Welcome to the 8th lesson about Yoruba grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.
We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Yoruba and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Yoruba and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Yoruba.
| Prepositions - Yoruba |
|---|
| and ati |
| above loke |
| under nisale |
| before saaju |
| after lehin |
| in front of niwaju |
| behind lehin |
| far from jina si |
| near nitosi |
| in inu |
| inside ninu |
| outside ita |
| with pelu |
| without laisi |
| about nipa |
| between laarin |
| but sugbon |
| for fun |
| from lati |
| to si |
The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.
| Prepositions + Rules - Yoruba |
|---|
| I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] mo maa njeun laisi obe |
| she lives near the church [verb + preposition] o ngbe nitosi ile-ijosin |
| he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] o ngbe nitosi ile-ijosin |
| he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] o wa pelu aja re kekere |
| can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] nje o le wa pelu mi? |
Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.
| Negation + Rules - Yoruba |
|---|
| I understand you [affirmative form] oro re ye mi |
| I don't understand you [negation + verb] oro re ko ye mi |
| this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] eyi ki i se oro ti o ye |
| don't leave me [imperative negation] mase fi mi sile |
| no problem [negation + noun] ko si wahala |
| Negative Sentences - Yoruba |
|---|
| I don't speak French [negation + present tense] nko le e so faranse |
| she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ko se ibewo si jamani |
| he cannot see us [negative modal verb] ko le e ri wa |
| can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] se ko le ta ayo olopon ni? |
| we will not come late [negation + future tense] a ko ni pe de |
Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:
| English - Yoruba |
|---|
| how? bawo? |
| what? kini? |
| who? taani? |
| why? nitori kini? |
| where? nibo? |
More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:
| Questions + Rules - Yoruba |
|---|
| where do you live? [interrogative + verb] nibo lo ngbe? |
| does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] nje o nso ede chinese? |
| how much is this? [interrogative preposition] eelo ni eyi? |
| can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] nje mo le ran o lowo? |
| what is your name? [interrogative preposition] kini oruko re? |
It's time to learn the adverbs in Yoruba. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:
| Adverbs - Yoruba |
|---|
| now nisisiyi |
| yesterday ana |
| today oni |
| tonight ale yi |
| tomorrow ola |
| soon laipe |
| quickly kiakia |
| slowly yo-kele |
| together wa-papo |
| very looto |
| almost ku-die |
| always nigbagbogbo |
| usually welewele |
| sometimes nigbamiran |
| rarely agbara-kaka |
| never beeko-lae |
The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.
| Adverbs + Rules - Yoruba |
|---|
| do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] se oro mi ye o bayi? |
| I need help immediately [noun + adverb] mo nilo iranlowo loju-ese |
| she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] o je ologbon |
| I will always love you [verb + adverb] ma a ma feran re nigbagbogbo |
| can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] se a le jo ko ede jamani papo |
We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Yoruba. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:
| Personal Pronouns - Yoruba |
|---|
| I emi |
| you iwo |
| he oun |
| she oun |
| we awa |
| they awon |
| Object Pronouns - Yoruba |
|---|
| me mi |
| you iwo |
| him un |
| her un |
| us wa |
| them won |
| Possessive Pronouns - Yoruba |
|---|
| my mi |
| your re |
| his tire |
| her tire |
| our wa |
| their won |
I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.
| Personal Pronouns - Yoruba |
|---|
| I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] emi ni ore re |
| you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] o nyara soro |
| he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] o ni aja meta |
| she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] o le so ede jaman |
| we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] a ko ni pe de |
| they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] won ra wara ati buredi |
The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:
| Object Pronouns - Yoruba |
|---|
| can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] nje o le so oruko re fun mi? |
| I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] ma a fun e ni owo |
| she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] o ko leta kan si i |
| they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] won se abewo re lana |
| can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] se o le ran wa lowo? |
| he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] o fun won lounje |
| Possessive Pronouns - Yoruba |
|---|
| my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] oruko mi ni maya |
| your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] arakunrin re ngbe ibiyi |
| her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] iya re se-ounje fun wa |
| his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] ise ti o feran lati se ni akoko igbategun ni iwe kika |
| our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] ero wa ni lati se abewo si paris |
| their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] ile won ko jina |
One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.
| Demonstrative Pronouns - Yoruba |
|---|
| this is my house ile mi niyi |
| that restaurant is far ile itaounje jinna |
| these apples are delicious awon eso apu yi dun |
| those stars are shiny awon irawo yen ntan |
I hope you learned a lot about the Yoruba grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!
Inspirational Quote: First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. Epictetus |