-nini / -bedeɛ

Male and Female: -nini, -bedeɛ

Level 4

Animal name + -nini = male, + -bedeɛ = female: akokɔnini (rooster), akokɔbedeɛ (hen).

How It Works

1. Common pairs

  • akokɔ (chicken): akokɔnini (rooster), akokɔbedeɛ (hen)
  • nantwie (cattle): nantwinini (bull), nantwibedeɛ (cow). The final e of nantwie drops before the ending.
  • odwan or oguan (sheep): odwennini (ram), odwanbedeɛ (ewe)

2. One word or two
Print writes these as one word or as two: akokɔbedeɛ or akokɔ bedeɛ, nantwibedeɛ or nantwie bedeɛ. Both spellings name the same animal.

3. Plurals
The animal name takes its own plural, and the ending stays the same: akokɔnini (rooster), nkokɔnini (roosters), as in nkokɔnini mmienu (two roosters). See Plurals With a Nasal Prefix.

4. Nini on its own
Onini also means the male by itself. A well-known proverb says Akokɔbedeɛ nim adekyeɛ, nanso ɔtie firi onini ano: the hen knows when morning comes, but she listens for the rooster.

5. People are different
For people, Twi uses -barima (male) and -baa (female): ne babarima (his son), ne babaa (his daughter), as in No Grammatical Gender. Keep -nini and -bedeɛ for animals. A few animal names use -baa too, such as nantwibaa (cow).

6. Related words
A mother hen with her chicks is akokɔbaatan. A male goat has its own name, ɔpapo. For young animals, see Small and Young: -ba. Akuapem writes -bere where Asante writes -bedeɛ: akokɔbere (hen).

Examples (6)

  1. Akokɔnini no bɔn anɔpa biara.

    The rooster crows every morning.

    Word by Word: chicken-male the crows morning every

  2. Mewɔ akokɔbedeɛ baako ne akokɔnini baako.

    I have one hen and one rooster.

    With baako (one), the singular akokɔ- form is used.

  3. Ɔtɔɔ nkokɔnini mmienu wɔ dwam.

    He bought two roosters at the market.

    Nkokɔ is the plural of akokɔ; -nini does not change.

  4. Nantwinini no ho yɛ den.

    The bull is strong.

    Word by Word: cattle-male the body is hard

  5. Odwennini no wɔ mmɛn akɛseɛ.

    The ram has big horns.

  6. Akokɔbedeɛ nim adekyeɛ, nanso ɔtie firi onini ano.

    The hen knows when morning comes, but she listens for the rooster.

    Word by Word: hen knows dawn, but she-listens from male mouth

    A proverb about letting the person whose role it is speak first. Onini (the male) stands alone here.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving the animal name singular after a number.

    Ɔtɔɔ akokɔnini mmienu.
    Ɔtɔɔ nkokɔnini mmienu.

    From two up, the noun takes its plural. The plural goes on akokɔ, giving nkokɔ, and -nini stays the same.

  • Using -bedeɛ for a person (intended: His daughter is at school).

    Ne babedeɛ wɔ sukuu.
    Ne babaa wɔ sukuu.

    -bedeɛ and -nini describe animals. For people, use -baa and -barima: ne babaa (his daughter), ne babarima (his son).

How It Connects

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

-nini / -bedeɛLevel 4Male and Female: -nini, -bedeɛ

Learn This First

Male and female suffixes work like -ba and say the sex where Twi has no gender.

Words in This Pattern

-ninibarimaɔbaa