Descriptions Within Descriptions

Level 6

Find the outer head, then the inner noun and its description.

How It Works

Nesting gives a noun inside one relative clause another relative description. In the linked noun-plus-da pattern illustrated here, masculine and plural heads have -n, and feminine heads have -r. Completed affirmative descriptions use relative completive; ongoing affirmative descriptions use relative continuative. Subject marking follows each clause’s subject, which need not be its relative head.

In mutumin da ya karanta littafin da na kawo, the man is the reader, but the book is what I brought. Removing da na kawo leaves “the man who read the book.”

Gendered relative alternatives wanda, wadda/wacce and waɗanda agree with their own heads and take no additional relative da. Verb morphology follows the local frame: taimakon yaran links a non-wa verbal noun to its following object, whereas karantawa has no following object because the letter is the relative head.

Examples (3)

  1. Na ga mutumin da ya karanta littafin da na kawo.

    I saw the man who read the book that I brought.

    The man reads; I bring the book. The book is the inner object head.

  2. Mun gaishe matar da take taimakon yaran da suke wasa.

    We greeted the woman who is helping the children who are playing.

    Take marks the woman’s helping; suke marks the children’s playing.

  3. Sun kira ɗaliban da suka rubuta wasiƙar da malama take karantawa.

    They called the students who wrote the letter that a female teacher is reading.

    Suka marks the students’ writing; take agrees with the teacher, independently of the letter’s role as object head.

How It Connects

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

Descriptions Within DescriptionsLevel 6

Learn This First

Track a relative head’s participant role and inherited agreement/verb frames before interpreting a second relative description inside it.

Words in This Pattern

da