Understanding Wolof Verbs: Grammar and Conjugation Insights

Verbs are one of the most distinctive parts of Wolof grammar. If you are coming from English or French, one of the first things to understand is that Wolof does not normally conjugate a verb by changing the verb itself according to the person who performs the action.

Instead, the verb stem generally remains the same, while different verbal pronouns or conjugation forms are used around the verb. These forms can express who is involved, how an action is viewed, whether it is completed or ongoing, its relationship to time, whether the speaker is emphasizing the subject, verb, or object, and whether the sentence is affirmative or negative. (⁠Janga Wolof)

For example, dem means “to go.” The basic verb does not change into separate equivalents of English go, goes, went, and going. Instead, Wolof uses different constructions with dem:

Maa ngi dem. — I am going.
Dinaa dem. — I will go / I am going to go.
Dem naa. — I have gone / I went.

The exact meaning of a construction depends on the verbal form being used and the context. (⁠Janga Wolof)

This means that learning a Wolof verb involves more than memorizing an English-style conjugation table. You need to learn how the verb behaves with the different Wolof verbal constructions.

The verb itself

A useful starting point is to think of a Wolof verb as having a relatively stable basic form.

For example:

dem — to go
lekk — to eat
gis — to see
jàng — to study/read
liggéey — to work

The basic verb does not normally change simply because the subject changes from I to you to they.

This is one reason Wolof verbs can initially seem easier than verbs in languages with extensive verb conjugation. The difficulty is moved elsewhere: the learner must become familiar with the different verbal pronouns/conjugation patterns and understand what each one contributes to the sentence.

Verbal pronouns and conjugation

Wolof is often described as having temporal pronouns, verbal pronouns, or conjugation markers. These terms refer to forms that occur with the verb and carry information that languages such as English often express by changing the verb itself. (⁠Janga Wolof)

For example:

Maa ngi dem.
I am going.

Here, dem remains unchanged. The form maa ngi tells us something about the subject and the way the action is being presented.

Compare:

Dinaa dem.
I will go.

Again, dem itself has not changed. The different verbal form dinaa changes the grammatical meaning of the sentence.

The forms are therefore extremely important to learning Wolof verbs. It is often more useful to learn a verb together with examples of the constructions in which it occurs than to think of it as having a long list of English-style conjugated forms.

Person

Wolof verbal constructions distinguish the person and number of the subject.

The basic personal distinctions include:

first person singular — I
second person singular — you
third person singular — he, she, it
first person plural — we
second person plural — you
third person plural — they

Wolof does not have separate third-person pronouns corresponding to English he and she. The same third-person form can refer to a person of either sex, with context supplying the information when necessary.

The important point for verbs is that person is primarily expressed through the verbal construction rather than by changing the verb stem itself.

Aspect is especially important

One of the most important differences between Wolof and English is the importance of aspect.

English learners often begin by thinking in terms of:

present
past
future

Wolof certainly has ways of referring to past, present, and future situations, but its verbal system is not organized around tense in quite the same way. Aspect—the way an action or situation is viewed—is particularly important. Linguistic descriptions of Wolof therefore often give aspect a more central role than simple past/present/future categories. (⁠Benjamins)

For example, a speaker may need to distinguish between an action that is:

completed
ongoing
habitual or repeated
expected or future
presented as a current situation
emphasized as an action itself
emphasized in relation to its subject or object

This is why translating every Wolof verbal construction directly into an English “tense” can sometimes be misleading.

A better question is:

How is the speaker presenting the action?

rather than simply:

What tense is this?

Completed and ongoing actions

A particularly useful distinction for learners is between a completed action and an action that is viewed as ongoing or incomplete.

For example, a Wolof construction may present an event as something that has been accomplished, while another presents it as something currently happening or continuing.

English often expresses this distinction with forms such as:

I ate.
I am eating.
I have eaten.
I will eat.

Wolof does not simply reproduce these distinctions by changing the ending of lekk (“eat”). Instead, different verbal constructions are used.

This is one reason the same basic verb can appear in several different grammatical environments without changing its stem.

Time: past, present, and future

Wolof can clearly express when an event takes place, but time and aspect interact.

The verbal system contains constructions that can refer to future events, completed events, ongoing situations, habitual actions, and other temporal relationships. A completed or ongoing interpretation is not necessarily tied to one particular point on a simple past-present-future timeline. (⁠Benjamins)

Past reference can also be made more explicit with verbal suffixes. One important example is -(w)oon, which can mark past reference on a verb while the appropriate verbal construction remains present in the sentence. (⁠Janga Wolof)

For this reason, it is better to learn Wolof tense and aspect as a system of constructions rather than trying to create a one-to-one correspondence with English tenses.

Focus

Another major feature of Wolof verbs is focus.

In English, we can emphasize different parts of a sentence through word order, intonation, stress, or special constructions:

I ate the rice.
I ate the rice.
I ate the rice.

Wolof has grammatical constructions that can specifically place focus on different parts of the clause. Linguistic descriptions commonly distinguish subject focus, verb or verbal-phrase focus, and non-subject/object focus. (⁠PubMed Central (PMC))

This means that two sentences that appear to describe roughly the same event in English may use different Wolof verbal constructions depending on what information the speaker wants to highlight.

Focus is therefore not merely an optional stylistic feature. It is an important part of how Wolof organizes information in a sentence.

The verb does not always stay in the same position

Because different verbal constructions have different structures, the relationship between the verbal form and the verb can vary.

Some constructions place the verbal marker before the verb:

Dinaa dem.
I will go.

Other constructions can place the verb before the verbal form:

Dem naa.
I have gone / I went.

This is another reason that Wolof cannot simply be understood by taking an English sentence and replacing each word with a Wolof equivalent. The grammatical construction determines how the sentence is organized.

Negation

Wolof also has specific verbal constructions for negation.

Rather than simply putting a separate word equivalent to English not in front of every verb, Wolof uses negative verbal forms that interact with the verbal system.

Negation therefore needs to be learned together with the relevant verbal constructions rather than treated as a single independent word that can always be placed in the same position.

A useful learner’s question is:

What is the negative form of this particular verbal construction?

rather than:

Where do I put “not”?

The negative system is closely connected with the same distinctions of person, aspect, tense, and focus that occur in affirmative sentences.

Active and stative verbs

Wolof also makes an important distinction between active and stative verbs.

An active verb describes an action or process:

lekk — eat
dem — go
liggéey — work

A stative verb describes a state or condition:

baax — be good
metti — be difficult / be painful
xam — know

The distinction can affect which verbal constructions can be used and how a sentence is interpreted. Some verbs can also have different interpretations depending on the construction in which they occur. (⁠Wolof Resources)

This is particularly important because Wolof does not map neatly onto the English division between verbs and adjectives. Some concepts that English expresses with adjectives can be expressed through stative verbs in Wolof.

For example, rather than assuming that an English adjective must correspond to a separate Wolof adjective category, it is often better to ask how Wolof expresses the state or quality being described.

Verbal extensions

The basic verb can also be modified by verbal extensions. These are suffixes or related forms that alter the meaning or grammatical behavior of a verb.

Depending on the construction, a verbal extension can express meanings such as:

causation
reflexive or middle meanings
passive meanings
reciprocal action
other changes in the relationship between the action and its participants

For example, Wolof has productive ways of deriving related verbs rather than treating every possible meaning as an unrelated dictionary form.

This means that it is useful to recognize a basic verb stem even when it appears in an extended form.

The same word can function as a noun or verb

Wolof does not always make the distinction between nouns and verbs as visibly as English does.

A form can sometimes be interpreted differently depending on the grammatical context. Wolof grammar notes, for example, point out that liggéey can function as a verb meaning “to work” or as a noun meaning “work.” The surrounding verbal or nominal construction tells the listener how it is being used. (⁠Wolof Resources)

This is another reason context is important in Wolof.

A learner should not necessarily assume:

“This word is listed as a verb, therefore it can only be a verb.”

Instead, pay attention to what surrounds it and what grammatical role it is performing.

Verbs and objects

Many Wolof verbs can take an object just as English verbs can:

gis — see
lekk — eat
jàng — read/study

The object may be a noun, pronoun, or another type of phrase.

However, object relationships can interact with Wolof’s focus system. In particular, a speaker may choose a verbal construction that places special emphasis on a non-subject element of the sentence. (⁠PubMed Central (PMC))

This is one reason it is useful to learn verbs inside complete sentences rather than memorizing isolated English equivalents.

Verbs in everyday speech

As with other parts of Wolof grammar, actual spoken usage can be more varied than a simplified textbook paradigm suggests.

Speakers may use different constructions depending on:

context
region
level of formality
whether something has already been established in the conversation
emphasis
speech style
the type of verb being used

Some verbal constructions are especially common in particular contexts, while others are more appropriate when the speaker needs to make a particular distinction clear.

A learner therefore benefits from hearing verbs in complete sentences and natural conversation, not just memorizing conjugation tables.

How to learn Wolof verbs

A useful way to learn a new Wolof verb is to learn several things together:

1. Learn the basic verb.

For example:

dem — to go

2. Learn what kind of verb it is.

Is it primarily an active verb, a stative verb, or does it have more than one use?

3. Learn several common verbal constructions.

Do not learn only:

dem = go

Also learn examples such as:

Maa ngi dem.
Dinaa dem.
Dem naa.

4. Pay attention to what the construction emphasizes.

Ask whether the speaker is emphasizing the subject, the action, the object, or simply presenting the event without special emphasis.

5. Learn how the verb behaves in negative sentences.

The negative form is part of the verb’s practical grammar.

6. Listen to the verb in natural speech.

Written examples can show you the structure, but listening helps you understand how the construction actually sounds when spoken.

The most important idea

The biggest adjustment for an English- or French-speaking learner is this:

Do not expect the Wolof verb itself to carry all the information.

In English, we change walk into walks, walked, or walking. In French, verbs undergo extensive conjugation according to person, tense, mood, and other grammatical categories.

Wolof instead distributes much of this information across the verbal construction surrounding the verb. The verb stem is important, but the accompanying verbal form tells you how the action is being presented.

Once this becomes familiar, Wolof verbs become much easier to understand.

The goal is not to memorize a huge list of forms for every individual verb. The goal is to learn the system of verbal constructions and then learn how individual verbs fit into that system.

Key points to remember

Wolof verbs generally do not conjugate for person by changing their basic stem.
Verbal pronouns/conjugation forms carry much of the grammatical information.
Aspect is especially important in the Wolof verbal system.
Time is expressed, but Wolof does not organize its verbal system around simple past/present/future distinctions alone.
Wolof has grammatical focus constructions that can emphasize the subject, verb, or non-subject/object.
Affirmative and negative verbal constructions are part of the same larger system.
Wolof distinguishes active and stative verbs.
Verbal extensions can create related meanings and grammatical functions.
Some words can function as either nouns or verbs depending on their context.
Learning verbs in complete sentences is often more useful than memorizing isolated translations.
Listening is essential because the meaning of a verbal construction depends heavily on context and usage.