How to construct negative sentences in the future tense in Yoruba
It’s really simple to create a negative future tense sentence in Yoruba, all you need to do is use is the negative marker ‘kò’ that you were first introduced to in Yoruba Lesson 6 and a few extra letters!
Today you will learn how to construct negative future tense sentences in Yoruba.
To make a negative future tense sentence in Yoruba, put ‘kò nì í’ before the verb. Examples of how to convert from a future tense sentence to a negative future tense sentences are given below.
Olú máa mu = Olu will drink
Olú kò nì í mu = Olu will not drink
Wálé máa jẹun = Wale will eat
Wálé kò nì í jẹun = Wale will not eat
PLEASE DON’T FORGET — Sometimes people say ò instead of kò in Yoruba, e.g.
Olú ò nì í mu = Olú kò nì mu
As stated in Yoruba Lesson 3 Yoruba has two types of pronouns, standard pronouns and emphatic pronouns, these pronouns can change slightly if a sentence is in it’s negative form. The two tables below show how pronouns are expressed (if they change or don’t change) in the future tense. For an explanation of the changes please refer to Yoruba Lesson 6.
Standard pronouns in the negative future tense
| English | Yoruba |
| I will not | N kò nì í |
| You will not | O kò nì í |
| He/She/It will not | Kò nì í |
| We will not | A kò nì í |
| You all will not | Ẹ kò nì í |
| They will not | Wọn kò nì í |
Emphatic pronouns in the negative future tense
| English | Yoruba |
| I will not | Èmi kò nì í |
| You will not | Ìwọ kò nì í |
| He/She/It will not | Òun kò nì í |
| We will not | Àwa kò nì í |
| You all will not | Ẹ̀yin kò nì í |
| They will not | Àwọn kò nì í |
Now that you’ve learnt how pronouns can change in the future tense, some example of negative Yoruba future tense sentences have been given below, to help you get more comfortable with the format.
Example Negative Yoruba Future Tense Sentences
| Yoruba | English |
| N kò nì í lọ | I will not go |
| O kò nì í mu | You will not drink |
| Kò nì í jẹun | She/He/It will not eat |
| Àwa kò nì í pariwo | We will not shout |
| Ẹ kò nì í sùn | You all will not sleep |
| Àwọn kò nì í sọ̀ | We will not talk |
Today you have learnt how to create sentences in the negative future tense in Yoruba!
