Somali grammar
Encyclopedia
Somali
is an agglutinative language
, using a large number of affixes and particles to determine and alter the meaning of words.
for gender
, number
and case
.
Affixes change according to a number of rules. The definite article is a suffix
, with the basic form being -ki or -ka for masculine nouns and -ti or -ta for female nouns. The k or t is the actual article marker, although it can change depending on the preceding consonant, with the following vowel determined by the case of the noun. Articles do not change for singular or plural.
. In this case, the article maintains the vowel -a.
. In this case, the article takes the vowel -u. If the subject of the sentence includes multiple nouns, only the last takes the nominative ending for the article.
If there is no article, a tonal change signifies nominative case, although this is not represented in the orthography. Feminine nouns which do not take modifiers and end in a consonant take the suffix -i in nominative case without an article.
is generally indicated through a tonal change. Some feminine nouns take an ending, -eed, -aad or -od depending on the final consonant of the root word.
is indicated either through a tonal change or with the suffixes -ow (m. sg.), -ohow (m. pl.), -eey/-aay/-ooy (f. sg.) or -yahay (f. pl.).
. Many nouns exhibit gender polarity, whereby they change gender in the plural form, e.g. buug-ga (the book) is masculine in the singular, but buugag-ta (the books) is feminine.
, with each form further divided into short and emphatic forms.
form for present and future tense. Verbs in Somali conjugate mainly through the addition of suffixes, although a very small number of common verbs maintain an archaic conjugation using prefixes.
karid (to be able). Verbal nouns are formed with the endings -id, -n and -sho, e.g. keenid (the bringing), siin (the giving) and barasho (the learning) and are used and declined as per normal nouns.
Present tense refers to an action which may or may not be happening at present. It may be used to express something which happens habitually or repeatedly. The present tense conjugation of keen (to bring) follows:
Past tense is used to describe a completed action in the past with a discrete duration. The conjugation of keen (to bring) is:
nb: The final -ay can also be pronounced and written -ey.
The present continuous tense is formed with the infix -ay- / -na- (depending on dialect) and the endings from the present tense. The present continuous forms of keen are:
Past continuous is formed with the infix -na / -ay and the past tense endings: keen+ay+ey = keenayey = I was bringing. Is it used to describe actions in the past which happened over a period of time: Intuu akhrinayey wargeyska wuu quracanayey. = While he was reading the newspaper, he was eating breakfast.
Future tense is formed with the infinitive of the required verb and the present tense of doon (to want):
Example:
Thus, the words baa, ayaa, and waxaa unconsciously raise the question of who went out? Therefore the noun.
Somali also has the word waa which puts the focus on verbs and verb phrases.
Example:
John waa baxay - John Focus (waa) went out
Waa is different from other previous one we have just seen, because it
raises the question of what did John do? Therefore the verb.
Sentences in Somali are typically of the order subject–object–verb (SOV). Nouns have different tonal markings for number, gender (masculine and feminine), and case or role in the sentence.
Somali language
The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....
is an agglutinative language
Agglutinative language
An agglutinative language is a language that uses agglutination extensively: most words are formed by joining morphemes together. This term was introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1836 to classify languages from a morphological point of view...
, using a large number of affixes and particles to determine and alter the meaning of words.
Morphology
As in other related languages, Somali nouns are inflectedInflection
In grammar, inflection or inflexion is the modification of a word to express different grammatical categories such as tense, grammatical mood, grammatical voice, aspect, person, number, gender and case...
for gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
, number
Grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
and case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
.
Affixes change according to a number of rules. The definite article is a suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
, with the basic form being -ki or -ka for masculine nouns and -ti or -ta for female nouns. The k or t is the actual article marker, although it can change depending on the preceding consonant, with the following vowel determined by the case of the noun. Articles do not change for singular or plural.
Absolutive case
The basic form of a Somali noun is in absolutive caseAbsolutive case
The absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
. In this case, the article maintains the vowel -a.
| Somali | English |
|---|---|
| buug | (a) book |
| buug-ga | the book |
| gacan | (a) hand |
| gacanta | the hand |
Nominative case
The subject of a sentence takes nominative caseNominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
. In this case, the article takes the vowel -u. If the subject of the sentence includes multiple nouns, only the last takes the nominative ending for the article.
If there is no article, a tonal change signifies nominative case, although this is not represented in the orthography. Feminine nouns which do not take modifiers and end in a consonant take the suffix -i in nominative case without an article.
| Somali | English |
|---|---|
| nin | man |
| nin-ka | the man |
| nin-ku... | the man... (followed by a verb) |
| nin-ka iyo wiil-ku... | the man and the boy... |
| naagtu | the woman... (subject with modifier) |
| naagi | woman... (nominative non-modified form) |
Genitive case
Genitive caseGenitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
is generally indicated through a tonal change. Some feminine nouns take an ending, -eed, -aad or -od depending on the final consonant of the root word.
| Somali | English |
|---|---|
| áf | (a) language |
| carab | Arab (people) |
| áf carabeed | Arabic language (i.e. language of the Arabs) |
Vocative case
Vocative caseVocative case
The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
is indicated either through a tonal change or with the suffixes -ow (m. sg.), -ohow (m. pl.), -eey/-aay/-ooy (f. sg.) or -yahay (f. pl.).
Gender
Gender is not marked in nouns without the definite article. The gender of nouns does not follow any particular rule and is not generally obvious.Number
Nouns form their plural in three ways, including reduplicationReduplication
Reduplication in linguistics is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word is repeated exactly or with a slight change....
. Many nouns exhibit gender polarity, whereby they change gender in the plural form, e.g. buug-ga (the book) is masculine in the singular, but buugag-ta (the books) is feminine.
Pronouns
There are both subject and object forms for each personal pronounPersonal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular...
, with each form further divided into short and emphatic forms.
| Subject pronouns | Object pronouns | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person | Emphatic | Short | Emphatic | Short |
| 1. Sing. | anigu | aan | aniga | i(i) |
| 2. Sing. | adigu | aad | adiga | ku(u) |
| 3. Sing. m. | isagu | uu | isaga | (u) |
| 3. Sing. f. | iyadu | ay | iyada | (u) |
| 1. Pl. (inclusive) | innagu | aynu | innaga | ina/inoo |
| 1. Pl. (exclusive) | annagu | aannu | innaga | na/noo |
| 2. Pl. | idinku | aad | idinka | idin/idiin |
| 3. Pl. | iyagu | ay | iyaga | (u) |
Verbs
Somali verbs consist of a stem to which suffixes are added. Verbs in indicative mood exist in four tenses, present, present continuous, past and past continuous, in addition to a subjunctive moodSubjunctive mood
In grammar, the subjunctive mood is a verb mood typically used in subordinate clauses to express various states of irreality such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred....
form for present and future tense. Verbs in Somali conjugate mainly through the addition of suffixes, although a very small number of common verbs maintain an archaic conjugation using prefixes.
Infinitive and verbal nouns
The infinitive is created through the suffix -i or -n depending on verb class, e.g. keeni (to bring) and siin (to give). The infinitive is used in present tense only with the modal verbModal verb
A modal verb is a type of auxiliary verb that is used to indicate modality -- that is, likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation...
karid (to be able). Verbal nouns are formed with the endings -id, -n and -sho, e.g. keenid (the bringing), siin (the giving) and barasho (the learning) and are used and declined as per normal nouns.
Present
Present tense refers to an action which may or may not be happening at present. It may be used to express something which happens habitually or repeatedly. The present tense conjugation of keen (to bring) follows:
| Person | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sing. | waan keenaa | I bring |
| 2. Sing. | waad keentaa | you bring |
| 3. Sing. m. | 'wuu 'keenaa | he brings |
| 3. Sing. f. | way keentaa | she brings |
| 1. Pl. | waan keennaa | we bring |
| 2. Pl. | waad keentaan | you (pl.) bring |
| 3. Pl. | way keenaan | they bring |
Past
Past tense is used to describe a completed action in the past with a discrete duration. The conjugation of keen (to bring) is:
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sing. | (waan) keenay | I brought |
| 2. Sing. | (waad) keentay | you brought |
| 3. Sing. m. | (wuu) keenay | he brought |
| 3. Sing. f. | (way) keentay | she brought |
| 1. Pl. | (waan) keennay | we brought |
| 2. Pl. | (waad) keenteen | you (pl.) brought |
| 3. Pl. | (way) keeneen | they brought |
nb: The final -ay can also be pronounced and written -ey.
Present continuous
The present continuous tense is formed with the infix -ay- / -na- (depending on dialect) and the endings from the present tense. The present continuous forms of keen are:
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sing. | (waan) keenayaa | I am bringing |
| 2. Sing. | (waad) keenaysaa | you are bringing |
| 3. Sing. m. | (wuu) keenayaa | he is bringing |
| 3. Sing. f. | (way) keenaysaa | she is bringing |
| 1. Pl. | (waan) keenaynaa | we are bringing |
| 2. Pl. | (waad) keenaysaan | you (pl.) are bringing |
| 3. Pl. | (way) keenayaan | they are bringing |
Past continuous
Past continuous is formed with the infix -na / -ay and the past tense endings: keen+ay+ey = keenayey = I was bringing. Is it used to describe actions in the past which happened over a period of time: Intuu akhrinayey wargeyska wuu quracanayey. = While he was reading the newspaper, he was eating breakfast.
Future
Future tense is formed with the infinitive of the required verb and the present tense of doon (to want):
| Person | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sing. | (waan) keeni doonaa | I will bring |
| 2. Sing. | (waad) keeni doontaa | you will bring |
| 3. Sing. m. | (wuu) keeni doonaa | he will bring |
| 3. Sing. f. | (way) keeni doontaa | she will bring |
| 1. Pl. | (waan) keeni doonaa | we will bring |
| 2. Pl. | (waad) keeni doontaan | you (pl.) will bring |
| 3. Pl. | (way) keeni doonaan | they will bring |
Syntax
Somali has several strategies to indicate where the intention or the interest or the focus is located in the phrase: a topic–comment or focus construction. The words baa, ayaa, and waxaa put the focus on nouns and noun phrases.Example:
- John baa baxay - John Focus (baa) went out
- John ayaa baxay - John Focus (ayaa) went out
- Waxaa baxay John - Focus (waxaa) went out John
Thus, the words baa, ayaa, and waxaa unconsciously raise the question of who went out? Therefore the noun.
Somali also has the word waa which puts the focus on verbs and verb phrases.
Example:
John waa baxay - John Focus (waa) went out
Waa is different from other previous one we have just seen, because it
raises the question of what did John do? Therefore the verb.
Sentences in Somali are typically of the order subject–object–verb (SOV). Nouns have different tonal markings for number, gender (masculine and feminine), and case or role in the sentence.