Plural Nouns in Yoruba
Hmm, today’s lesson is a sweet one!
Welcome back! Today we will be going over how to put Yoruba Nouns into their plural forms.
In English to change a noun from its singular to its plural form, all we usually have to do is just add an ‘s’ or ‘es’ to the noun.
For example
Shoe –> Shoes
Book –> Books
Bus –> Buses
Dish–> Dishes
In Yoruba there are three main ways to show that a noun is in its plural form.
1. Using the word ‘àwọn’
2. From context
3. Using numbers or expressions of plurality
Want to start the lessons from the beginning?
1. Using the word àwọn
First method! A way to expressly show that a noun is in its plural form in Yoruba is to just put the word ‘àwọn’ before the noun.
For example
ilé = house
àwọn ilé = houses
ọkọ̀ = vehicle
àwọn ọkọ̀ = vehicles
obìnrin = Woman
àwọn obìnrin = Women
ọkùnrin = Man
àwọn ọkùnrin = Men
ajá = dog
àwọn ajá = dogs
2. From context
Method Number 2, knowing from context!
Sometimes in Yoruba it is not expressly indicated if a noun is in its plural form or in its singular form, so in these instances you will have to know by context.
Mo rà ìwé
I bought a book
I bought books
The sentence above can mean ‘I bought a book’ or ‘I bought books’. This means that when someone is speaking Yoruba to you, if you want to know whether the noun in a sentence is singular or plural and they don’t use the word àwọn before the noun, you will have to know from context.
3. Using numbers or expressions of plurality
The third way of expressing that a noun is in its plural form in Yoruba, is through using words that express plurality such as ‘púpọ̀’ (meaning a lot) or a number.
The numbers from 1 to 10 in Yoruba are:
English | (Standard )Yoruba Numbers | Yoruba Cardinal Numbers |
One | oókan | kan |
Two | eéjì | méjì |
Three | ẹẹ́ta | mẹ́ta |
Four | ẹẹ́rin | mẹ́rin |
Five | aárùn | márùn |
Six | ẹẹ́fà | mẹ́fà |
Seven | eéje | méje |
Eight | ẹẹ́jọ | mẹ́jọ |
Nine | ẹẹ́sàn | mẹ́sàn |
Ten | ẹẹ́wàá | mẹ́wàá |
When do you use (Standard) Yoruba Numbers and Cardinal Yoruba Numbers?
If you were doing a maths equation you would use the Standard Yoruba Numbers (as seen in the middle column of the table above). If you were using a number to describe a noun you would use a Cardinal Yoruba Number.
For example
Maths equation
5 – 1 = ẹẹ́rin
4 – 2 = eéjì
Describing Nouns
Ìwé mẹ́ta = Three books
Àga méjì = Two chairs
Now that the Yoruba numbers have been explained, we will go back to how to express plurality using words such as ‘púpọ̀’ (meaning a lot) and numbers.
Púpọ̀ to express plurality
Púpọ̀ means many or a lot and can be used to express plurality.
For example
- Mo tà ìwé púpọ̀
I sold many books
Púpọ̀ was used in the above sentence to express plurality, to show that more than one book was sold.
Numbers to express plurality
Numbers can be used to express plurality.
For example
- Mo tà ìwé mẹ́ta
I sold three books - O rà ìwé mẹ́rin
He bought six books
Because cardinal numbers greater than one have been used alongside the nouns, we can tell that the nouns are plural.
Today we covered several different ways to show that nouns are in their plural forms in Yoruba, this should help you to improve your Yoruba understanding.