Basic Yoruba Sentences (Present Continuous Tense)
Welcome back my Yoruba people!
So today we’re going to be looking at making basic sentences in Yoruba. No more single word phrases, we’re going to be looking at full sentences now.
Just as I said in the last lesson, arguably one of the best things about the Yoruba language is that you don’t have to conjugate verbs. This makes it that much easier for us to make simple Yoruba sentences.
NB want to start the Yoruba lessons from the beginning?
How to make simple sentences
So how do we make the sentences?
The specific type of sentences we will make are called sentences in the present continuous tense, in English words in the present continuous tense usually end in ing, for example hopping, dancing and laughing.
To put a verb in the continuous present tense in English all you have to do is add ‘ing’ to the end of it e.g. happen + ing = happening.
However, to put a verb in the present continuous tense in Yoruba you just put an ‘ń’ just before the verb i.e. ń + mu = ń mu.
Some examples of verbs in the present continuous tense are given below
Yoruba verbs in the present continuous tense
| English | Yoruba |
| Olú ń jẹun | Olu is eating |
| Adé ń sùn | Ade is sleeping |
| Mò ń lọ | I am going |
| Adéshọlá ń mu | Adeshola is drinking |
| Wálé ń rẹ̀rìnín | Wale is laughing |
| Wọ́n ń jẹ | They are eating |
| Àwa ń fọ | We are washing |
| Ò ń sùn | She/He/It is sleeping |
| Mo ń gbin àgbàdo | I am planting |
| Ẹ̀yin ń jẹ ẹyin | You all are eating eggs |
| Àwọn ń ta iṣu | They are selling yam |
| Mo ń jẹ búrẹ́di | I am eating bread |
| Bádé ń ka ìwé | Bade is reading a book |
| Wọ́n ń jẹ ìrẹsì | They are eating rice |
| Màmá ń se ìrẹsì | Mother is cooking rice |
Now you know how to say simple sentences in Yoruba using the letter ń, now it’s your turn create a simple sentence in Yoruba using a pronoun, a verb and the letter ń.
