kò

Place kò before an ordinary action, property predicate or possession predicate. A noun subject remains before it. The marker has no agreement ending, but short first-person singular appears as n, and ordinary short third-person singular negatives can begin with kò itself.

• N kò fẹ́ mu wàrà. — I do not want to drink milk.
• Bísí kò jó lánàá. — Bísí did not dance yesterday.
• A kò ní àpò. — We do not have a bag.
• Kò tóbi. — It is not big. Context identifies the object.

The event and lánàá, 'yesterday', give the second example its past reading. Kò itself is not a past ending. The third and fourth examples deny possession and a quality.

An ordinary negative statement does not need the affirmative progressive marker ń. Learn combined aspect and negative frames separately instead of inserting every affirmative marker mechanically.

Use kìí for habitual denial, má for prohibition, and the appropriate nominal negative frame for identity denial. The comparative study documents ò as a grammatical medial Standard Yoruba variant of kò. Its Ẹ̀gbá forms belong to a separately described variety.