internet, this was the only sort of page that would exist about anything: a few notes somebody jotted down. Nowadays, it is rare to find a topic so infrequently discussed on the internet that a page like this can have any significance at all. What a difference a decade makes.