Language/Yoruba/Grammar/Adjectives

Yoruba Grammar - Adjectives

Hi Yoruba learners! 😊
In today's lesson, we will be discussing adjectives in the Yoruba language. Adjectives are words that describe or modify other words, usually nouns. They can be used to give more information about a person, place, thing, or idea. In this lesson, we will look at how to use adjectives in Yoruba and some of the rules that govern their usage.

Adjective Formation

Adjectives in Yoruba are formed by adding the suffix -ni to the end of a noun. For example, the word for "good" is ọmọ (child), and the adjective form is ọmọni (good).

Plurals

When forming the plural of an adjective, the suffix -kan is added to the end of the word. For example, the plural of ọmọni (good) is ọmọnkan (goods).

Comparatives and Superlatives

To form the comparative and superlative forms of an adjective, the suffixes -le and -tẹlẹ are added to the end of the word. For example, the comparative form of ọmọni (good) is ọmọnile (better), and the superlative form is ọmọntẹlẹ (best).

Adjective Usage

Adjectives in Yoruba are usually placed after the noun they modify. For example, the phrase "good child" would be written as ọmọ ni ọmọni (child good).

When using adjectives in a sentence, the verb must agree with the number of the noun. For example, if the noun is singular, the verb must be singular, and if the noun is plural, the verb must be plural.

Adjective Order

When using multiple adjectives to describe a noun, the order of the adjectives is important. The adjectives should be ordered according to size, age, color, origin, material, and purpose. For example, the phrase "big red car" would be written as gbọ́dọ̀ ẹ́sẹ̀ kan lọ́wọ́ (car big red).

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have looked at how to form and use adjectives in Yoruba. We have seen how to form the plural, comparative, and superlative forms of adjectives, as well as the rules for adjective usage and order.

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Related Lessons

• Pronouns
• Gender
• Future Tense
• Conditional Mood
• Oro asopo (Conjunctions)
• Negation
• Nouns
• Onka Yoruba (Counting and Numbers in Yoruba)
• Questions