Vowel Harmony

Foundations

Pick the group of the verb, and the little words beside it follow. Ọ gara ahịa uses the second group, and O riri nri uses the first.

How It Works

Igbo vowel harmony works like a family rule: a word tends to keep its vowels in one group.

Group	Vowels	Pronoun	Example
One	i u e o	o, i	O riri nri. “He or she ate food.”
Two	ị ụ ọ a	ọ, ị	Ọ gara ahịa. “He or she went to the market.”

The same idea picks the past ending (-ra or -re) and the negative ending (-ghị or -ghi). Later lessons give each pattern.

Treat this as a strong habit, not an unbreakable law. Compounds and borrowed words can mix the groups, dialects differ on a few vowels and a few words mix the groups.

Examples (5)

O riri nri.
He or she ate food.
All vowels in riri are from the first group, so the pronoun is o.
Ọ gara ahịa.
He or she went to the market.
The vowels in gara are from the second group, so the pronoun is ọ.
Ọ zụtara anụ.
He or she bought meat.
The verb zụtara pulls ọ and the ending -ra.
O nwere ego.
He or she has money.
Nwere has e only, so o is the pronoun.
Ị bịara ebe a.
You came here.
Ị goes with the second group verb bịara.

Common Mistakes

Writing o before a second-group verb
O gara ahịa.
Ọ gara ahịa.
Gara has second-group vowels, so the usual pronoun is ọ. A dotless o in a message is probably a missing dot.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Vowel HarmonyFoundations

Learn This First

Harmony sorts the eight vowels into two sets, so learners need the vowels first.

The Eight Vowels
Know the eight vowels, because harmony sorts them into two sets: ahịa “market”.
Foundations

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Verb Names With i- or ị-Level 1

Practice Vowel Harmony in Bubblegum

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