Describing a Person or Thing
Èyí tí identifies a contextual one; àwọn tí identifies a contextual group.
How It Works
A relative expression can identify a referent without repeating a specific noun such as “book” or “student.” Èyí tí supplies a contextual one; àwọn tí supplies a contextual group. The complete expression can function as a main-clause subject or object.
Track roles inside the description. In the fragment èyí tí mo rà, “the one that I bought,” mo identifies the buyer and the contextual referent is the purchased object. A subject description can include a pronoun referring back to its participant. The source also uses àwọn tí ó, so obligatory surface number matching would be too strong. Tí receives no person or number suffix.
These constructions omit a specific lexical noun but retain pronominal material. Their classification as strictly headless relatives remains unresolved in the supplied evidence. Keep the pronominal introducer in the forms taught here; unrestricted bare tí functioning as a noun phrase is not established.
Examples (3)
- Mo fẹ́ èyí tí ó wà ní ilé.
I want the one that is at home.
Context supplies the kind of referent.
- Èyí tí Adé rà ti bàjẹ́.
The one that Adé bought is already damaged.
The relative expression is the main subject; Adé is the buyer.
- Àwọn tí wọ́n fẹ́ jó wà níbí.
Those who want to dance are here.
Wọ́n refers back to the contextual group; this example does not establish obligatory number matching.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Èyí tí and àwọn tí identify contextual referents without a specific lexical noun.
Related Patterns
Practice Describing a Person or Thing in Bubblegum
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