Somali is an agglutinative language, using a large number of affixes and particles to determine and alter the meaning of words.
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As in other related languages, Somali nouns are inflected 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.
The basic form of a Somali noun is in absolutive case. In this case, the article maintains the vowel -a.
| Somali | English |
|---|---|
| buug | (a) book |
| buug-ga | the book |
| gacan | (a) hand |
| gacanta | the hand |
The subject of a sentence takes nominative case. 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. Some feminine nouns 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... |
Genitive case 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 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 is not marked in nouns without the definite article. The gender of nouns does not follow any particular rule and is not generally obvious.
Nouns form their plural in three ways, including reduplication. 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.
There are both subject and object forms for each personal pronoun, 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) |
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 mood 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.
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 verb 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:
| Person | Present | English |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sing. | keenaa | I bring |
| 2. Sing. | keentaa | you bring |
| 3. Sing. m. | keenaa | he brings |
| 3. Sing. f. | keentaa | she brings |
| 1. Pl. | keennaa | we bring |
| 2. Pl. | keentaan | you (pl.) bring |
| 3. Pl. | keenaan | they bring |
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.
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 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):
| 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 |
The subjunctive is used only in subordinate clauses and certain prepositional phrases. The present subjunctive differs from the indicative only in that the vowel in the endings changes from a to o. Future subjunctive uses the infinitive plus the present subjunctive form of doon.
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:
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. [1]