Let
U:Grp→Set be the
forgetful functor and let
F:Set→Grp be the free
functor taking a
set to the
free group over that
set.
For a
set X, an element
w∈F(X) is given by a formal ‘word’
w=w1e1 w2e2 ⋯ wkek
where each
wi is an element of
X and each
ej is an integer and no two adjacent
wi are the same elements of
X.
A
homomorphism φ:F(X)→H out of a
free group then consists of choosing some assignment
h(x)∈H for each
x∈X; the value of all words in
F(X) follow from this assignment:
φ(w1e1 w2e2 ⋯ wkek)=φ(w1)e1 φ(w2)e2 ⋯ φ(wk)ek=h(w1)e1 h(w2)e2 ⋯ h(wk)ek
That is, a
group homomorphism φ contains exactly the same information as an assignment
h:X→U(H).
This softly-phrased fact strengthens into the existence of a
bijection
Grp(F(X),H)≅Set(X,U(H))
which is natural in both
X and
H. In other words,
F is left-adjoint to
U!