Who Does What in a Relative Clause

Level 4

The person who acts differs from the item someone acts on.

How It Works

A linked noun followed by da can introduce a relative description. Affirmative completed events use relative completive marking; affirmative ongoing events use relative continuative marking. Wanda, wadda and waɗanda provide another pattern without an additional da linker.

In mutumin da ya sayi riga, the head is the buyer. In rigar da Musa ya saya, Musa is the subject and the robe is the displaced object; the finite verb takes A form saya. These direct-object examples do not repeat an object pronoun.

Prepositional roles differ. In matar da muka zo da ita, the final da expresses accompaniment and ita refers back to the woman. The preposition retains its complement. The cards are noun-phrase fragments.

Examples (4)

  1. mutumin da ya sayi riga

    the man who bought a robe

    Noun-phrase fragment: the head is the subject.

  2. rigar da Musa ya saya

    the robe that Musa bought

    Noun-phrase fragment: the head is the displaced object.

  3. rigar da suke saye

    the robe that they are buying

    Noun-phrase fragment: suke identifies plural buyers.

  4. matar da muka zo da ita

    the woman with whom we came

    Noun-phrase fragment: ita supplies the accompaniment complement.

How It Connects

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

Who Does What in a Relative ClauseLevel 4

Learn This First

Recognize relative head agreement, finite object contexts and accompaniment da before tracking a head’s subject, displaced-object or prepositional role.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

da