Mandinka/Grammar

Verbs

Gerunds

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

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

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

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

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

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

kaŋ seems like an auxiliary of some sort; if so, I would make it a separate token (with its own morphTest), perhaps with a vaux tag. -JNW

Adverbs

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

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

I'm not sure I understand this grammar point. If you're making adverbs out of adjectives, then the "For general verbs..." sentence is misleading and you should use an advl tag instead of an adv tag (since the latter is a POS tag—the former means "adverbial" and can be used as a grammatical tag). If you're making adverbs out of verbs (as the wording of the "For general verbs..." sentence seems to suggest), then the POS tag should be v, not adj. -JNW

Nouns

Plurals

Nouns in Mandinka take "lu" at the end to form plurals.

• woo<det><dem><pl> ↔ woolu , that/those
• kalaa<n><pl> ↔ kalaalu, a pen, pens
• motoo<n><pl> ↔ motoolu, a vehicle, vehicles
• suloo<n><pl> ↔ suloolu, a monkey, monkeys
• musoo<n><pl> ↔ musoloo, a woman, women

Agent Suffix

Adds -láa to the end

• bònó<v><agent> ↔ bònóláa, lose/loser
• baara<v><agent> ↔ baaraláa, work/worker