This lesson teaches a basic overview of Igbo adverbs. First of all, what is an adverb? An adverb is a word in grammar which qualifies the action of the verb and specifies how the action is performed. In the English language examples of adverbs would be slowly, quickly, hurriedly and instantly. And in the phrase, “I eat slowly”, slowly is the adverb as it follows the verb eat and specifies how the eating is done.
As you can see in English to make an adverb we add the letters “ly” to the end of an adjective. However, Igbo does not derive adverbs by addition of “ly”. Igbo adverbs take a completely different approach.
Igbo adverbs are derived by repeating the “adjective”. For instance “He eats slowly means Ọ na-eri nri nwayọ nwayọ. (nwayọ means slow and “nwayọ nwayọ” is the adverb (slowly).
For example, in Igbo to say slowly we say “nwayọ nwayọ“. We merely repeat the adjective.
Examples
IGBO |
ENGLISH |
Nwayọ nwayọ
Ọ na-aga ije “nwayọ nwayọ”
|
Slowly
He walks “slowly” |
Ngwa ngwa
Bia ngwa ngwa
|
Rapidly
Come rapidly ( in a rush) |
Gbaje gbaje
Mee ya gbaye gbaje
|
quickly
Perform it rapidly |
N’ọkụ n’ọkụ
Rie ya n’ọkụ n’ọkụ
|
Hurriedly
Eat it huriedly |
ọsisọ
Bia ọsisọ
|
Quickly
Come quickly |
Ozugbo ozugbo
Bido, gụọ akwụkwọ gi ozugbo ozigbo
|
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