rule_id int64 | category string | subcategory string | description string | examples list | patterns list | pattern string |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pronouns | Personal Pronouns | Personal pronouns in Zarma are invariable across nominative, objective, and possessive cases. | [
{
"zarma": "ay",
"english": "I, me, my"
},
{
"zarma": "ni",
"english": "you, your (singular)"
},
{
"zarma": "a (nga)",
"english": "he, she, it; his, her, its"
},
{
"zarma": "iri (ir)",
"english": "we, us, our"
},
{
"zarma": "araŋ",
"english": "you (plural), your"
},
{
"zarma": "i (ngey, ey)",
"english": "they, them, their"
}
] | null | null |
2 | Pronouns | Demonstrative Pronouns | Demonstrative pronouns indicate specific items; 'din' suffix can be added to nouns for specificity. | [
{
"zarma": "wo",
"english": "this, that"
},
{
"zarma": "wey",
"english": "these, those"
}
] | null | null |
3 | Pronouns | Indefinite Pronouns | Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific entities. | [
{
"zarma": "boro",
"english": "someone, one (person)"
},
{
"zarma": "hay kulu",
"english": "everything"
},
{
"zarma": "hay fo",
"english": "something"
}
] | null | null |
4 | Nouns | Definite Article | Definite articles are expressed by adding 'a' or 'o' to the noun based on its ending. | [
{
"zarma": "zanka → zankaa",
"english": "a child → the child"
},
{
"zarma": "wayboro → waybora",
"english": "a woman → the woman"
},
{
"zarma": "darbayko → darbaykwa",
"english": "a fisherman → the fisherman"
},
{
"zarma": "hansi → hanso",
"english": "a dog → the dog"
},
{
"zarma": "farkay → farka",
"english": "a donkey → the donkey"
}
] | [
{
"ending": "a",
"rule": "add 'a' (e.g., zanka → zankaa)",
"exceptions": "Pre-1999 texts may not change"
},
{
"ending": "o",
"rule": "change to 'a' or add 'a' (e.g., wayboro → waybora)",
"exceptions": null
},
{
"ending": "ko",
"rule": "change to 'kwa' (e.g., darbayko → darbaykwa)",
"exceptions": null
},
{
"ending": "e, i, u, consonant",
"rule": "change to 'o' or add 'o' (e.g., wande → wando)",
"exceptions": null
},
{
"ending": "ay",
"rule": "change 'ay' to 'a' or add 'o' (e.g., farkay → farka or farkayo)",
"exceptions": null
}
] | null |
5 | Nouns | Definite Plural | Definite plural is formed by replacing the definite singular vowel with 'ey'. | [
{
"zarma": "zankaa → zankey",
"english": "the child → the children"
},
{
"zarma": "hanso → hansey",
"english": "the dog → the dogs"
},
{
"zarma": "farka → farkey",
"english": "the donkey → the donkeys"
}
] | null | Replace final vowel with 'ey' (e.g., zankaa → zankey) |
6 | Nouns | Indefinite Article | No explicit indefinite article; 'fo' (one) is used to specify 'a certain' or 'one'. | [
{
"zarma": "musu",
"english": "a cat"
},
{
"zarma": "musu fo",
"english": "a (certain) cat, one cat"
}
] | null | Add 'fo' after noun for specificity (e.g., musu → musu fo) |
7 | Nouns | Gender | No grammatical gender; specific words indicate male/female for living beings. | [
{
"zarma": "alboro",
"english": "man"
},
{
"zarma": "wayboro",
"english": "woman"
}
] | null | null |
8 | Verbs | Completed Action (Past Tense) | Verbs without auxiliaries indicate completed actions (past tense). | [
{
"zarma": "ay neera",
"english": "I sold"
},
{
"zarma": "a neera",
"english": "he/she sold"
},
{
"zarma": "zankaa kani",
"english": "the child went to bed"
}
] | null | Subject + Verb (e.g., ay neera) |
9 | Verbs | Uncompleted Action (Future Tense) | Future tense uses auxiliary 'ga' before the verb. | [
{
"zarma": "ay ga neera",
"english": "I will sell"
},
{
"zarma": "i ga neera",
"english": "they will sell"
}
] | null | Subject + ga + Verb (e.g., ay ga neera) |
10 | Verbs | Continuous Aspect | Continuous aspect uses 'go no ga' before the verb for ongoing actions. | [
{
"zarma": "ay go no ga neera",
"english": "I am selling"
},
{
"zarma": "a go no ga neera",
"english": "he/she is selling"
}
] | null | Subject + go no ga + Verb (e.g., ay go no ga neera) |
11 | Verbs | Subjunctive | Subjunctive uses 'ma' to indicate possible actions. | [
{
"zarma": "ay ma neera",
"english": "I should sell"
},
{
"zarma": "ni ma neera",
"english": "you should sell"
}
] | null | Subject + ma + Verb (e.g., ay ma neera) |
12 | Verbs | Imperative | Imperative uses 'ma' or 'wa' before the verb, or just the verb alone. | [
{
"zarma": "Haŋ!",
"english": "Drink!"
},
{
"zarma": "Ma haŋ!",
"english": "Drink!"
},
{
"zarma": "Araŋ ma di!",
"english": "You (plural) see!"
}
] | null | [Ma/Wa] + Verb or Verb alone (e.g., Ma haŋ or Haŋ) |
13 | Verbs | To Be | The verb 'to be' varies by context: 'go', 'ya...no', or 'ga ti'. | [
{
"zarma": "A go fu",
"english": "He/she is at home"
},
{
"zarma": "Ay ya alfa no",
"english": "I am a teacher"
},
{
"zarma": "Nga ga ti wayboro",
"english": "She is a woman"
}
] | null | null |
14 | Verbs | Irregular Verbs | Some verbs place objects unusually (e.g., direct object before verb without 'na'). | [
{
"zarma": "Ay di a",
"english": "I saw him/her"
},
{
"zarma": "A ne ay se",
"english": "He/she said to me"
}
] | null | null |
15 | Adjectives | Qualifying Adjectives | Adjectives follow the noun they modify. | [
{
"zarma": "fu beeri",
"english": "a big house"
},
{
"zarma": "hansi kayna",
"english": "a small dog"
}
] | null | Noun + Adjective (e.g., fu beeri) |
16 | Sentence Structure | Basic Order | Basic sentence order is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). | [
{
"zarma": "Ay neera bari",
"english": "I sold a horse"
}
] | null | S + V + O (e.g., Ay neera bari) |
17 | Sentence Structure | Direct Object | Direct object before verb requires 'na' in past positive. | [
{
"zarma": "Ay na bari neera",
"english": "I sold a horse"
}
] | null | S + na + O + V (e.g., Ay na bari neera) |
18 | Sentence Structure | Indirect Object | Indirect object is marked with 'se' after the object. | [
{
"zarma": "Ay no bari wayboro se",
"english": "I gave a horse to the woman"
}
] | null | S + V + O + IO + se (e.g., Ay no bari wayboro se) |
19 | Negation | Past Negative | Past negative uses 'mana' after the subject. | [
{
"zarma": "Ay mana neera",
"english": "I did not sell"
}
] | null | S + mana + V (e.g., Ay mana neera) |
20 | Negation | Present/Future Negative | Present/future negative uses 'si' instead of 'ga'. | [
{
"zarma": "Ay si neera",
"english": "I do not/will not sell"
}
] | null | S + si + V (e.g., Ay si neera) |
Description
This repo contains 20 grammar rules for Zarma language. The rules were create as part of the R2T project which is a proof of concept of a paradigm: Principled Learning (PrL).
Citation
If you use this resource, please use this citation.
@article{r2t2025,
title={R2T: A Case Study in Principled Learning for Low-Resource POS Tagging},
author={Author1 and Author2 and Author3},
journal={TBD},
year={2025},
url={TBD}
}
Acknowledgments
We thank the Zarma language community for their contributions.
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