Person Nouns With a Nasal Plural

Level 2

onipa → nnipa (people), ɔbaa → mmaa (women), ɔbarima → mmarima (men), ɔba → mma (children, offspring).

How It Works

1. Four everyday pairs

  • onipa (person) → nnipa (people)
  • ɔbaa (woman) → mmaa (women)
  • ɔbarima (man) → mmarima (men)
  • ɔba (child, son or daughter) → mma (children, offspring)

2. Why mm?
The plural prefix is a nasal that takes the shape of the sound after it. Before b it is m, and the b itself turns into m: n + barima → mmarima. Onipa simply swaps its o- for n: nnipa. The same change gives abofra → mmofra. Fante keeps the b after the nasal, so Fante books write mbofra (children). See M and N as Syllables.

3. Not the usual a-
Most nouns that start with ɔ- take a- in the plural: ɔhene → ahene (chiefs), ɔdan → adan (buildings). See Plurals With a-. These person words do not, so learn each one as a pair. A few animal words follow the same pattern, such as odwan → nnwan (sheep).

4. Ɔba and abofra
Abofra (plural mmofra) is a child by age. Ɔba (plural mma) is someone's child, a son or daughter at any age: me mma (my children). In a phrase, each word takes its own plural: ɔhene ba (a king's child) → ahene mma (kings' children).

5. Mma has other meanings
The same spelling is also the negative of ba (come): Ɔmma ha (He does not come here), and the command Mma ha! (Don't come here!). The melody and the sentence around the word tell you which one you hear. See Sound Changes After the Negative.

6. Counting people
With these nouns, the counting words for people are common: mmaa baanu (two women), mmarima baasa (three men). See Counting People.

Examples (6)

  1. Nnipa pii wɔ dwam.

    There are many people at the market.

    Nnipa is the plural of onipa.

  2. Mmaa no reto nnwom.

    The women are singing.

    Word by Word: women the are-throwing songs

    Mmaa is the plural of ɔbaa.

  3. Mmarima baasa baeɛ.

    Three men came.

    Mmarima is the plural of ɔbarima; baasa counts three people.

  4. Me mma baanu wɔ sukuu.

    My two children are at school.

    Mma is the plural of ɔba, a son or daughter.

  5. Ɔbaa no wɔ mma baanan.

    The woman has four children.

    Singular ɔbaa and plural mma in one sentence.

  6. Ɔbarima no ne ne mma te Kumase.

    The man and his children live in Kumasi.

    Ɔbarima is singular; mma is plural.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the a- plural, as for ɔhene → ahene.

    Anipa pii wɔ dwam.
    Nnipa pii wɔ dwam.

    Onipa is one of the person nouns that take a nasal plural. Its plural is nnipa.

  • Writing n before b instead of mm.

    Nbarima baasa baeɛ.
    Mmarima baasa baeɛ.

    Before b the nasal is m, and the b turns into m as well, so the plural is spelled mmarima.

  • Keeping the singular noun with a number.

    Ɔbaa baanu baeɛ.
    Mmaa baanu baeɛ.

    A number follows the plural noun. Two women is mmaa baanu.

How It Connects

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

Person Nouns With a Nasal PluralLevel 2

Learn This First

These plurals are exceptions to a- that show the nasal sound change.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

onipaɔbaaɔbarimaɔbanipabarima