Noun Plus Noun: The Owner Comes Last

Level 1

Thing first, owner or type second: ụlọ nne m, ụlọ akwụkwọ.

How It Works

English says “my mother's house”. Igbo says “house mother my”: the main noun first.

Igbo	Meaning
ụlọ nne m	my mother's house
ụlọ akwụkwọ	school
ụlọ ọgwụ	hospital
akwụkwọ Obi	Obi's book

Names work the same way. Some pairs are fixed compounds that name one thing. A compound may be written as two words (ụlọ akwụkwọ) or one, so check the dictionary. A pronoun owner also comes right after: ụlọ m.

Examples (4)

ụlọ nne m
my mother's house
The owner comes last.
ụlọ akwụkwọ
school
A house of books.
ụlọ ọgwụ
hospital
A house of medicine.
akwụkwọ Obi
Obi's book
A name as the owner.

How It Connects

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Noun Plus Noun: The Owner Comes LastLevel 1

Learn This First

The owner comes after the noun just as a pronoun does, so the pronoun after a noun comes first.

A Pronoun After the Noun: m, gị, yaShowing the Owner: A Pronoun After the Noun
Know the pronoun after a noun, because a noun that owns another follows it in the same way: ụlọ nne m “the house of my mother”.
Level 1

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

ụlọ akwụkwọụlọnne

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