Mandinka/Grammar

Verbs

Gerunds

For transitive verbs without an object, gerunds take on "roo" at the end of the verb.

• domo<v><ger> ↔ domoroo, to eat, eating
• loo<v><ger> ↔ looroo, to build, building
• saŋ<v><ger> ↔ sandiroo, to buy, buying
• waafi<v><ger> ↔ waafiroo, to sell, selling
• suuñaa<v><ger> ↔ suuñaaroo, to steal, stealing
• kantandi<v><ger> ↔ kantandiroo, to wait, waiting

For transitive verbs with an object, gerunds take on "o" at the end of the verb.

• domo<v><ger><obj> ↔ domoo, to eat, eating
• loo<v><ger><obj> ↔ loo, to build, building
• saŋ<v><ger><obj> ↔ saŋo, to buy, buying
• waafi<v><ger><obj> ↔ waafoo, to sell, selling
• miŋ<v><ger><obj> ↔ miŋo, to drink, drinking

For intransitive verbs, gerunds take on "o" at the end of the verb as well.

• díyaamu<v><ger> ↔ diyaamoo, speak/speaking
• taama<v><ger> ↔ taamoo, to walk/walking
• kuu<v><ger> ↔ kuuwoo, to bathe/bathing
• siinoo<v><ger> ↔ siinoo, to sleep/sleeping
• bori<v><ger> ↔ boroo, to run/running

Since there's a transitivity contrast mentioned here, it would make sense to categorise verbs this way with tags (which is standard practice anyway). You can put an iv or tv tag as appropriate immediately after the v tag. Make sure to do this consistently for all verb examples on this page. -JNW

Progressives

• díyaamu<v><prog> ↔ díyaamu kaŋ, speak/speaking
• taama<v><prog> ↔ taama kaŋ, to walk/walking
• kuu<v><prog> ↔ kuu kaŋ, to bathe/bathing
• siinoo<v><prog> ↔ siinoo kaŋ, to sleep/sleeping
• bori<v><prog> ↔ bori kaŋ, to run/running
• tiiñaa<v><prog> ↔ tiiñaa kaŋ, to destroy/destroying
• kanju<v><prog> ↔ kanju kaŋ, to defend/defending
• kantandi<v><ger> ↔ kantandi kaŋ, to wait, waiting

Adverbs

In Mandinka, adverbs are classified as either general or specific. Specific adverbs are applicable only to specific verbs, whereas general adverbs apply to a number of verbs. For general verbs, the typical format is to add "ke" to the end of the verb.

• tariyaa<adj><adv> ↔ tariyaake, quick/quickly
• kende<adj><adv> ↔ kendeke, very well
• bete<adj><adv> ↔ beteke, very well
• jawu<adj><adv> ↔ jawuke, severely
• banban<adj><adv> ↔ banbanke, tightly

Nouns

Plurals

Adds "lu" to the end

• woo<det><dem><pl> ↔ woolu , that/those
• kalaa<det><dem> <pl> ↔ kalaalu , a pen, pens
• motoo<det><dem><pl> ↔ motoolu,a vehicle, vehicles

Agent Suffix

Adds -láa to the end

• bònó<v><agent> ↔ bònóláa, lose/loser
• jàní<v><agent> ↔ jàníláa, roast/roaster