Nigerian Pidgin (Naija) draws most of its vocabulary from English (its superstrate language), while its grammatical structures and sentence constructions are strongly influenced by Nigeria’s indigenous languages and by the sociocultural context of Nigerian society. Word order plays a crucial role in languages, as altering the arrangement of words in a sentence can significantly change its meaning. This article explores the word order in Naija by examining its sentence structure, key grammatical patterns, and how these elements contribute to meaning-making in everyday communication.
Subject-verb-object
Like the English Language, sentences in Naija use the subject-verb-object order.
| Subject | Verb | Object |
|---|---|---|
| I | chop | rice |
| She | trowey | di food |
| Mama | cook | soup |
Adjective order
Adjectives before the noun
Similar to English, the adjective comes before the noun in a sentence. For example:
- She be fine girl.
- She is a beautiful girl.
- Dat small pikin don go school.
- That little child has gone to school.
- Na sweet food dem cook today.
- They cooked delicious food today.
Ordering of multiple adjectives
We follow the English order of adjectives in Naija i.e opinion, size, physical quality, shape, age, color, origin, material, type and purpose. For example:
- Na one small fine girl I see.
- I saw one beautiful little girl.
- Dem get three big red buses.
- They have three large red buses.
- I trowey dat my old black ugly shoe.
- I disposed my old black ugly shoe.
Predicate adjectives
Predicate adjectives follow a linking verb and describe the subject of a sentence. In Naija, the linking verb is optional when it’s the verb “to be”.
Examples:
- Ha head dey strong. / Ha head strong.
- She’s stubborn.
- I dey happy today. / I happy today.
- I am happy today.
- Yu dey look hungry.
- You look hungry.
Adverb order
In Naija, adverbs appear in different parts of a sentence depending on the type of adverb being used.
| Adverb type | Placement | Example sentence | English translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manner | After the verb & often reduplicated | – I chop di food sharp-sharp. – She dey drive slow-slow. | – I ate the food quickly. – She drives slowly. |
| Time | Beginning or end of a sentence | – I go show yor side tomorrow. – Yesterday we no see light. | – I will come to your house tomorrow. – There was no light yesterday. |
| Place | After the verb | – Wetin yu dey find for yer? – I go wait for yu outside. | – What are you looking here? – I’ll wait for you outside. |
| Frequency | After the auxiliary verb | – Yu dey always burst my brain. – She dey come late sometimes. | – You always amaze me. – She comes late sometimes. |
| Degree | Before the adjective or verb | – Yu too like amebo. | – You really like gossip. |
Question order
Unlike English, when converting a statement to a question in Naija, the subject-verb order does not change.
| Statement | Question | Translation |
| She dey chop | Wetin she dey chop? | She is eating / What is she eating? |
| Yor mama dey house | Yor mama dey house? | Your mother is at home / Is your mother at home? |