Punctuation Marks in Igbo

Punctuation marks are used in Igbo in the same way they are used in English, except for hyphen and apostrophe.

Hyphen (-)
Hyphen is used to append auxiliary verb to the main verb. The two auxiliary verbs that use hyphen are ga- and na-.
ga- is used to indicate future tense, na- is used to indicate present tense and continuous tense.

I will eat food -- M ga-eri nri
She will go to work -- Ọ ga-aga ọrụ
They will work -- Ha ga-arụ ọrụ
John will come to my house -- John ga-abịa n'ụlọ m

I am eating food -- M na-eri nri
She is going to work -- Ọ na-aga ọrụ
They are working -- Ha na-arụ ọrụ
John is coming to my house -- John na-abịa n'ụlọ m


Apostrophe (')
Apostrophe is used when na is a preposition and precedes a word beginning with a vowel. The a in na is replaced with an apostrophe.
at home -- n'ụlọ
in Aba -- n'Aba
at night -- n'Abalị