fẹ́ láti

Wanting to Do Something

Level 2

Subject + fẹ́ láti + action phrase.

How It Works

Fẹ́ láti introduces an action the subject wants to perform. Put the action verb and its complements after láti. In Mo fẹ́ láti kọ́ Yorùbá, the speaker wants the event and is its intended learner. Láti is a separate word, not an ending on the action verb.

Direct fẹ́ plus an action is also established. Native explanatory prose independently attests the linked version. Both frames can be taught without claiming identical register or distribution in every context, or extending them automatically to every predicate.

Wanting does not assert that the action happens. To express a desire concerning another stated participant, use the separately attested fẹ́ kí frame. Distinguish complement láti from origin láti, “from.” Neither verb acquires person or number endings.

Examples (3)

  1. Mo fẹ́ láti kọ́ Yorùbá.

    I want to learn Yoruba.

    The speaker is the intended learner.

  2. A fẹ́ láti tún yàrá náà ṣe.

    We want to renovate the room.

    The same group wants and would perform the renovation.

  3. Tádé fẹ́ láti ṣí ṣọ́ọ̀bù.

    Tádé wants to open a shop.

    Tádé is the understood actor of the linked action.

How It Connects

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

fẹ́ látiLevel 2Wanting to Do Something

Learn This First

Put fẹ́ láti before the action the subject wants to perform.