rabaa / doonayaa

Wanting Something or an Action

Level 2

Rabaa and doonayaa can name a wanted thing or introduce a desired event.

How It Works

Rab has rabaa for I/he and rabtaa for you singular/she. Doonayaa has progressive-shaped agreement: doonaysaa for you/she, doonaynaa for we, and doonayaan for they. Its desire meaning contrasts with simple doonaa as a future auxiliary.

Compare Waxaan rabaa in aan booqdo ayeeyaday, “I want to visit my grandmother,” with Waxaan booqan doonaa ayeeyaday, “I will visit my grandmother.” Desire uses in, dependent subject aan, and simple subjunctive booqdo. Prediction uses infinitive booqan and doonaa.

Affirmative in-complements after these wanting predicates take the simple full subjunctive. Rabaa also has an infinitive-following auxiliary use expressing intention; that does not license universal replacement of in-complements. Rabaa is rarely progressive. A noun complement directly names the wanted object.

Examples (3)

  1. Waxaan rabaa koob shaah ah.

    I want a cup of tea.

    A noun phrase names the wanted thing.

  2. Maryan waxay doonaysaa buug cusub.

    Maryan wants a new book.

    Doonaysaa agrees with Maryan.

  3. Waxaan rabaa in aan booqdo ayeeyaday.

    I want to visit my grandmother.

    Booqdo is the dependent simple subjunctive.

How It Connects

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

rabaa / doonayaaLevel 2Wanting Something or an Action

Learn This First

Recognize present agreement before using the lexical desire verbs rabaa and doonayaa.

Words in This Pattern

in