Yoruba Grammar List

Àti joins nouns or phrases as ‘and’, forming a combined participant or item phrase.

Small noun counts usually follow nouns; number forms and larger-number order require care.

Descriptive modifiers commonly follow nouns; attributive and predicate forms can differ.

A property predicate asserts a quality; its form can differ from a modifier inside a noun phrase.

Ni joins nominal expressions in identity or classification statements; its order and pronoun forms differ from those of jẹ́.

Plural and respectful singular instructions share the ẹ frame.

Direct possessive phrases place the possessed noun before the possessor.

Short singular objects follow verbs; their vowels and tones depend on the construction.

Plural object pronouns identify groups after the verb.

Láti introduces a spatial source or temporal starting point; its action-complement use is separate.

Àwọn marks plural reference; bare nouns need not be singular.

Verbal ní asserts possession, an associated relationship or an available resource.

Singular possessors follow nouns; tone distinguishes rẹ from rẹ̀.

Plural possessors follow nouns; yín and wọn also permit respectful singular reference.

Basic transitive action clauses follow subject–verb–object order.

Standard Nigerian Yoruba spelling preserves dotted letters and tone marks.

A positive instruction can leave its addressee understood.

Bare action verbs commonly describe past events. States can have present readings, and preverbal markers provide aspect or a future frame.

Three contrastive tones distinguish Yoruba words and grammatical forms.

A syllabic nasal bears tone itself; a nasalization letter does not necessarily add a syllable.

Short plural subjects identify groups; ẹ and wọ́n also permit respectful singular reference.

How questions request a condition, manner or method.

Fún introduces beneficiaries in suitable constructions and also functions as a giving predicate.

Gb is a single Yoruba consonant written with two letters.

Fronted location questions use ibo or níbo before ni.

Jẹ́ predicates a role, classification or age description without person or number endings.

Jọ̀wọ́ means ‘please’; the instruction names the requested action.

Kan counts one member or introduces an indefinite referent.

Subject + kì í ṣe + noun phrase expresses a classification denial.

What questions request identification or an unknown participant.

A reason question can recover or explicitly state the situation.

Kò negates ordinary actions, properties and possession; some short subject forms change in this frame.

Kò sí says that something is absent or unavailable in the relevant setting.

Short singular subjects identify participants; tone distinguishes o from ó.

Má gives a negative instruction; ẹ marks plural or respectful address.

How-many questions commonly front noun + mélòó before ni.

Ní introduces a location or setting, commonly translated as ‘at’ or ‘in’.

Nínú, lórí and lábẹ́ locate things inside, on and under a reference object.

Pẹ̀lú commonly means ‘with’ in accompaniment and association constructions.

Sí identifies where movement or another directed action is aimed.

Who questions distinguish actors, objects and possessors.

Preverbal ti marks completion or attainment relative to the relevant reference time.

Tàbí connects alternative participants or items; context determines the intended choice.

Wà states that a referent is present, exists or occupies a stated place.

Postnominal demonstratives identify referents; àwọn makes plurality explicit.

Yóò supplies future framing without a future ending on the lexical verb.

Àwa, ẹ̀yin and àwọn identify groups; ẹ̀yin and àwọn also permit respectful singular reference.

Èmi, ìwọ and òun serve as full participant phrases in identification and coordination.

When questions request a date, occasion or time.

Ń marks imperfective aspect; context can give present, past or habitual readings.

A clause-initial opener for a yes-or-no question.

Ṣùgbọ́n links claims whose difference or unexpected relationship matters in context.

Ẹ and ọ are distinct vowel letters; ṣ is a distinct consonant letter.

The governing expression distinguishes evaluation, desire, permission and purpose.

State the condition under which an outcome applies.

Ni highlights a participant or circumstance within a clause.

Object focus leaves an object gap and can expose a tonal contrast on the verb.

Mọ́ accompanies negation to close off continuation or further recurrence.

Identify a position in an ordered set.

Express belonging through genitival ti and established independent possessives.

A tí clause identifies or describes a noun through its role in a following clause.

A bodily-care reflexive reading arises when actor and possessor identify the same person.

Combine actions, motion or results with linked participants.

Subject focus highlights an actor and resumes that participant in the following clause.

Let the participants, predicate and context determine the reading.

Describe a method or use an event as a model.

Identify something used in carrying out an activity.

Fẹ́ expresses desire with a noun or a direct action complement.

Láti links a desired action to fẹ́; the main subject is its understood actor.

Gbogbo expresses all or every within a contextually defined domain.

Express bringing or taking something relative to a reference point.

Gbọ́dọ̀ presents an action as required or necessary.

Compare a property with its degree in another participant.

Rank a property highest within a clear comparison set.

Jẹ́ kí asks that an event be allowed or invites it to happen.

Kìí gives habitual negation rather than simply denying one occurrence.

Connect an action with the possibility it aims to create.

Place the main action before another event.

Kankan supports action-object denial or absence; it is not a standalone negative reply.

Choose the negative construction by the clause's meaning and function.

The construction denies reaching the relevant situation by the reference time.

Reject a proposed identity or selected participant.

Lè presents an action as possible without asserting that it happens.

Place the main situation after another event.

Máa participates in habitual statements, prospective clauses and affirmative continuing instructions.

Context guides the identifiable and additive readings of náà.

Use a subordinate event as a time reference.

Name a cause or motivating reason with nítorí followed by a noun phrase.

Explain why an action occurs or a situation holds.

Introduce the content of a report, thought or belief.

Express much or very much while identifying what is intensified.

Ti ń combines a reached beginning with an unfolding activity.

Relative tó combines the relative marker and singular subject resumption in one syllable.

Tún before the predicate means ‘again’ or ‘also,’ depending on context.

Identify a speaker and introduce their reported statement.

Ó yẹ kí evaluates an event as appropriate or advisable.

Context distinguishes ongoing, habitual and prospective readings.

Ṣì marks continuation; ṣì ń presents an activity as still underway.

A shared invitation includes the speaker and addresses plural or respectful listeners.

Díẹ̀ means a few countable items or a little of a substance.

The attested desire pattern permits àti or láti before an action performed by the main subject.

Locative ní occurs in established joined forms with vowel-initial material.

Established contractions preserve the directed relation expressed by sí.

Use a relative description while leaving the referent’s specific noun unstated.

Repeated constructions distribute quantities across recipients, groups or recurring occasions.

Object focus restructures the clause rather than lengthening a short object.

Full copying of certain complex action bases forms nouns naming performers or occupations.

Partial reduplication names an activity or property rather than its performer.

Àì- attaches to suitable verbal material to form a negative nominal expression.

Low-tone nominal prefixes form established nouns from verbs or larger verbal bases.

Established alá- forms belong to the broader oní- association family.

Oní- and its related surface forms name possessors, sellers and people characterized by qualities.

Separate the outer report from the inner question.

Identify attested components without splitting every longer verb.

Established repeated property forms have word-specific formation and meanings.

Track the reported speaker or thinker when interpreting òun.

Plural pronoun forms can refer respectfully to one person.

The two pronoun series overlap as subjects but have different distributions.

Elision removes a vowel; its tonal contribution requires separate analysis.

Noun bases can form a lexical noun, sometimes with vowel or tone changes.

Verb-object material forms complex verbs and, with nominal morphology, established nouns.

Assert an outcome despite an expectation raised by another fact.

Preserve both vowels in máa and interpret the complete construction.

Express necessity and distinguish its absence from prohibition.

Tone and clause structure distinguish possession and location ní from identification and focus ni.

Níwọ̀n bí means “given that” or, in a limiting condition, “as long as.”

State what holds despite a fact suggesting otherwise.

Tone and position distinguish aspectual ti from relative tí.

Independent possessives identify an owner while context supplies the possessed item.

Extend a situation up to an event boundary.

A linked sequence reports an action together with the result it causes.

Established numeral compounds encode arithmetic while preserving their tones and contractions.

Bí + subject + bá + predicate introduces a circumstance governing the outcome.

Subject + ì bá can express an unrealized outcome, with context explaining what prevented it.

Bá frames assistance; fún can identify the person benefiting from an action.

Linked verbs can share participants, assign different roles, or take separate objects.

Attested repeated nominal formations with kí range over members of a class.

The established repeated-month word oṣùmóṣù expresses extended duration.

Short expressions convey conversational emphasis, surprise or familiar appreciation.

Tone can distinguish vocabulary or reflect a word's grammatical construction.

Context allows useful replies without repeating the whole event.

An ordinary question can challenge an assumption or imply an evident answer.

The not-only frame includes the first item and adds another relevant item.

Activity focus selects an action while retaining the verb and its arguments.

Ti frames completion; ń frames an ongoing or imperfective linked event.

One negative marker frames a serial predicate; context determines component scope.

A noun within a relative description can take another relative description.

A report can select an actor or object within its embedded event.