Somali adjectives are words used to describe people, animals, objects, places and ideas. They can describe qualities such as size, colour, age, appearance and character.
Understanding Somali adjectives is important because adjective forms can change according to grammatical features such as gender and number.
What is an adjective?
An adjective describes a noun.
Examples include:
- weyn — big
- yar — small
- dheer — tall/long
- gaaban — short
- fiican — good
- xun — bad
- cusub — new
- duug — old
- cad — white
- madow — black
Common Somali adjectives
| Somali | English |
|---|---|
| weyn | big |
| yar | small |
| dheer | tall/long |
| gaaban | short |
| wanaagsan | good |
| xun | bad |
| cusub | new |
| duug | old |
| qurux badan | beautiful |
| fool xun | ugly |
| kulul | hot |
| qabow | cold |
| fudud | easy/light |
| adag | difficult/hard |
| degdeg ah | fast |
| gaabis ah | slow |
| nadiif | clean |
| wasakh | dirty |
| xoog badan | strong |
| daciif | weak |
Adjective agreement
Somali adjectives can show agreement with the noun they describe. Learners therefore need to pay attention to gender and number rather than assuming that one adjective form will always remain unchanged.
For example, descriptive forms may change depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine and whether it is singular or plural.
Examples
Nin weyn
A big man.
Gabar weyn
A big girl.
Guri weyn
A big house.
The adjective construction should be learned together with examples because Somali adjective agreement can be more complex than simply placing an English adjective before a noun.
Describing people
Nin dheer
A tall man.
Gabar gaaban
A short girl.
Qof wanaagsan
A good person.
Qof caqli badan
An intelligent person.
Describing things
Guri cusub
A new house.
Baabuur weyn
A big car.
Buug cusub
A new book.
Cunto kulul
Hot food.
Comparative and superlative meaning
Somali can express comparison using constructions meaning more, less, the most and related comparative meanings.
Examples:
Kan wuu ka weyn yahay kan kale.
This one is bigger than the other one.
Iyadu way ka dheer tahay isaga.
She is taller than him.
Learners should pay attention to the complete construction rather than translating English comparative forms word for word.
Adjectives and colours
Common colour words include:
- cad — white
- madow — black
- cas — red
- buluug — blue
- cagaar — green
- jaalle — yellow
Examples:
Baabuur cad — a white car
Shaati madow — a black shirt
Tufaax cas — a red apple
Tips for learning Somali adjectives
Learn adjectives with nouns and complete sentences.
Instead of memorising only:
weyn = big
learn:
guri weyn = a big house
and:
Gurigu waa weyn yahay. = The house is big.