If you have already learned nna (father), nne (mother) and nwanne (sibling), you have the top of the family tree. This post covers the rest of it — the children, and the words Igbo uses for people by age and gender.
There is one small pattern here that trips up almost every learner, and once you see it you will never build these phrases the wrong way round again.
Children, Boys, Girls, Men and Women in Igbo: Quick Guide
- nwa — child
- ụmụ̀ — children
- ụmụ̀akā — children, especially young; kids
- nwokē — man; boy
- nwaànyị̀ — woman; girl
How Do You Say “Child” in Igbo?
The word is nwa. It is one of the most useful words in the language, and it does more work than its English translation suggests.
- Kunye m nwa m. — Give me my child.
For more than one child, nwa becomes ụmụ. Ụmụ is the plural you use when the children belong to someone — ụmụ m, my children. Ụmụaka leans younger, closer to “kids”, and is what you would say about a group of small children in general.
- I nyere ụmụaka a nri? — Did you give these children food?
How Do You Say “Son” and “Daughter” in Igbo?
Igbo has no single word for “son” or “daughter”. Instead you say male child and female child — you take nwa and add the gender:
- nwa nwokē — a male child; son
- nwa nwaànyị̀ — a female child; daughter
- O nwere nwa nwoke. — He has a son.
- Achọrọ m nwa nwaanyị. — I want a daughter.
The Pattern Most Learners Get Wrong
Here is the part worth slowing down for. When you add a possessive — my, her, their — it does not go at the end of the phrase. It goes in the middle, between nwa and the gender word.
| English | Igbo | What is happening |
|---|---|---|
| Her son | Nwa ya nwoke | child + her + male |
| Their daughter | Nwa ha nwaanyị | child + their + female |
| My son | Nwa m nwoke | child + my + male |
So “her son is my friend” is Nwa ya nwoke bụ enyi m — not nwa nwoke ya. The possessive attaches to nwa, because nwa is the thing being possessed. The gender word is only describing which kind of child.
Say it as child-of-mine, male rather than son-of-mine, and the word order stops feeling strange.
Boys, Girls, Men and Women in Igbo
This is where English and Igbo stop lining up neatly. Nwoke and nwaanyị cover both the adult and the young — nwoke is glossed as both “man” and “boy”, and nwaanyị as both “woman” and “girl”.
That is exactly why nwa nwoke exists. If nwoke alone can mean a grown man, you need nwa in front of it to make clear you are talking about a child.
- Nna m bụ nwoke. — My father is a man.
When You Need to Be Specific About Age
Igbo has precise words for young adults, and using them correctly signals that you know the language rather than just its vocabulary list:
- òkorobị̀à — young man; male youth
- àgbọghọ̀ — an unmarried woman; damsel; young lady; maiden
- àgbọghọbị̀à — damsel; young lady; maiden
- okènyè — elder; senior citizen; fully aged man
Okorobịa is a young man — a male youth, past boyhood but not yet an elder. Agbọghọ and agbọghọbịa both mean a young unmarried woman; agbọghọbịa is the fuller form and the one you will hear most often. At the other end, okenye is an elder, and it carries respect rather than just age.
- E nyere nwa okorobịa ahụ ihe nrite. — The young man was given an award.
- Kedụ ụmụ agbọghọbịa nọ ebe a? — Where are the young ladies here?
Talking About People in General
Two more words you will need constantly:
Mmadụ is a person or a human being. Ndị is the general pluraliser for people, and it attaches to other words to make a group — ndị okenye, the elders; ndị ọrụ, the workers.
- Kedụ ndị e siiri nri a? — Which people was this food prepared for?
Don’t Just Memorise the English Translation
The trap in this set is assuming Igbo splits people the way English does. It does not. English has four separate words — boy, girl, man, woman. Igbo has two, plus nwa to mark a child and okorobịa or agbọghọbịa to mark a youth. Learn the system and you can build any of them; learn them as four flashcards and you will reach for the wrong one.
Practise With Your Own Family
Say these out loud, about real people. How many children are in your family? Who is the eldest? Is each of them a nwa nwoke or a nwa nwaanyị? Now add the possessive in the right place — nwa m nwoke, nwa m nwaanyị — and say it again.
If you can describe every child in your household without reaching for English, this topic is done.
Keep Learning Family Words in Igbo
This is the second half of family and relationships. The first half — father, mother, brother, sister and siblings — comes just before it in the same lesson, and the lesson ends with a full conversation where you greet someone, introduce yourself and talk about your family in one unbroken exchange.
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Related reading: the first half of this — father, mother, brother, sister — is family members in Igbo. The nwa ya nwoke ordering is the third of the errors in 3 Igbo pronoun mistakes learners keep making, with the full set in Nnọchiaha: Igbo personal pronouns. The four N’s of Igbo covers the nw that starts half these words, ndị okenye leads to how to greet Igbo elders respectfully, and agbọghọ turns up again in Ịchọta Nwaanyị: finding a wife in Igbo tradition.
Igbo has no single word for either. You say male child and female child: nwa nwokē for a son and nwa nwaanyị for a daughter.
Nwa ya nwoke. The possessive goes in the middle, not at the end — child + her + male — because it attaches to nwa, the thing being possessed.
Nwa is one child. For more than one it becomes ụmụ — ụmụ m, my children. Ụmụaka leans younger, closer to “kids”.