o_196h0fp7b15b9sam1rr8a4j13d8a.pdf

Unit 3: Talking about people 33
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O˘mo≥o≥dún mélòó ni õœ?
How old are you?
(lit. How many child years are you?)
—O˘mo≥o≥dún mõœfà ni mí.
—I am six years old.
O˘mo≥o≥dún mélòó ni àbúrò rõ?
How old is your younger sibling?
—O˘mo≥o≥dún méjìdínlógún ni àbúrò mi.
—My younger sibling is eighteen years old.
To form words such as “once,” “twice,” “thrice,” etc., use the number
words that modify nouns but add õΩõΩ-. For example:
õΩõΩkan
once
õΩõΩméjì
twice
õΩõΩmõœta
thrice
õΩõΩmõœrin
four times
õΩõΩmárùnún five times
Using è.è.mélòó ni?
To find out how many times something happened or someone did
something, you should use the question form õΩõΩmelòó, as in:
Õ¸õΩmelòó ni Dúpõœ jõun lánàá?
How many times did Dupõ eat yesterday?
—Dúpõœ jõun lõœõΩmõrin lánàá.
—Dupõ ate four times yesterday.
Õ¸õΩmelòó ni O¸ğbõœni Mákindé lo≥sí ìlú Loœ$n;doΩ$nù?
How many times did Mr. Makinde go to London?
—N kò mo≥oye ìgbà tí O¸ğbõœni Mákindé lo≥sí ìlú Loœ$n;doΩ$nù.
—I do not know how many times Mr. Makinde went to London.
Notice that while Õ¸õΩmelòó is used in a question, oye ìgbà tí is used
in a statement, and both mean the same thing. You should never use
Õ¸õΩmelòó in a statement. This phenomenon is very common in
question forms in Yoruba.
Some other examples are:
Õ¸õΩmelòó ni o sáré lánàá?
How many times did you run yesterday?