Yamato kotoba are generally polysyllabic (often three or more syllables), and more closely follow the CV (consonant-vowel, CVCVCV) pattern of Old Japanese.
By contrast, kango are often one or two syllables, and more often have terminal consonants, yōon, and long vowels.
Yamato kotoba function differently grammatically than borrowed words.
Japanese adjectives and grammatical words (notably particles) are also Yamato kotoba.
Grammatical words are written using hiragana (there is often a traditional kanji, which is today rarely used), as are the inflectional ends of verbs and adjectives, which are known as okurigana.