-tɔ

-tɔ

1. present participle suffix

   Jeneba yɛlɛtɔ tun te se ka jaabili kɛ

   Laughing, Jeneba could not reply

   Ali baarakɛtɔ tɛ baro kɛ.

   While working, Ali does not chat

• -tọ́ (Nigeria)

Likely from Proto-Gbe *-tɔ́ (“owner”),^[1] in turn yielding Gun òtɔ́ (“father”). Cognates include Fon -tɔ́, Saxwe Gbe -tɔ́, Adja -tɔ, Ewe -tɔ

• IPA^(key): /tɔ́/

-tɔ́ (Benin)

2. (added to verbs) A person or thing that does an action indicated by the root verb or noun; used to form an agent noun.

   ayihúndá (“game”) → ayihúndátɔ́ (“actor/player”, literally “one who plays”)

   nù (“thing”) +‎ kplɔ́n (“to learn”) → nùkplɔ́ntɔ́ (“student”, literally “one who learns things”)

   hàn (“song”) +‎ jì (“to sing”) → hànjìtɔ́ (“singer”, literally “one who sings songs”)

4. Used to form the ordinal numeral when the final term of the spelled number is not tíntán (“first”).

   àwè (“two”) → àwètɔ́ (“second”)

   cíɖòkpó (“six”) → cíɖòkpótɔ́ (“sixth”)

   gbàn-nùkún-atɔ̀n (“thirty-three”) → gbàn-nùkún-atɔ̀ntɔ́ (“thirty-third”)

5. Used to form nouns describing the origin of a person or group of a certain ethnic group or nationality.

   Synonyms: -nù, -ví

   Xɔ̀gbónù (“Porto-Novo”) → Xɔ̀gbónùtɔ́ (“someone from Porto-Novo”, literally “person/people of Porto-Novo”)