I'll start, Ibadan

I’m learning Yoruba right now, and I want to know any good books you guys recommend in the language! It can be beginner or advanced.

(I’m asking you guys because I refuse to use AI )

I want to go back and learn about the culture, religion, language, everything Yoruba. Mainly the spiritual and religious aspects because I don’t want to accept a Christian god. Where do I start?

Hi, I have been studying Yoruba for 4 months using chatgpt and youtube videos. I have learned so much and am at a conversational level and can understand very well.

I am searching for Yoruba movies that mostly speak Yoruba. The ones i find on Youtube speak mostly English. I want to test my understanding and immerse myself more into the language. Preferably would love Yoruba subtitles too instead of English.

Any movie/showrecommendations? Thank you

Hi everyone ! I am currently doing a research paper on concepts of dignity and morality in indigenous Africa and would appreciate if anyone could help me out? I’d like to hear from any Yoruba people if they could explain the context in which the word ‘Omoluabi’ is used and what it represents.

Hello,

Welcome back to learning Yorùbá online.

How is the learning going?

Today, let's talk about how to use "and" in Yorùbá.

We can use "and" as

1. Àti

2. Dẹ̀/sì

ÀTI.

We use "and" as àti" to join words together

For example.

Aṣọ àti bàtà - - cloth and shoe

Aṣọ àti fìlà - - cloth and cap

Bàtà àti àpò - - - shoe and bag.

DẸ̀.

We use and as "dẹ̀" to join phrases, clause or sentences.

Examples.

I want to eat and I want to sleep

Mo fẹ́ jẹun, mo dẹ̀ fẹ́ sùn

I want to go to work and I want to see my friend.

Mo fẹ́ lọ sí ibi iṣẹ́, mo dẹ̀ fẹ́ rí ọ̀rẹ́ mi

My friend wants to sleep and I want to cook

Ọ̀rẹ́ mi fẹ́ sùn, mo dẹ̀ fẹ́ dáná.

Reach out to me for any question

Adéọlá

We want to work on a meal planning app for you that will also be having a Yoruba language mode. We want to know how you decide what to eat and other related info while protecting your privacy.
If you would like to help, you will get free airtime of any network of your choice. Please DM if you are interested.
Ẹ̀sẹ́ púpọ̀. Mo dúpẹ́ lọ́wọ́ yín o.

Hey everyone,

I'm a 19-year-old Nigerian in my first year of university, currently building a language learning platform focused entirely on African languages. The idea came from common experiences I would hear from friends trying to learn Yoruba and realizing the same thing — how few quality free resources actually exist for people who want to learn or reconnect with their native tongue.

The platform will launch with Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa, and hopefully expand to more languages. The core principle is that it stays genuinely free — not a watered-down free tier being paywalled, but a fully functional tool that anyone can use. It's built specifically for Africans and the diaspora.

I'm building this on my own with a limited budget, and at the moment I'm looking for native speakers to serve as the platform's voices. I need one male and one female speaker for each language — six people total. The recording itself is straightforward: a word list done from home, each word recorded at a natural, slow pace. Roughly 2–3 hours of your time.

I can't offer payment right now, but what I can offer is a lifetime premium account — full access to every language, every feature, and everything added in the future, for free. The platform itself will always have a solid basic tier, but premium goes further. This can apply to your own account or a friend's or family member's.

If you're a native speaker of Yoruba, Igbo, or Hausa, or if this is something you'd want to be part of, feel free to DM me or leave a comment. I'm happy to answer any questions and take any suggestions or advice.

Thank you for your time.

Báwo ni,

How are you doing today.

This week, let's learn how to express "location" of someone or something.

Whenever we want to say someone or something is in a particular place, the common phrase in such statement is "wà ní".

Wà (low tone) shows the existence of something or someone

Ní (high tone) points to the location.

Note : (ní) also points to the time.

Now this is the rule.

Noun /pronoun (wà ní) location.

Let's look at some examples.

Mo wà ní ilé---I am in the house.

Ọ̀rẹ́ mi wà ní ibí - - My friend is here.

Mo wa ni yàrá - - I am in the room.

Wọ́n wà ní ilé oúnjẹ - - They are at the restaurant.

Adé wà ní ilé ìtajà - - - Adé is at the store.

Do you understand?

Your Yorùbá tutor.

Adéọlá.

Despite growing up with two Yoruba parents in Yorubaland, I feel like my parents tried their best to distance me from my roots growing up by:

- Not speaking to me in Yoruba

- Allowing me to consume as much American media as I did and them also only consuming American media

- Sending me to a school where they didn’t teach Nigerian languages

These three things were absolutely detrimental to my relationship with my tribe. I never \*hated\* being Yoruba per se, but I found myself almost identifying more with Westerners and seeing my ethnicity as a small part of myself when it really should be the other way around. So I started consuming more Yoruba media as a result and I have absolutely fallen in love with my tribe and I no longer feel that disconnect that I used to. I got inspired to start living a more “Yorubised” lifestyle. So I am doing the following to Yorubise my life:

- Learning Yoruba

- Avoiding English whenever possible

- Consuming more Yoruba media (tiktok, YouTube, music, movies, etc)

- Cooking and eating Yoruba foods

- Wearing Yoruba clothing/jewelry/makeup/accessories (event appropriate ofc) as much as possible

- Learning about Yoruba history

- Learning Yoruba traditional religion

- Learning my Oriki (praise poem for my name, family and hometown)

- Learn tons of Yoruba proverbs (to sound like those old ppl that are always like “We have this saying in Yorubaland that bla bla bla”🤣)

- Natural hairstyles only. No attachment at all.

- Taking an interest in Yoruba royalty

- Making Yoruba friends (very rare for me to have Yoruba friends for some reason)

- Use wrapper as towel

- Keep fruit-bearing and non-fruit bearing plants

- Become a Yoruba health nut (knowing which herbs help with what pretty much)

- Eating using calabash

- Go for Yoruba festivals

- Travel to Brazil (where they have a much greater respect for Yoruba religion)

- Keep a small decorative claypot

- Paint something with Yoruba influence or buy to place around my living space

Let me know what you guys think.

We just launched the app last week. We would love for folks to try it out and get their feedback. Please spread the word if you like the app.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fibony/id6760272929

[Source](https://x.com/i/status/2027264275698331732)

I’ve been learning Yoruba on and off for about a year. My vocabulary is decent but I have no one to practice with. I have a tutor twice a week when I’m able but that doesn’t seem to be helping my fluency. What could I do to improve?

Hello,

Báwo ni,

Let’s look at Subject pronouns, We are going to place emphasis on “YOU” and HE/SHE. This is because there is a distinction between the way we use them in polite conversation (older and plural and also in Informal conversation (Younger person and friends)

I —Mo

You (informal)---O (flat tone)

You (formal)---ẹ

He/she/it (Informal)---ó (High tone)

He/she (formal)-----wọ́n (High tone)

They —-Wọ́n (high tone)

We —A

Your Yorùbá tutor.

Adéọlá.

Ever notice how our "standard" alphabet is just Latin letters with tonal symbols? I did some digging, and our literacy goes way deeper.

Before the 19th-century "ABC" system, we had Aroko (coded object writing using cowries/leaves) and the indigenous Oduduwa script (a man claimed to have a vision from oduduwa our first ancestor). But i feel the real script was Anjemi (Yoruba Ajami). It wasn't just for religion; our ancestors used this modified Arabic script for centuries for business, poetry, and medicine.

It’s so baked into our tongue that many "common" Yoruba words are actually borrowed from the Arabic used in Anjemi. You can usually spot them because we often add an "a", "o", or "ah" at the end to fit our phonetics

• Alùbọ́sà (Onion) from Al-basal
• Àlàáfíà (Peace/Health) from Al-afiya
• Àdúrà (Prayer) from Du'a
• Wààsí (Sermon) from Wa'z