Common Basic Verbs in Yoruba

In Brief

Yoruba verbs do not change their form to match the person: Mo lọ means “I go/went,” while Wọ́n lọ means “They go/went.” The subject changes, but lọ stays the same. Time and aspect—whether an action is ongoing, completed, habitual, or expected—are usually shown by particles such as ń, ti, and máa, or understood from context.

Overview

A small group of verbs lets you build a remarkable number of everyday Yoruba sentences. Ten especially useful ones are wá (come), lọ (go), jẹ (eat), mu (drink), sùn (sleep), rí (see), gbọ́ (hear), mọ̀ (know), fẹ́ (want or love), and ṣe (do or make). You will meet them in greetings, invitations, descriptions of daily life, and simple conversations about plans and needs.

This is an A1 topic because the beginner rule is straightforward: Yoruba normally follows subject + verb + object or complement, and the verb itself does not acquire English-style endings such as -s or -ed. A subject is the person or thing doing or experiencing the action; an object is the person or thing affected by it. Compare Mo rí Adé (“I saw Ade”) and Ó rí Adé (“He or she saw Ade”): only the subject pronoun changes.

English speakers must learn two new habits. First, do not look for a changed verb form to tell you who acts or when the action happens. Second, treat tone marks and underdots as part of the spelling. For example, wá is “come,” but wà is “be located”; sùn is “sleep,” while sún can mean “move closer.”

How It Works

The ten core verbs

Yoruba	Basic meaning	Simple example	English
wá	come	Adé wá.	Ade came / Ade comes.
lọ	go	Mo lọ.	I went / I am going.
jẹ	eat	Ó jẹ iṣu.	He/She ate yam.
mu	drink	A mu omi.	We drank water.
sùn	sleep	Ọmọ náà sùn.	The child slept.
rí	see	Mo rí wọn.	I saw them.
gbọ́	hear	Ó gbọ́ ohùn náà.	He/She heard the voice.
mọ̀	know	Wọ́n mọ̀ ọ́.	They know it/him/her.
fẹ́	want; love	Mo fẹ́ omi.	I want water.
ṣe	do; make	A ṣe iṣẹ́ náà.	We did the work.

A slash in the English translations does not mean that Yoruba is vague about everything. The surrounding conversation, a time expression, or an aspect marker normally supplies the intended reading.

One verb form for every person

The verb lọ remains unchanged with all common subject pronouns:

Person	Yoruba	English
first-person singular	Mo lọ.	I go / went.
second-person singular	O lọ.	You go / went.
third-person singular	Ó lọ.	He/She goes / went.
first-person plural	A lọ.	We go / went.
second-person plural	Ẹ lọ.	You all go / went.
third-person plural	Wọ́n lọ.	They go / went.

Pay close attention to O and Ó. O with a mid tone means singular “you,” whereas Ó with a high tone means “he,” “she,” or sometimes “it.” Yoruba does not distinguish “he” from “she” in this pronoun; context identifies the person.

Basic sentence patterns

The most useful patterns are:

Pattern	Yoruba example	Meaning
subject + verb	Ọmọ náà sùn.	The child slept.
subject + verb + object	Bọ́lá mu omi.	Bola drank water.
subject + verb + destination	Ó lọ sí ọjà.	He/She went to the market.
subject + fẹ́ + noun	Mo fẹ́ kọ́fí.	I want coffee.
subject + fẹ́ + verb	Mo fẹ́ lọ.	I want to go.

After fẹ́, a noun names the thing wanted, while another verb names the desired action. English uses to in “want to go”; Yoruba simply places lọ after fẹ́. Do not insert sí between them. Sí is used for direction or destination, as in lọ sí ilé (“go home/to the house”).

Showing time and the shape of an action

An aspect marker is a short word that shows how an action unfolds—for example, whether it is in progress or already complete. These markers normally come before the verb.

Form	Main use	Example	English
bare verb	simple event; time often comes from context	Mo rí i lánàá.	I saw it yesterday.
ń + verb	action in progress	Mo ń mu omi.	I am drinking water.
ti + verb	completed action or resulting state	Ó ti lọ.	He/She has gone.
máa + verb	habitual or expected/future action, depending on context	A máa wá lọ́la.	We will come tomorrow.

These are beginner-friendly working meanings, not one-to-one equivalents of English tenses. Máa can describe what regularly happens as well as what will happen; words such as lọ́la (“tomorrow”) make the future reading clear. Likewise, a bare verb can refer to a completed event when a phrase such as lánàá (“yesterday”) or the conversation establishes past time.

Objects and short object pronouns

Several of these verbs commonly take an object: you see someone, hear something, know someone or something, eat food, and do a task. Short pronoun objects attach closely to the verb in speech and writing:

• Mo rí i. — I saw it/him/her.
• Wọ́n mọ̀ ọ́. — They know it/him/her.
• A ṣe é. — We did it.

The vowel shape of these short forms is affected by the sound pattern around them, so beginners should learn frequent verb-plus-pronoun combinations as complete chunks: rí i, mọ̀ ọ́, ṣe é. Do not replace all of them mechanically with one written form.

Tone and spelling belong to the verb

Yoruba has three lexical tones: high (acute accent), mid (usually unmarked), and low (grave accent). “Lexical” means that tone can distinguish one word from another. The underdots in ẹ, ọ, and ṣ also identify different letters or sounds.

For this set, memorize the marks with the verb: wá, lọ, jẹ, mu, sùn, rí, gbọ́, mọ̀, fẹ́, ṣe. Compare these especially useful contrasts:

• wá — come; wà — be present or located
• sùn — sleep; sún — move nearer
• mọ̀ — know; mọ́ — be clean (in suitable constructions)

Writers sometimes omit tone marks in informal digital messages, but learners should retain them while studying. They support both pronunciation and meaning.

Examples in Context

Yoruba	English	Note
Mo fẹ́ lọ.	I want to go.	fẹ́ + verb, with no equivalent of English to.
Ó wá sí ilé.	He/She came home.	sí introduces the destination.
Wọ́n mọ̀ ọ́.	They know it/him/her.	Short third-person object after mọ̀.
A gbọ́dọ̀ ṣe é.	We must do it.	gbọ́dọ̀ marks obligation; é is the object.
O ń mu omi.	You are drinking water.	O is “you”; ń marks an ongoing action.
Ọmọ náà sùn dáadáa.	The child slept well.	dáadáa describes how the child slept.
Mo rí Bọ́lá ní ọjà.	I saw Bola at the market.	A named person is the object of rí.
Ṣé o gbọ́ ohùn náà?	Did you hear that voice?	Ṣé introduces a yes/no question.
Ó ti lọ sí iṣẹ́.	He/She has gone to work.	ti presents the going as completed.
A máa wá lọ́la.	We will come tomorrow.	lọ́la makes the expected future time clear.
Mo fẹ́ oúnjẹ.	I want food.	fẹ́ + noun names the thing wanted.
Mo fẹ́ ìyá mi.	I love my mother.	With a person, fẹ́ can express love or affection.
Wọ́n jẹ iṣu, wọ́n sì mu omi.	They ate yam and drank water.	sì links the second event: “and/then.”
Ẹ ṣe iṣẹ́ náà.	You all did the work.	Ẹ is the plural or respectful “you.”

Common Mistakes

Changing the verb to match the subject

• Wrong: Ó lọs.
• Right: Ó lọ.
• Why: Yoruba does not add an ending equivalent to English third-person -s. lọ remains the same with mo, o, ó, a, ẹ, and wọ́n.

Confusing “you” with “he/she”

• Wrong: O ń sùn. when you mean “He/She is sleeping.”
• Right: Ó ń sùn.
• Why: Mid-tone O is singular “you”; high-tone Ó is “he/she.” The accent changes the pronoun.

Mixing up wá and wà

• Wrong: Ó wà sí ilé. for “He/She came home.”
• Right: Ó wá sí ilé.
• Why: wá means “come.” wà means “be present/be located” and is a different verb.

Copying the English infinitive pattern after fẹ́

• Wrong: Mo fẹ́ sí lọ.
• Right: Mo fẹ́ lọ.
• Why: Yoruba does not require a word corresponding to English to between fẹ́ and the following action verb. Sí marks direction in phrases such as lọ sí ọjà.

Treating the bare verb as a fixed present tense

• Wrong assumption: Mo rí i lánàá must mean “I see it yesterday.”
• Right: Mo rí i lánàá. — “I saw it yesterday.”
• Why: A bare Yoruba verb is not simply an English present-tense form. lánàá and the context place the event in the past.

Using one object-pronoun spelling everywhere

• Wrong: forcing ó after every verb for English “it.”
• Right: learn forms such as rí i, mọ̀ ọ́, and ṣe é.
• Why: Short object pronouns interact with nearby vowels. Memorized verb-object chunks are safer than translating one English pronoun word for word.

Usage Notes

Jẹ and jẹun

You will hear both jẹ and jẹun around eating. Jẹ can take a named food directly: Ó jẹ iṣu (“He/She ate yam”). Jẹun functions as “eat/have a meal” without naming a particular food: Mo fẹ́ jẹun (“I want to eat”). At a later stage, you will learn that many Yoruba expressions combine a verb and a noun-like element, and that the combination may be separated when a more specific object is supplied.

The range of fẹ́ and ṣe

Fẹ́ can mean “want” or “love.” The complement and context guide the interpretation: Mo fẹ́ omi is normally “I want water,” while Mo fẹ́ ìyá mi expresses love for one’s mother. For romantic love, context and fuller expressions help avoid ambiguity.

Ṣe covers much of both English do and make, but it is not a universal word-for-word replacement. Yoruba often prefers established combinations such as ṣe iṣẹ́ (“do/work”) and other verb–noun expressions. Learn the whole expression rather than selecting ṣe merely because English uses do or make.

Direction with lọ and wá

Use sí before an explicit destination: lọ sí ọjà (“go to the market”), wá sí ilé (“come home”). As in English, the choice between “go” and “come” depends on the speaker’s viewpoint and the relevant destination. Do not assume that one of the two is always the neutral movement verb.

Formal and informal writing

Fully marked Yoruba is the best model for study and formal writing. In casual messages, some writers leave out tone marks, especially when context prevents confusion. That practice does not make the tones optional in speech. If you learn gbọ́ merely as gbo, you lose information needed for accurate pronunciation and may confuse words.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following points at A1, but they explain forms you will soon encounter.

Yoruba builds much of its verb system with particles rather than conjugated endings. Beyond ń, ti, and máa, negation has several patterns. For example, kò commonly negates a simple statement (Kò lọ, “He/She did not go”), while má is used in negative commands (Má lọ!, “Don’t go!”). Habitual negatives and more complex clauses introduce further distinctions; avoid treating one negative word as valid in every setting.

Serial verb constructions place more than one verb in a single sequence to describe one connected event. A movement verb can combine with another action, and Yoruba often organizes such sequences differently from English. You may therefore meet sentences where translating each verb separately produces unnatural English even though every Yoruba verb keeps its unchanged form.

Verb–noun combinations are another major development. Forms such as jẹun (“eat”), ṣiṣẹ́ (“work”), and kọrin (“sing”) contain elements that can become more visible when the phrase takes a specific noun: compare the basic idea of jẹun with jẹ oúnjẹ (“eat food”). This is why learning common collocations—words that conventionally occur together—is more productive than memorizing isolated English equivalents.

Finally, pronunciation can trigger sound changes at word boundaries, especially around short pronouns and particles. Spellings such as rí i, mọ̀ ọ́, and ṣe é reflect a living sound system, not an arbitrary list of exceptions. More advanced study will connect these forms to vowel harmony, assimilation, and elision (sounds becoming alike or disappearing in connected speech).

Practice Tips

1. Build substitution rows. Say Mo lọ, O lọ, Ó lọ, A lọ, Ẹ lọ, Wọ́n lọ, then repeat with wá, sùn, and rí. Your goal is to change the subject without changing the verb.
2. Learn tone and meaning together. Put wá/wà and sùn/sún on contrast cards, listen to a reliable recording, and imitate the pitch as well as the consonants and vowels.
3. Expand one sentence in stages. Start with Mo mu omi, then make it ongoing (Mo ń mu omi), completed (Mo ti mu omi), or future in context (Mo máa mu omi lọ́la). This trains particles as meaningful units rather than English tense substitutions.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Daily Activities — use familiar verbs in routines such as waking, bathing, working, resting, and sleeping.
• Next step: Transportation and Movement — extend lọ and wá with vehicles, destinations, and travel expressions.
• Next step: Wanting, Ability, and Obligation — develop fẹ́ and add ways to express “can,” “must,” and “should.”
• Later: Splitting Verbs and Verb-Noun Collocations — understand combinations such as jẹun, ṣiṣẹ́, and kọrin.
• Later: Causative Constructions (Mú/Jẹ́...kí) — express making, causing, allowing, and letting.
• Later: Adverbial Phrases and Manner — describe how an action is performed.
• Advanced: Becoming and Change of State (Di) — describe becoming and changes of condition.