A Grammar of the Hausa Language

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A GRAM M AR

O F THE

HAUSA LANGUAGE

FREDER ICK W ILLIA M HUGHLll/I IGEO D

AUTHOR OF THE LANGUAGES O F WEST AFRICA ,"

THE M ENDE LANGUAGE ,AND M ENDE NATURAL msronv V OCABULARY.

"

LONDON

PAUL , TRENCH , TRUBNER CO . , LTD .

BROADWAY HOUSE , 68 -

74 CARTER LANE , E.C.

R,

<2252

MSEE’

fiPREFACE

THI S Grammar i s primari ly for students who have already

acqui red some knowledgeof the Hausa language .

In i ts compi l ati on the Author has been at pains to

make the vocabul ary as diversifi ed as possible,so that

there are few words in common use that have not been

All rules , too, have been ful ly i llustrated, and, as t e

gards such as have onl y been slightly noti ced by other

writers , the Author has for preference selected sentences

from texts to'

whi ch al l students of the language have

access . In thi s way the ex istence of the rul es themselves

i s more readi ly recogni sed .

The ori gin of the Hausa language is not inqu ired into

here , and etymologies are only occasionally examined .

Both of these subj ects were di scussed by the Author in

hi s recent ly-publi shed work , The Languages of West

Afri ca,”and a repeti ti on seemed somewhat unn ecessary .

The same observat i on appli es to the nat ive script ,

whi ch i s Arabi c slightly modi fi ed. I t would have beenV l l

v i i i PREFACE

of l i tt le use to give here the alphabet alone , unl ess ao

compani ed by instruct ions for i ts use and by li terary

spec imens wi th transli terati ons , translat i ons , and cri ti cal

notes ; and to treat thi s subj ect adequately a great deal

of space would be required : hence i ts enti re omi ssi on .

The proof- sheets of thi s work have been read by the

Author’s brother, M r Charles M igeod,2nd class Resi dent

in Northern Nigeri a .

F . W H. M IGEOD .

GOLD CO A ST COLONY ,

M arch 19 14

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PHONETIC NOTES

Part IL— INTERCHANGE‘

ABILITY OF LETTERS

Consonants—V owels— Omi ssi on of Syl labl es

CHAPTER I I

NOUN

Part I .-DERIVATION OF NouNs

Remarks ou—Exce i n Neighbour ingNouns endi ng i n

b

CONTENTS

Part I I I —NUM BER

M ethods for forming Pl ural—Terminati onsS i niple Nouns—O i V erbalouns wi thout Pl ural—Nouns w i thout

of S ingular for Plural—Plural Forms

M ean ing

Part I V.-CASE

Gen i ti ve—Dative—Abl at i v e—Locati ve

CHAPTER I I I

ADJECTIVE

General Remarks—S impl e Adjecti ves—Compound Adject i ves-Present Parti c ipl e— Past Part i c ipl e—Nouns us ed as

‘

Adjectiv es—Redupl i cati on—Syntax— Predi cati ve Use

Ci rcuml ocut i on to avo id Use of Adjectives—Compar i son—Numerals

CHAPTER IV

PRONOUN

Personal—Relati ve—Demonstrat i ve—F inal “n” w i th Nouns

—In terro ati ve Indefin i te Reflexi v eRec i proca

CHAPTER V

VERB

Part I .—DERIVATION

Descr i pt i on of Classes of Deri ved Verbs

CONTENTS xi

PAGE

Part II.—D1v1s10N OF VERBS

Transi t i ve—I ntransi ti ve

Part [IL—AU! ILIARY VERBS

the Tenses - Passi vet Parti c ipl e— Past Part i ci ple

Use of Inverted Personal Pronoun

CHAPTER VI

ADVERBS

Remarks fin—Adverbs of Place—Time— M anner—A ffi rmat ionand Negation

—Interrogati on

CHAPTER VI I

PREPOS ITIONS

S imple—Compound—Examples of Uses—Omi ssi on of

CONJUNCTIONS

Co-ordinating—Subordinat ing—Nouns (wi th Parti cles) usedin Sense of Conjuncti ons—Exarnples of USes

CHAPTER I !

INTERJECTIONS

SYNTA!

THE SUBJECT

Nature oi—Exampl es—S impl e—Compound

THE PREDICA'I ‘E

S imple, Nature of and Exampl es Compound Speci alNotes on

THE OBJECT

Di rect, Nature of, and Exampl es—Double— Indi rect

NATURE OF SENTENCES

A fi irmati ve—Negati ve—Interrogati ve—Compound

CHAPTER ! I

COM M ON IDIOM ATIC E! PRESS IONS ,

S alutat i ons— S easons, M on ths, Days,Chi—Da— Dama Damre Dau Kai Kara— Sha— Sa—Samu—Sau1a—Yi—Exai nples ofl ocut i on

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A GRA M M AR O F THE

HAUSA LANGUAGE

CHAPTER I

PHONETIC NOTES

PART I

ACCENT ,POSITI ON OF

PENULTIM ATE

The stress accent is as a general rule on the penult imatesyllable .

ULTIM ATE

1. I t i s on the last syllab le in some few words, askadan ,

”li ttle.

2. In noun s taking the plural terminat ion ai .

3 . In verb forms ending in“ a ” or “ o ” as vowels of

4 . When fi nal “ s ” is added to a verb for “ voi cepurposes , as

“zubas

,from “ zuba , to p our .

ANTEPENULTIMATE

There are s imi larly a few words that take the accentthe antepenult imate , as

M agani med i c i ne Takalm i shoe Taberma mat

A

2 THE HAUSA LANGUAGE

M OVEM ENT OF ACCENT

1. When an Ob j ect ive pronoun follows the verb , joinedby “

n , as in Present tense NO . I . ,i t takes the nature

O f a suffi x to the verb , and the accen t i s shi fted to the

new penu lt imate syl lableIna dubansa I am looki ng at him

2. When a word i s redupl i cated the accent usual lymoves to the last syl lab le

Chi ye-chi yé p lural of i nfin i t i v e form of chi to eatM aza-maza qu i ckly ; but i f not emphas i s ed i t r ema i ns

maza -maza

In redupli cated colour adj ect ives , however , the accentdoes not move .

3 . In some derived noun s the accent moves towardsthe suffi x ; 111 not a few , however, i t remams unaltered

In the latter the fin al vowel i s long , and so ratherattract s the stress accent .

4 . In some'

p lural forms the accen t remain s on the samesyl lable as in the singul ar form ,

though the . ru le i s that i tshou ld move towards the suffi x

5 . I f m'

ai i s prefi xed to a noun or verb, i t st i l l

remain s an accented syl lab le , and so the word i t i s prefi xedto does not change i ts accentuat i on

doc tor from magan ia p erson sp eakzng maganahors eman dokiman of truth ga

'

ski a

PHONETIC NOTES‘

3

PART I I

INTERCHANGEABILITY OF LETTERS

CONSONANTS

(1) Variati on of Consonants

Some variat ion s are merely local pecul iari t i es .

L, R, T

These letters are in terchangeab le in Hausa , for phonet i creason s , the same as they are in other negro languages .

The word in most common use subject to thi s variat ioni s the preposi t ion na,

”of. In the femin ine gender i t i s

“ ta ,

” wh ich i s common ly shortened to “ t , and “ t”

in i ts turn may become “ l” or “ r . For in stance

Ya-t -malam,Ya - l -malam , Ya-r-malam

, the mallam’s

daughter,” are al l equally correct .

B iar , b ial , and b iat , fi ve, are al l heard .

Halb i , harb i , to shoot ; -and in M aiharab i for M aihalbi ,shooter, an exaggerat ion of the “ r ” sound i s shown .

Th is emphas i s of the“ r sound i s also found in con

nect ion w i th the preposi t ion “ of chi efly if not ent irelyin the Hausa spoken in the more northerly part s . I t

i s espec ial ly found after a long “a .

” For in stance

M i ne kameri ki Wha t caught you

Kameriki kamarki kamaki

s el ls el l i ngheathenthrow awayup to three t imesthe i r heart


N or another letter for S

Benne b i sne bu rialM uka tarad da yaki for M uka taras da yaki Wejoi n ed i n battl e

P and F

pashe breaktapsh i (al so tabshi , taushi ) soft

F and H (H i s Katsin a di alect ) .

Fudu hudu fourFuntu huntu naked p ersonTafi tahi go

Bafel lanchi bahi llachi Fula

T,K

,R

Tutut , tutuk, tu tur , tutu for ever

N andM , the latter before a labia l .

Ku lun ku lum a lwaysEm b ika for En b ika ‘

2 S ha l l [ fol low you t"

T, Ch, S

Wot ika, wochika wos ika letterTasub i chasub i bead

I t i s often doubtfu l whether “ts or “ ch shou ld be

wr i tten , though any doubt that there may be van i sheswhen the word is seen wri tten in Arabi c character .

In thi s connect i on i t should be noted that the Arab i cta or tsa i s O ften wri tten in Hausa for dal ,

”and

“sh in for cha .

”

b O‘r B

A very few words admit gb for b , some speakerssoundi ng the g ’’where others do not . The “

gb i s asound O f pure negro origin

Gbache ba che des troyGboye boye hi de

PHONETIC NOTES 5

(2) Vocali sation of Consona nts

In some parts of the Hausa coun try two consonan tscomi ng together are readi ly admi tted . Elsewhere , espec i allyn earer other negro influences , such combinati ons are not

much foun d . Two alternat i ves exi st— ei ther to insert an

in termedi ate vowel harmoni s ing wi th the other vowels inthe word , or to vocal i se the fi rst con sonant Of the two .

Nearer Arab i c or Berber influences the harder forms arealways found , but a negro of another tribe learning Hausainvariably uses one Of the softer forms .

I t mi ght possibly be supposed that i t i s the originalform Of the word whi ch has the intermedi ate vowel ,and that thi s vowel i s elimin ated to make the harderform . That the reverse is the case i s made clear by the

pos it ion of the accent , whi ch i s on the penult imate in the

Shorter form Of the word , and remain s on the same syllable ,whi ch becomes the antepenult imate , in the longer form ofthe word .

The fol lowing are examples Of the two processes

sari kiberidukagirima

darime, daure

auresaurisauri mankauna, kona

takomazona

I t may here be noted that syllables ending in a consonantoccur more common ly in the m iddle of a word than at the

end, the tendency being , as here seen , to eliminate or softenthem

M afelfechi fansS arki (sari ki ) chi efTutuk ( tutu) for ever


(3) I nserti on of S emi -vowels after Consonants

W i s commonl y inserted after k and g whenfol lowed by O

”

for ako i there i sgonda p awpawkoi eggkomi everythi ngko i ya teach

The semi -vowel y may be introduced after k and

g ” before “i”and e .

” Thi s usage seems due to the

influence of other negro languages . It i s comparat ivelyrare in the

_purest forms Of Hausa , if the more northerlybe taken as such , but i t i s found to be almost invariablymade use of in the speech of negroes Of tribes to the southwest when they speak Hausa . Th i s i s espec i al ly so in the

Gold Coast Colony .

Chauta, kyau ta for keau ta (wri tt en kauta )Kyetu ketuKyanwa kenwa

Gyero gero

Nevertheless thi s introduct ion of a semi -vowel plays avery con siderable part in the format i on of nouns derivedfrom verbs in Hausa ,

indi cat ing that thi s same influenceexi sted long ago , even i f there has been an interval in whi chi t has ceased to operate .

For example , when the root of a word ends in t , the6 ‘

fi nal vowel being a or O ,and for some grammat i cal

reason thi s vowel i s changed to e or 1, a y sound

creeps in ,wi th the effect Of adding a s ibi lat i on

Sata sache = satye

Bata bache= batiye

Kotan ta kotanche otanty i

Thi s i s verv c learly seen in the part i ciples

Batache= batatye des troyedBatachi a

Batatu (plu . )

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join


The prefi x mai i s usually pronounced as may i n

Engl ish , and not as the sound in the word might .

”

A and 0

Waje=woje s i de Wan i =won i another Wannan=wonan thi s

A and U

M amu=mumu to us M aku=muku to you

I and U

Fi lani Fu las Fukafuke= fi kafi ke featherRuf e rifl e ca l l M utane mi t tane men

(2) Omi ssi on of Vowels

Final “i”is the One most common ly el ided . Thi s

usually takes place when an Ob ject ive pronoun i s join edto the verb

Ban san’shi ba Ba na san i shi ha I do not know himNa gan

’shi Na gan i shi I saw him

Ber’shi Beri shi Let him

The fi rst personal pronoun ni i s short ened to n

in zani

Zan’for Zan i I w i l l go

Other el i s ions

Gareshi =garesa=garuss towards himM asa=muss to himAkasa=akas s on the groundYa manche tagi a tass Heforgot hi s hat

Omi ss i on of Syllables

There are found both long and short forms of words .

The Short forms are usual ly poet i cal

Dau , do , for dauka take up .

CHAPTER II

NOUN

NOUNS are simp le and derived . They have gender and

number , but are not infl ected for case .

PART I

DERIVATION OF NouNs

S imple noun s are those of whi ch the origin cann ot betraced beyond the present form

Gona farm kari fi s trength

Deri vat ives are such noun s as can be traced to thei r

M ai -gona farmer M ai -kari fi s trong man

Al l infi n i t ives may be used substant ively wi thout changeOf form

Kedaya-n -sa da wuya To count i t i s di ul t ( l i t . , counti ng of him wi t difliculty)

Chi -n -se da dad i It i s ni c e to eat

Fade -fade ba y i ba rov erb ) Talki ng i s no goodDo -n -so , ya rasul u , dbmi -n -S O Becaus e of love, 0 P rophet , because

n -fi yaye of love of God ( l i t . , Exc el l enc e )

( Forfurther examp l es see under the Verb

Derivat i on of noun s takes place by means of prefi xesand suffi xes , and somet imes by means of both together .

9


Derived noun s are formed in the fol lowing ways

Concrete nouns

1 . Noun wi th personal part i cle prefi xed .

2. Noun wi th material part i cle prefi xed .

3 . Verb wi th personal part i c le prefi xed .

4 . Verb wi th materi al part i c le prefi xed .

A bstract nouns

5 . Verb wi th prefi x .

6 . Noun wi th suffi x .

7 . Verb or adj ect ive wi th suffi x .

Verbal nouns

8 . Wi th suffi x or unchanged .

Concrete nouns

9 . Femin ine nouns derived from mascu l ine form .

10. Noun s end i ng in ya .

”

11 . Compound noun s .

12. Adject ive u sed as noun .

13 . Noun phrases .

Descrip ti on of Classes of Derived Nouns

1. Concrete nouns formed from other nouns wi th p ersonal

parti cle prefi xed—There are four part i cles relat ing to

person s : ba ,

” “ da ,”mai ,

” “ ma .

Ba

Ba mean s in hab i tant O f a coun try , and i s compoundedwi th place names for the most part

Ba-hau she'

Hausa man Ba -hausa Hausa womanBa-kano Kano man Baturc whi te man

(Fu rther examp l es are given i n the tables of p lura ls . )

Da ( ya femin i ne)

Da,mean in g chi ld, i s compounded wi th place names

when i t means native of. Wi th other noun s i t acts as

NOUN 11

a diminut ive . Unl ike'

ba , the preposi t ion n , of, i s

Da-n -Kano nati ve of Kano Da-n -b i rn i native of the c i tyDa-n-akw i a ki d Da-n -zunzua a l i ttl e bi rd

Fem i n i ne .

Ya-l -Kano femal e native of Kano, daughter of Kano

Al so i n some i d i omat i c cas es .

Da-n -zan e a fragmen t of c loth Da-n -b i nd i ga sold i er

M at

M ai mean s owner of or doer, and expresses the agent ,

M ai -gona owner of a farmM ai -gaski a a man of tru th, or one sp eaki ng the tru thM ai -wayo a cunn i ng p ersonM ai -shi the owner of i t (shi i s the 3rd p ersonal pronoun)

NOTE. M ai also forms adjec t ives and the p resent p arti cip le ,whi ch see.

M a

M a i s a personal parti c le as wel l as a material part i cle .

I t has a S imi lar sense to mai,

” as a personal part i c le ,but 1t 18 not compounded wi th nouns in thei r s imp leform

M afanta , butcher, from fauta, s laughter , i ts e lf deri v e d from fawa ,to s laughter

M afauchi , bu tcher , from fawa (fanchi i s not found )M akaranchi , scholar, from karanta, to read (karanchi i s not found )

2. Concrete nouns wi th material parti cle p refixed.—There

is on ly one prefi x ,-ma .

As i n the preceding c lass , i t i s prefi xed ,not to the pure

noun form ,but to a derived form

M atsorachi , coward i ce , from tsorachi , whi ch i s a der i vat i on Of tsoro ,to fear, but i s not found al on e

M afanta , p lac e of s laughter , from fauta , s laughter .


3 . Concrete nouns formed from a verb wi th a p ersonal

p arti cle prefi xed—These part i cles are mai and ma”

M ai halbi marksmen , hunter from hal bi to shootM aikoiyo l earner koi yo to l earnM ai -aski one that shaves aski to shaveM ai -gi ri -baba she of the big eyebrows

M a

The fi n al vowel i s i generally

M akam i one tha t catchesM akiyi haterM akoiy i teacherM aker i blacksmi thM aso one that lovesM aki ayi herdsmanM aki aji one who refuses to hear

4. Concrete nouns formed from verb wi th material p article

prefixed—These are the part i cle ma ,”and also the nouns

abu , thing , and wuri ,”

p lace.

M a

The fi nal vowel Of the verb changes to i”

M adafi ki tchen from dafa to cookM adub i looki ng-glass duba to look atM akam i trap kama to catchM ashi d i hal ti ng-p lace shi da al i ght, to encampM azamn i s eat zamna to s i t down

Abu , Th ing

The preposi t i on n , of, enters into the composi ti onof the word , and abu usual ly takes the form abi ,

”

whi ch i s never found alone

Ab i -n -chi foodAbi -n -sha dri nkA b i n-mamaki or a wonder, mi rac leAbu-n -mamaki

Ab i n -saraA bi n-tsoroAb i n -worigi

to catchto ha teto teachto forgeto love, to wantto tend cattl eto refuse , j i to hear

NOUN 13

Wuri , Place .

Thi s prefi x also requi res the preposi ti on of

Wuri -n -kwana s l eep i ng-p lace from kwana to s l eepWuri -n -kiw o p as ture kiwo to feed cattl eWuri -n -rubutu wr i ti ng-p lac e rubutu to wr i teWuri -n -sabka hal ti ng-p lac e sabka to al ightWuri -n -shi da hal t i ng-p lace shi da to al i ght, from

hors e or came l )

5 . Abstract nouns formed from verbs wi th prefix maThe fi nal vowel becomes 1

M akari end f rom kare to fini shM ahani hi ndranc e hana to hi nderM afari begi nn i ng fara to begi n

6. Abstract nouns can be formed from concrete s imp lenouns wi th the sufi i xes

-chi (m. ) and -ta (f. )-n -chi (m. ) -n -taka (f. ) 11 be i ng the p rep os i t i on of

-N-chi is of Kano origin and -n -taka of Sokoto

-chi (m. ) and -ta (f. )Bauchi s lavery from bawa

p res en t beau ty keaolyi ng kari abl i ndness makafofol ly wawaki ngdom sariki

-n -chi (m. ) -n-taka (f. )bakuntaka s trangenessbarantaka servi c eda iantaka s i ngl enessdiyantaka freedom

gadontaka i nher i tanc e(abstrac t )

malantaka p r i es tcraft malamragantaka lazi ness ragosarkantaka ki ngship sari kits irantaka safety, salvati on ts i raubantaka fatherhood uba


you th (abstrac t ) yaro boymu l tip l i c i ty yawa manybravery zarumi brave n ,

or zarm i body-guardFulanchi what belongs to Ful a Fu la

the Fu laHausanchi what belongs to Hausa Hausa

the HausaTuranchi wha t belongs to ture the whi te

the whi te man man’s coun try

7 . Abstract nouns formed from a verb or‘

adjective wi thsuffi x .

— The suffi xes are - chi and -ta .

- chi (m. )

Thi s i s never added to a verb alone . The prefi x mai s added as well . Some of these words have a concreteas well as an abstract mean ing

M aaikachi labour and labourer aiki work ( n . and v . )M afauch i s laughter i ng and bu tcher fawa to s laughterM arokachi beggi ng and beggar roko to begM arowachi greed i n ess rowa to be greedy and

covetousnessM at sorach i coward i ce tsoro fear (n . and v . )

-ta ( f. )

s i ckness chiwo s i ck ( n . and v . )shortn es s gaj ere shortunc leanness kasam i u nc leanlep rosy kuturu to be lep rousevi l mugu bad

8 . Verbal noun s are formed wi th the suffi x -wa .

M any verbs do not take thi s suffi x , but the infi n i t ive i sused w i th the same sense . Verb forms ending in -dafor instance , do not admi t of i t .

A few noun s in thi s li st have pract i cally a concretesense . Their gender i s femin ine

gi vi ng, giftsay i nglooki ngcomi ng out

1 S ee a lso under Der i v e d Verbs , c lass 8 , and Present Part i c ipl e .


12. An adject i ve may be used as a noun .

KO gi da -n -sariki ko na talaka Whether the hous e of a chi ef or of ap oor man

13 . Noun phrases or noun sentences .—These are mostly

found in proverbs

Hauka-l -ba-u i magan i -n -ta :

UngoYao da gob e ke sa gi ni

n -r i j i a da aluraM agani -n -kada ajl , kada

A lso Ya tafo wuri na dO -n -

gai she-ni

PART I I

GENDER

Gender i s grammat i cal . I t i s di vided into masculineand femi nine , and there i s no neuter . The names of malesare all mascu line , and of females al l femi nine . The namesof thi ngs and abstrac ti ons are ei ther masculin e or femi nineaccording to thei r termin ati on , the same applying to verbswhen used in a noun form . A noun cann ot be femini neexcept i t ends in a .

Noun s ending in e ,” “

i,

” o ,”

u , and consonantsare wi th the few except i ons of noun s represent ing the

female sex , mascu l in e .

Those ending in a are feminin e , except ing thosewhi ch represent the male sex and a few others .

The gender of each noun i s gi ven later under the plural .Gender could be i gnored as having a separate exi stence

in a language i f there were not other words , such as adject ives and pronouns , modi fi ed to agree wi th the nounaccording to the idea i t represents . Thi s i s stri ctly soas regards plural , for , as wi ll be seen in the chapter on thead j ect ive , no di st inct ion of gender i s made in a noun whenin the plural number . For instance

M utum nagari good man mache tagari good womanM atan e nagargaru good men mata nagargaru good women

(For ) the madness of“give me,

the remedy i s : take i t ”Tod ay and to -morrow ”

i s l i ke

havi ng a wel l dug w i th a n eedl eThe remedy for “ let i t not be

heard i s don’t do i tB e came to salu te me

NOUN 17

Excep tions for GenderAl though there is a gender to every noun ,

and noun sending in “ ’are assigned to the femi nine gender , therei s a great tendency to classi fy as mascul ine many noun sending in whi ch are not the names of human beingsor animals .

3

Thi s is especi al ly common wi th those nounswhi ch are used for preposi t ions , and is usually put downto carelessness in speaking . I t i s , however , a debatablepoin t whether carelessness i s possible to any appreci ableext ent wi th the mother tongue . I t certainly exi sts Wi ththe wri tten language , but the wri tten form of a languagealways di ffers from the spoken form . The latter i s the

mother tongue , and i t is learnt naturally much the sameas the other fun ct ions Of l i fe , and accordingly vari es butl i tt le from century to century unless subj ected to somestrong foreign influence .

I t may therefore be taken that the apparent mi stakesin gender are in reali ty idioms of the language whi ch admi tOf perfect explanat i on , and their exi stence may be inaccordance wi th a more influent ial rule of the language .

Seeing that i t is by the adjuncts alone that the genderof a noun can be ascertain ed , the use of the mascu lin eform for the feminine naturally requ ires some explanat ion ,

and i t i s in conn ect i on wi th the preposi ti on of na ,

”

“11

” for mascu line , and ta,

”t ,”

l,

” r ,”

t” for

feminine ) that the greatest uncertaint i es are found . Thi spreposit ion as a copula

,i t may here be stated ,

plays avery important part in the structure of sentences .

The reason for the apparent except ions that are foundcan on ly be ascribed to the more exigent rules of euphony .

I t is a common feature i n some languages for words in aseri es to be made to agree wi th each other ei ther in an

ini t ial syl lab le or in some other way . In Hausa i tself thi si s found i n the pronouns , in whi ch min i i s found forman i ,

” mumu for mamu ,

”etc . ; and grammat i cal

gender is probably largely ass ignab le to the same reason .

1

When , therefore , apparent m i stakes in gender are made ,they must be put down to a ru le of euphony over-riding arul e of grammat ical gender , the latter being but the Offspringof the former .

See Languages of West Afr i ca—chapt er on Gender


Gen der i n Neighbouri ng Languages

Hausa together wi th a few languages to the south and

east of i t are the onl y ones in West Afri ca whi ch indi catemascu li ne and femin ine gender . In Hausa gender i s

further developed than in Angas and Bolan chi w to ment i onon ly two Of these languages— and so far as i s at presentknown the latter on ly di st in gui sh i t in the pronouns , andnot in the adject ive as in Hausa . To such an extent i sthe gender idea developed in Hausa that adj ect ives , pronouns

,verbs

,and preposi t i ons are al l under i ts influence .

A great many other languages in West Afri ca have a

neuter gender , whi ch di st ingui shes th ings from personseffected by means of the 3rd personal pronoun singu lar ,but they do not in any way r ecogn i se mascu l in e and

femin ine gender . Hausa wi th i ts neighbouring languagesform , therefore , a l i ttle group by themselves as regardsgender .

The sex of li ving thin gs i s di st in gu i shed in three ways1. By di fferent words for male and female

Uba father uwa motherUba-n -

gi ji mas ter uwa - l -gi da or mi s tress of the hous euworigida

husband mataman mache womanma le tamata femalebri degroom amari a brideyou th budurua vi rgi nelder brother ya or i ya e lder s i s terhe-

goat akwi a she-

goatram tumkia ewe

ma le el ep han t giwa femal e el ephanthors e god ia marecamel tagua femal e camelcock kaza hen

(O ther examp l es wi ll be s een i n the tabl es of p lurals . )

2. By addi ng words represen ting male or femal e_Da -n -

gari townsman ya- l -gari townswoman

Da -n -uwa brother ya- l -uwa s i s ter

Zakara-zab i mal e gu i nea -fowl zabua fema le gu i nea -fowlNOTE. Zabi i s app arently the p lural form of the word

zabua.

”A s the common form of many animals , bi rds , etc .

,

NOUN 19

i s the fem i n i n e form , i t i s to thi s that the word “ mal e(“na-m iji

”i s added when i t i s n ecessary to i ndi cate

the sex. For bi rds “zakara , c o ck, i s more general ly

us ed .

3 . The feminin e may be formed from the masculi ne bya di fferen t term in at i on to the same root . The masculin e

wel , but the characterist i c term inat i onfem in in e i s “ a ”

in the syl lable “ia,

” “ ani a,”

3 ,

ni a,or un i a,

”as

p rophetFu la manHausa manwhi te manservan tthi efs lave ba iwason or freeman

Gobro bachelor gobrua

i nfan t boy jariri ayounger brother kanuawi zard may ia

bu tcher mafauchi a

(S ee further under deri v e d nouns , sup ra . )

chi ef , ki ng saraun i a

Tsofo old man t sofuaYaro boy yari n ia

Alfadari mu l eBabe locus tGado hogKare dogM araki

lM areki “ f

8 8. bu l l cow

Safi young hors e young mareSafe morn i ng morn i ng

To these may be added a number Of abstract nouns,

whi ch , if formed wi th the term inat ion -n -chi”

(K ) aremascu line , but i f wi th the terminat ion n -taka (S )

Yaran chi yarantaka you th

(S ee li s t of deri v e d nouns i n Part I. )

p rop hetessFu la womanHausa womanwhi te womanfemal e s ervantfema l e thi effema le s lavedaughter or freewoman

sp i ns teri nfan t gi rlyounger s i s terwi tchfemale bu tcher


Common Gender

Some noun s relat ing to persons are of both genders .

These include most nouns formed wi th the prefi x mai

asM ai -aiki worker M ai -kar i a l i ar M ai -gaski a sp eaker of the

tru thOthers wi th the prefi x mai so exclusively represent

the dut i es Of men that they can only be of the mascu lin egender , asM ai -yaki warri or mai -gona farmer mai -doki horseman

I t i s to be noted that nouns wi th the prefi x mai areun changed for gender , but those w i th the equ i valentprefi x ma take a gender termin at i on .

L ist of S ome Nouns endi ng i n a whi ch are M ascul i ne

(Names of human be i ngs and an imal s of the mal e sex

are not i nc lu ded ) .

greatn ess M agana 2bow Namaback Ranatap Ri j i a 2

fron t Rua

hous e S unabucket Taberma

rop e Tsaka 2l i ken ess Ts ofaground Wataload Yawan earnes s Zumaear of gra i n

( S ee further under p lural forms . )

PART I I I

NUM BER

There are two numbers in Hausa— the singular andplural . The plural i s formed in a great vari ety of ways

,

1 Commonl y us ed as an adj e ct i v e .

2 These nouns , though c ommonl y mascu l i ne , are al so met w i th i nthe fem i ni ne gender. When us ed as p repos i t i ons the mas cu li negender i s commonl y preferred .

Rana= sun is fem.

sp eechfleshday (m . and f. ) 3

wel lwaternamematm i ddleold age

moon andmon th.crowdhon ey

NOUN 21

and i s extraordinari ly ri ch in forms . Many nouns haveas many as four plural forms . M ost of these forms wereori ginally , no doubt , of di alect i c ori gin , but wi th the spreadof the Hausa language as a l ingua franca they have cometo be used indi scriminately or so as to su i t the harmonyof the sentence . Some are more commonl y used thanothers , and i t is possible that there are sli ght di s t inct i onsof meani ng , whi ch are now qu i te di sregarded , or , at

all events , rarely paid any attent ion to . Among suchpossible di st inct i ons are the defi ni te as against the indefi ni testate , a collect ive sense as again st one that preserves the di st inct ions of the indi viduals , or duali ty as against plural i ty .

In the pres ent state of knowledge no etymology O ffersi tself for any of these plural suffi xes .

The plural in any language has probably ori ginated inone of the fol lowing three methods 1 whi ch , however , O ftenbecome great ly corrupted ,

and when adopted into anotherlanguage cease to be recogni sable

1. Redupli cat i on .

2. Addi t i on of an adject i ve meaning many or all .

3 . Addi t ion of the word they or them .

”

1 . The fi rst method i s found in Hau sa both in i ts puri tyand also modifi ed . When modifi ed the last syllable of theword i s dupli cated , and some change i s also made in the

fi nal vowel , as

Iri -iri from iri ki nd , sortHai nyaiyai ba iaya roadDakunkuna daki hut, roomHakukua haki grassTakardodi takarda p ap erKofofi kofa doorYasos i yasa finger

The redupli cat i on of the last syll able takes the forms(k )oki

”

(t )ot i” or etc

Al l these termi nat ions must in reali ty be regarded asone alone , for the last consonant in the word— that i s , theone in the appended terminat i on— is made to agree wi ththe las t consonant in the stem . Thi s adaptat ion ratherrecall s what is not di ss imi lar in Wolof and Temne , the

1 S ee the languag es of West Afri ca—chap t er on Plural .


art i cle in those languages being made to agree consonant lywi th the radi cal consonant in the noun ; and a simi lar harmon i sat ion also exi sts in the Ba-Ntu languages .

2. As regards the second method , there i s not

one of the many term in at i ons that can be connecsuch words as many or al l .

”

3 . As regards the third , the same may be said , thoughthis method i s found in Angas . On the other hand ,in Bolanchi , a language simi larly related to Hau sa , theplural forms are as vari ed almost as they are in Hausa .

The Terminati ons

The commonest plural terminat ion i s ai, whi ch i s

subst i tuted for the last vowel of the noun , as haske ,”

haskai ,”l ight.

Almost al l , i f not ent irely al l , nouns taking thi s ter

m inat i on can take also the terminat i on - )O ( - ) i , the lastconsonant of the noun whi ch stands before o standingalso between O and “ i

,

” as haske ,”

haskoki .”

Further , these same nouns can probably all take the term in at i on una,

”the last vowel of the noun being changed

to u .

”

Other term inat i ons are n i and ki, usually added

3 ,

to nouns endi n in a asg

wata watan i mon thrana ranaki daykwana kwanaki day of twen ty -four hours

Nouns endin g in a wi ll often change au , als

takarda takardu

fi t i la fi t i lu

Some nouns add aye or aje , changing thevowel to a i f necessary, as

S una sunaye nameG i da

glidaje hou se

Hanu anaye handK i fi ki faye fi sh

The foregoing are the commonest ways of forming theplural number , but , as can be seen in the following li sts ,


FEM . -O -I

Kane kanua kanon i andkan ena

young

kwuyanga kuyangai

kwiyanga

ki shi yoy i

shai dai shai dodi shaiduna

and shai duTurd i turdodi and

turdawa

zab iyoy i

zab iyoyi

Zarumi zarumai

zumuna

Not used

anabawa p rophetkafi rai kafi rawa heathen

majusawa magi c i anmadugawa chi ef of a caravan

turdodi turdawa snake charmermafadawa couns el lor

See al so noun s wi th p refix ba

FEM .

NOUN 25

PLURALS ENGLISHaljanu demonbalagagu young man ( adul t )dakaru bodyguard

M arare or maran i a (f. ) marayoyi , marayn orp han

saraun ia

Shai da

baraun i a

Dengi , d enga ,deggi

Gabro (gobro ) gabrua(goburo)

mata

ragua

uwa

yari nia

wadan ia

hadaku s tranger who refusesto accoun tforhims elf

saraun iyoyi sar wife or s i s ter of aaun iyu ki ng

shai du , etc . , see wi tnessprev i ous l i st

Je and ye

baray i and bara ibebaye

bokaye

buzay e

dengoy i

ga b ra y e, a n d

gaguare

and parents

babani eunuchkakan i kakoka grandfather, ances torsmanzan i messengerwadan i dwarf

mataye, mata i tai ,matataki

ragaye,* t agaj e

ragus ye , ragunauwaye and iyaye

yaraye and yara ‘yaray e , yara , andyamata

thi efdumb p ersonwi zarda p erson ha lf Hausaha lf Tawarek

fam i ly relati ons

bachelor and sp i ns ter,wifeless man , and so

e i the r wi dower orbachelor

SP3!younger son of achi ef, also a largewhi te seed used as

a bead


Nouns that admi t of a broken stem or change of word

MA S C. FEM . PLURAL S

grea t manhors e so ld i ers lavefemal e s lavefemale s laveson , chi ld , free

mal lamhusband , male

mache womanman , p erson

sarkani a re i gn i ng qu een

Sarmayi you th under twenty( samrai ) orsamr i ( sau re )Uba nhan e (K ) , ubanai father

y eyu elder brother

P lurals unclass ified

Bara baran i a b a r u a , b a r o r i , s ervan tbarurua

badurai

Bako b a k i , b a k u n a,

bakokuna

dodonai

ka fi

monome

ma i nya

barad i nebay i ,

*ba i bawoyi

bay i , ba ibay i

,bai

yaya t

“ d i ya (S ) ,yayaya

malamai,maluma

maza,

* mazaje,mazai

matamutane

"

(S ) mut

an tan i (K )fatake

kutaresaraka i , saraki ,

sarakuna

saraka i , saraki,

sarakuna

samari

NOUN

LIVING THINGS

Common

-O -I UNA

b ikokib i rori , b iruna,b i rari , hi ray e

Bunsuru

d i ladukusa dukusa i

dori na dorinai

faruna

gunzuna

jakan ia jakai jakunaand jaka

kad od i

kenwuna

machijia

Takari karitakoki

zakania zakokizomai

“ j i s soft here , and z i s almos t sh.

27

he-goat

l i ve-s tock

ratsmal l darkcolouredan telop e

P19ass

crocod i l e

28

Berdo

THE HAUSA LANGUAGE

Ki

Not use d w i th l i v i ng things

WaNot used w i th l i v ing thi ngs , p ersons only

U

PLURALSalfadaru

gadu

hankaka hankaku andhankaki

maraka maraku

tantabera

berayeberdaye

Gadu (gyadu ) gadaye, gadoji ,

K i fiKudi (kujI )

gaduna

giwaye femal e el ep hant'faye fi shkudaje flykuraye hycena

muji ye owlmekiye a sp ec i es of eaglezunzaye, zunzuaye bi rd

whi te ant

Broken stem

akuya (akw i a ) akuyai , akuyoy i , she-

goatawakai , awaki

bauna bakan i , baunayedawakai ,

* dawakidokuna (dowakai )karnai , karnukashanukaj itumaki

NOUN 29

PLURALS

kuri chia

Kw ikuyo or youngof animal skurkwi yo

(Zakara zab i ) zabna ( sabua ) sabi gu i n ea fowlTabri tabra cas trated goatToro torone bu l l

I NANIM ATE THINGS

Common formati on

UNA

Ado (m. )Albasa albasai

(m . or f. )Akuri ke (m. ) akuri kaiA lama (f. ) alamomiA li n ta alfutai

(m . or f. )Alji fa (m. ) aljifai aljifofior alj i fi (m. )Al ura al urai al urori needl e(m . or f. )

Awoza (f. ) awozai rib, s i deor awazaBaki (m. ) (bakakuna) mouth

and bakunaBant e (m. ) bantuna

Bata ( f. ) batochi

Bi nd i ga ( f. )Buka ( f) .Bulala (f. ) bulala i

potamu s hi deBunu (m. ) buna i grass orthatch

,

dar blues trip ed c loth

barey i

bi sai sai , hi soshi ,b i sashe

gamraki

god ihankaki , hankaku

kagunai

kwadi a, kwadunakwarikuri checheki ,kuri chi oyi

kw ikuyey


Danga (m . or f. )Bo iya (f . ) do i yai

D uggo (m. )or d igga ( f . )Duki a ( f. )

Dundu (m. ) dundaiDun i a ( f. )Fada ( f. )Fada ( f. )Fata (f. )F ikafi ke (m. ) fi ki fi kaiFukafuki fukafukai

Fi lafi 1e (m. ) fulafulaior fulafu leFi t i la (f. ) fi t i lai

furai

( fuskai kai )

Gado (m. ) gada iGado (m. )

Gan a ( f. )Gari e (m . ) (ga i ka )or gerke (m. )Garwashi

Gi lmi (m . )Gora (f. )Gori ba ( f. ) goribai

Guga (m. )Gungume gungumai

(mGwaza (m. )or Goza

garwashosh i

gilmomi

gori bob i

sugosi

(gwazoyi )

UNA ENGL ISH

thigh(dakunkuna) room, hut

and dakuna*

doi yuna

r i ches

dunduna *

fatuma

fuskuna

gaduna *

goruna

guguma

gwazunu

flower

facefron t , breas ta grass , a ki ndof hoei nher i tancebed


Kurada (m. ) kuradai

Kurafu

(kurfu ) (m. )Laun i (m. ) lan h ai

Lebo (m. )Le i ern (m. ) leferai

Lo tu (m . ) l otaiLu i nd i lufudai

(m. )M adafa (f. ) madafaI

M alafa (f. ) malafai

M ared e (m. ) maredai

M o l o (m. )M uddu (m. )M uria (m. orf. )Raga (f. )Ram i (m. )Randa (f. )

Rumbu (m. )S ai yi (m. )Sal ga (f. )Sanda (m . or f. )Sanduki (m. ) sandukaiS anfo (m. )S arauta ( f. ) sarautai

Sarika (m. )S efa (f . ) andsai fa

Shekara (f. ) shekara i

Shautal ai

Sheriai

UNA

kuri nna

lebuna

lotochi lotuna

malafuna

reguna

rigogi also ri guna(rigaigai ) and

(rigunon i )rumbuna

sanduna

Shekarori and

( shekaru

surduna

tabuna

colour

cannonlarge s traw hatm i lls ton emus i c (banjo )a measure

( tauraro )

Tasub i (m. )asu bi )

takardai

tasubai

NOUN

wurori

UNA

takarduna

taguna

taikuna

taruna

tumbuna

yatsuna

zarguna

zobuna

'

33

book, p ap er

loopr i ngs i n

-O -I

takalmomi ,al so( takalma)and

( takaluma)takardodi ,alsotakardu

(S ) tanfasuwoy i


Thi s l i st i n cludes words of fore i gn ori gin

SINGULAR PLURALS ENGLISHA lhada (f. ) albadodi s tri p of c lothAl kari a (f. ) vi l lageAlkeba (f, ) c loakGargasa (f. ) large fi sh wi th

ta i lHamata (f. ) arm-

p i t

Kafada (f. ) kai adodi shou lderKagara (kagarua) barri cade(ft )

Kwarmi (m. ) kwarmu

Labari (m. ) labaruM ashi (m . ) masuRagai ta (f. ) ragai tu

Bagaya (f. ) ragayu

Rai (m. ) rai u , raiuka

Rcfi (m. ) (re i o ) refu , refuna

Shegi fa (f. ) shegifu

S i l i a (m . or f. ) s i l iyu

Takarda (f. ) takardu a n d

other forms(see p rev i ousl i st

Tamraro (m. ) tamraru an dother forms( see p rev i ousl i st )

Zamani (m. ) zamanu time , season

Jc and ye

Fi l i (m. ) fi laye

Gai nya (f. ) gai nyaye, ai nye

Gado (m. ) gadaje, ga Odi

Gauta (m . or f. ) gautaye

Gawoi (m. gawaye

G i da ( In . gidaje, gidadajeG imba (f. ) gimbayeGu iwa (m.) gu iwaye

Guj ia (f. ) gujeye, gujiyoyiGwaza ( f. ) wazoy i , gwazuna

Hanu (m. ) hanaye , hami a“ (K)Kango (m. ) kangay e , kangogiKulu (m. ) kulaye

Kusurua (m.) kusuroy i

socket, joi ntn ewssp earidlen esssupp orti ng rop el ifebranchmud houses i lk

pap er

cul t ivated p la i nlea

b

egg-

p lan tcharcoalhouses eed used as a beadkn eeground nu t (als o geda)sweet p otatohandru i nwhip markcorner

Fari chi (m.)

Galma (f. )Gul b i (m. )Gumki (m . )

NOUN

ruaye, ruwaiwai

sunays ,* sunanaki

(m. ) soraye

m . or f. ) wi yayi

(m. ) wosashe (wojaje)

Ka, Ke, Ki

gonaki farmkanyuka hamle tkwabruka

kauroridead tree

35

kwanaki ,* kwanuka day of twen ty four hours

rai uka, rai uranaki ,

“ranuka,

ranakai

sunanaki , sunaye, namesunua

tsumoki

wakeke, wakuna

wukake

zauruka

Noun s that admi t of a broken stem

BROKEN STEM FORM OTHER FORMSaynka , ayuyuka, aikuna

aikoki

akusaasaki askokibasusuka

chi ay idamasaduatsu

fi yafai

faruta (S )

galemi galemuna

gul abegumakaiItatua (K) i tshuna (S )

ji woy i'

i ragoabokakawuna, kauna ,kawana , kanua

ENGL ISH

wooden di shrazordebtgrassupp er armrockwoven fan or d i shcover

fi nger-na i la vegetable ,!a sort of hoer iver, lakei doltree


SINGULAR BROKEN STEM FORM OTHER FORMS ENGLI SHKaim i (m. ) kayamiKari fi (m.) karafa i ronKasko kasakiLi tafi l i tatafi

M ai n chi (m. ) mafelfechi

R i j i a (m . rijoyiRots i (mm . ) ratsa

Takchi (m . takuba

Tukun ia (f. tukuane (tukwan i )Wur i (m. ) kurd i , kud iZuchi a (f zukata zutochi

Plurals unclass ified

SINGULAR PLURALS ENGLISHAbu (m.) abubua thi ngAlgari b (m.) algari bi red and black s eeds

of a certa i n p lan tAlhari (m al hari ni s i lk

Birn i (m. ) b i rane and b irnua c i tyBobawa (f. ) bobaiyi forei gn sp eech (in

a bad s ens e )Chi awa (m.) chi ayi grassGare (m .) garuruka whi te tobeGari (m. ) garurua, garu garigaru town

rukaGarkua ( f. ) gariki

Gashi (m . ) gasusuka ha i r, woolGatari (m. ) gatara , gatura gatarua ha tchetGeme (m . gema beardGera (gi ra ) (f. gerat e , gerori eyebrowG igi ni a (f. gigangani , gigi n giginai fan p alm

yoyI

l . gourd us ed as

Gora (f. ) gororo water-bottl e2. walki ng-cane

Goro (m. ) gworra kola nut

Habai chi (m. ) habai tai abus e , s ecre t s ignsHabaki (m. ) habaka cloud of smokeHaki (m. ) hakukua grassB akori (m. ) hakora toothIdo (m. ) i danu (K ) idanduna eyeIj i a (f . ) ido (S ) p up i l of eyeKafa (f. ) kafafua , kafufu footKafo (m. ) kafon i kafuna ho rnKama (m . and kamanu l i ken essf. ( rare ) )

Kashi (m. ) kasusua, kassa

NOUN

PLURALSd kasashc ,

* kasai sai

kasku

ki boyi

kurareJI

699word , language

maganguna, med i c i n emagunguna

rafufuka rafunat afon il‘

t

tuluna

tumfafi a

turam iwadatawatan i ,* watanai watashi

zanuwa, zanoa

VERBAL NOUNs—PLURAL

I njin i tives

The infi n i t i ve when used as a noun forms theredupli cat ion wi th a change Of form

chiyé -chi yeshayé-Shayé

uje-g‘ujé

O é o oyet u uché-rubuchékaranché-karanché

Verbal Nouns i n - ia

Thi s form takes the plural term inat ion -o- i .

Tafi a tafi yoyi travelli ng

37

s treams torerooms torehousegoi ng, travelp ot

a tree p roduc i ngfibre for rap ea mortarr i chesmon thcloth


Verbal nouns ending in the present part i cipi al termin at i on -wa change -Wa in to -woyi ,

”thus taking the

common term inat ion -O - i,

” wi th a variat i on in the semivowel

KANO S OKOTO

Baiwa baiwoy i basuwa basuwoyi

Batawa batawoyi.

bataswa bataswoyiChi rawa chirawoy i chérsuwa chérsuwoyi

Chi dawa chidawoy i chi suwa chi suwoy i

Fi taswa fi taswoyi fi suwa fi suwoy i

Jefawa jefuwoy i jefaswa jefaswoy iSéyowa sayowoy i sayoya sayawoyi

Shyaswa sayaswoy i saysuwa saysuwoy iTarawa tarawoy i tarsuwa tarsuwoy i

Yasuwa yasuwoy i yazwa yazuwoyi

Z i i bawa zri buwoy i zfi b suwa zfi bsuwoyi

PLURALS OF COM P OUND NOUNS FORM ED WITH PARTICLES

Ba

MA S O . FEM . PLURALM !2

?

21

!232ABhausawa Hausalarabawa A rabfu lani (fu lbe i s Fu lathe Fula pl ural )

batur i a turawabatoni a, ba-tona tonawaba-

gob iri a gob i rawa

ba-sudani a

couns el lor

Da

Da-n-kano ya-1kano yaya -n -kano Kano man

Da-n-al aro ya 1 alaro yaya -n-alaro carr i erDa-n-alkari a ya

-1 alkari a yaya-n -alkaria vi l lagerDa-m-banza ya

-1 ban za yaya-n -banza worthl es s p erson

The ass o c i at i on of “ ba wi th any other than a p lac e nameis rare.

ENGLISHgi vi nglos i ngsavi ngfeedi ngp ul l i ng out

throwi ngbuyi ngsel l i ngassembl i ngthrowi ngawayp ouri ng ou t

Europ eanA shan tiGobi r man (Gob i ri s part ofHausa )

sudanawa S udan es ekanawa , kanowa Kano manzabarimawa S onghay man(Zabarimi i s theeast ern part ofS onghay )askarawa

fadawa


Thi ngs

M ASO . and FEM . PLURAL ENGLISHM adafa (f. ) madafai cannonM adafi a (f. ) madafi ai ki tchenM achi di (m. ) machidai feedi ng-

p laceM afari (m. ) mafarai begi nn i ngM afut i (m. ) mafutai res ti ng-

p laceM agan i (m. ) maganai ou tlookM akar i (m. ) makarai end

M abay i (m. ) mahayai , mahayoyi s tepM ari ki marika handl eM asal lachi (m. ) masalatai mosqu eM ashay i (m. ) mashayai dr i nki ng-

p laceM azamni (m. ) mazamnai s eat

Suffix -ta ( s ingular ) , -tai (p lural )M afanta (f. ) mafautai s laughter -p laceM achi uta (f. ) machi utai p lace of s i ckn essM ahaukata ( f. ) mahaukatai p lace for mad p eop l eM akaranta (f.) makarantai s choolM asunta ( f. ) masuntai fi shi ng-p lace

No p refixSuffix -ta (s i ngular ) , -tochi (plural )

(ch i s i n l i eu of t before “ i

Chi u ta (f. ) chi utochi

Fauta (f. ) fautochi

Haukata (f. ) haukatochi

Karanta (f . ) karantochi

Sallata (f. ) sal latochi

Sunta (f. ) suntochi

The foregoing are examples of three mean ings derivedfrom the same stem— the person , the p lace , the act i on ,

the latter , however , be in g Wi thout a prefi x . The pluralsof abstract noun s are rarely used in pract ice .

PLURALS OF OTHER ABSTRACT NOUNS WITHOUT PREFI !

Sufi x -nchi -n taka (f.)

The fi rst i s of Kano origin and the other of Sokoto origin .

Abstract noun s with these terminat i on s can from thei rnature be but rarely put in the plural

Sarkanchi sarkantochi sarkantaka sarkantakoki ki ngship

NOUN 41

A lis t oi'

some of these noun s i s gi ven under the derivat ion of the noun .

I t i s to be noted that both forms take the pluraltermin at i on -o - i

” adapted wi th the proper consonant .

PLURALS OF CO M POUND NOUNS

Prefix Abi -n

Compou nd nouns formed wi th th i s prefi x do not usual lytake a plural . The plural of “

ab i -n -tsoro ” cou ld berendered abubua-n -tsoro — that i s , thi ngs to fear ; butthi s rather d irects the emphasi s to the word thing ,

”and

the compound pract i cal ly becomes di ssolved .

The words ab inchi , food,and abin sha , drink, are

in such common use, however , that they have ceased to

be regarded as having componen t part s , and so the pluralsare formed on l in es as i f they were simple noun s , as

Ab i nchi abinchai , ab i ntochi

Abi nsha ab inshai

Prefix Wuri -n

I f noun s compounded wi th thi s word are put in the

plural , wuri takes i ts ordin ary plural form , and,as

wi th abi -n the compound noun becomes dis solved .

Wuri -n -kwana wurare-n -kwana sl eep i ng-p lace

OTHER CO M POUND Nouns

O ther compound noun s whi ch do not take a plural tothe fi rst part of the word are rare

Kandaki (kai -n -daki ) kandakuna upp er s torey

Nouns WITHOUT PLURAL

There are a great many noun s whi ch do not admi t ofa p lural .l . Nouns denot i ng mass cannot form a plural

Z i naria (f. ) gold Haz i corn Kura (f. )Azurufa (f . ) s i lver Alkama (f. wheat Zumna (m. ) or

Shi nkafa r i ce Rua-n -zumna honey


2. Parts of the body

Jini (m. ) blood Nama (m. ) flesh Nono (m.) mi lk

3 . Abstract noun s express ing facult i es of the mind

Yi rda (f. ) bel i ef, etc . M urna (f. ) joyTsoro (m . fear Tamaha (m . hop e

4 . Most abstract noun s cannot form a plural (and otherson ly rarely)M ugunta (f. ) badn ess K eau (m ) beau ty Tsarki (m. ) hol i n es sBauta (f. ) s lavery Gaski a tru th

5. Nouns of posi t ion

Bi sa (m. and f. ) top Tsaka (m . and f. ) m i ddle

6. Designat i ons of t ime

Safe (m. ) or safi a morn i ng M areche (m. ) even i ng

7 . Sundry

Kama (f. ) Zaka (f. ) land tax

Norms WITHOUT A S INGULAR

Noun s wi thout a s ingu lar are rare . The foll owingsome of whi ch no singu lar form can be traced

Dasash i (K ) , dasori (S ) gums of the mouthKekarai swel l i ng i n the handsTuguai , tuguaye, taguaye twins

USE or S INGULAR FOR PLURAL

There i s a strong tendency among the Hausa people touse the singul ar for the plural . In this tendency they areon ly following the common pract i ce of other West Afri canlanguages , in which the plural suffi x i s an independentword or part i cle , and is movab le to the last word in asequence of words , i t being incorrect , and indeed impossib le,to affi x i t to more than one word . In such languagesthe phrase “

ten big things” becomes thing big ten ,

”

or thi ng bigs for b ig things .” The numeral or some

NOUN 43

similar word takes the place of the plural‘

suffi x , but

cann ot accompany i t .

In the chapter on the adject ive i t wi ll , however , be seenthat Hausa does not fal l in wi th these languages beyondhaving the preference for the singular form over the pluralform , and in thi s respect i t li es c loser to Europeanlanguages in i ts con struct ion .

I t i s onl y in very correct Hausa , indeed i t might becalled pedant ic , for the noun to be put into the pluralform when there are qualifying words . When the nounstands alone i t must of course be put in the plural numberto complete the sen se . Otherwi se i t i s correct to use

the s ingu lar .

Examp lesM utum b i u sun 20 Two men have comeSarakuna sun zo The chi efs have comeHai nya -r-nan da duchi (or da Thi s road i s rockyduatsu ) .

Ya yi shekara bi u ban ganka ba It i s two years s i nce I saw you

Kwana -mu goma muna tafi a We have been ten days travel l i ngKu dauki kaya Take up your loadsAndamre kava duka Are al l the loads t i ed upM uka ber i kaya -mu a wan i gari We have l eft our loads i n another

town al l together )( If the p l ural were used here , i t wou ld refer to each one

’s i ndivi dual

load s ep arately . )

Shi ne ya fad i ku mutane dan He i t i s he tel l s (you) you sons ofAdam Adam

Shekaru n ka nawa Saura How old are you 49 I n three mon thswata uku en yi (or chi ka ) I shal l be twen ty years oldshekara ashi ri n

S aura kwana uku ku gamma I n three days more you wi l l haveai ki nku fin i shed your work

M ugunta da suka yi ta komo The evi l that they di d came backb1sa kai nsu up on thei r own heads

PLURAL FORM S W ITH A S INGULAR M EAN ING

There are few plural forms of noun s in Hau sa whi chare u sed Wi th a singu lar mean ing in a sl ight ly differen tsense , as

l .

M ache woman mata women


but “ mata i s common ly used as a term of respect inaddressing any woman—m

Sanu , mata How do you do , madam

M ache i s n ever u sed in such a way .

M ata ” also mean s wife, as whi ch i t takes a plural ,“mataye,

”etc .

Enna matanka 7 Where i s your wife

certain ly not Where are your women But

M ata nan suna noma bay i no Thes e women are p loughi ng theyare s laves

Wuri cowry shel l kurd i cowr i es

but kurdi is common ly used meaning money or price.

PART I V

CAS E

There i s no in flect ion of the noun for case.

As in English , the posi t ion of the substant ive wi thregard to the verb decides whether i t is nominat ive oraccusat ive ; and what wou ld be the gen i t ive, dat ive ,ablat ive, or locat i ve cases are indi cated by prepos i t i ons .

I t i s under preposit ions , therefore, that thi s sub ject i sin real i ty treated .

The following , however , is a bri ef out lin e of the

dec lens ion of the noun wi th appropriate preposi t i ons

S INGULARman

you man

you gi rlman

= na mutum ) of a (or the) manto a ( or the) manwi th a (or the) manon the road

PLUBAL

Nom. mutane

Voc. ku mutanskai mutane

NOUN 45

Acc. mutane menGen .

-n -mutane (na mutane) of menDat. ga mutane to the menAbl . da mutane wi th men or wi th the men

SYNTA ! OF THE CASES

The nomin at ive and accusat ive are used in the same

pos1t10n In a sentence as they are In Engli sh .

M utum ya chi nama The man ate the meatM utane sun chi nama The men ate the meat

Vocati ve

In the vocat ive the pronoun you precedes an

unqual ifi ed noun ,and i s di st ingu i shed for gender .

In the plural the singu lar pronoun mascul in e may beused as wel l as the plural pronoun . Th i s usage po ints tothe supposit i on that the pronoun has degenerated intoan interj ect ion pure and s imple

Kai yaro l ka zo l You boy ! come !Ke yarini a ! ki 20 You gi rl ! come !M i j i na ! M i ya sameka M y husband ! What has happ ened to you P

In formal address the Arab i c interject ion “ ya mayprecede the pronoun or noun , as

Ya s idi 0 s i r !

Ya ku I srai lawa ! 0 you Israel i tes !

Geni ti ve 1

Thi s case i s formed by two substant ives connected bythe preposi t i on “

na , of, the possessed ob ject stand ingfi rst , the possessor last , or i t may be formed by two nounsin ap os i t ion in the same order but wi th no copulat ive .

The atter construct ion i s perhaps less common on theWhole .

Na in the mascu line becomes ta in the femini n e .

These long forms are not very frequently met wi th ,

1 S ee part i cul arly under Propos i t ion na.


however , but are shortened and vary for euphony as

followsM asc . Na “ m ,

” d ,or omi tted if the last

vowel of the noun preceding 1s a .

’

Fem . Ta”

t ,” r ,

”l, according to di alect as well

as euphony. In Kano r and “ t”are preferred

, but

in Sokoto In Kano “n i s also used . Fre

quent ly the r i s scarcely heard , and so i t seems asif there were two noun s in juxt aposi t i on , as iscommon in other West Afri can languages e.g.

Yoruba , I gara , Nupe , etc . A lso the masculin eform n i s common ly heard Where the femin inewoul d be techni cally accurate .

Plural . In the plural n alone i s used , in accordancewi th the ru le of the language that gender i s not

recogn ised in the plural number .

Examp les

Yaro -n -sariki the boy of the ki ngYara n -saraki the boys of the ki ngsDa-n -uwana The son of my mother—Le , brother, cous i n ,

etc .

Ya-t -malamYa-r-mal amYa-l -malamYa n malam

the p r i es t’s daughter

Yaya n malam the p r i es t’s daughters

Yaya n ma lamai the daughters of the p ri es tsAkw i a r bako the s tranger

’s she-

goatAwaki n bako the s tranger

’s she-

goatsM utume -n -sariki the chi ef

’s man

I t i s to be noted that the accent on the word representing the object possessed is changed , as

Yari ni a the gi r lYari nia-t -sariki the chi ef

’s gi rl

An other way of express ing the geni t ive i s the use ofa possessive pronoun .

S ari ki matausa the chi ef hi s wife

Examp le of Nouns i n app os i tion

Bako gari ba ka zo dadai ba A s trange ci ty to whi ch you haven ever before come


Locati ve case

The equ ivalent of the locat ive i s effected by many prepos i ti on s of place , but espec ial lv by a

”

Doki shi na tsaye a hai nya The hors e s tands i n the roadBaya-n -

gi da behi nd the houseA baya-n -

gi da behi nd the hous e (but more emphat icall y i n one local i ty behi nd the

hous e)

CHAPTER I I I

ADJECTIVE

APART from numeral adjec tives, whi ch Wi ll be treatedseparately, the adject ive i s of two kinds simple and

adj ectives show gender and number, but not

case .

Compound adj ect i ves do so also , except those compounded wi th da ,

” whi ch show nei ther .

GENDER

The femin ine gender i s formed from the mascul in e ofsimple adject ives by the addi t i on of a ,

”ia i ya or

ua uwa to the stem , the fi nal vowel of the masculi neform , Whatever i t may be , being dropped .

In compoun d adject ives ei ther the same ru le may befol lowed or there may be no change , but in the singlecase of “

nagari ,”

good, there is an ini t i al change .

PLURAL

In the p lural there i s no indi cat i on of gender at all .

The plural i s formed in the same way as wi th nouns , butthere i s a preference for the vowe l u as a terminati on .

DERIVATION

S imple adjecti ves are those whi ch cannot be deri vedfrom other part s of speech .

49


Compound adject ives are formed from noun s w ith the

prefi xes na of, mai owner, mai -ras ” or “ma-ras ,”

the contrary of “mai da wi th,and babu wi thout.

In addi t i on to the foregoing the present and pastpart i ciples are treated as adject ives . The presentpart i ciple i s formed by mai or

“ ma being prefi xedto the verb stem . The past part i ciple i s formed by an

ampl i fi cat i on of the stem .

S IMPLE ADJECTIVES

FEM . PLURAL ENGL ISHalgasha algasa1, algasu greenbaka babaku (S ) , babaki (K ) blackbaba babuna, mai nya bi g

baba i s in real i ty a noun mean ing greatn ess )

banza banzaiz ai (S ) , banzay i (S ) worthl essdainya dai nyu ,

dai nyoyi freshdogua dogaye (S ) , doguna (K ) tal lfara farfaru or farfaru (S ) , farfare whi te

(K ) , faraye , farareGaj ere gaj era (S ) , gajeru , gajerai

gajeri a (K )gurgua guragu

ja j ajayekarama , karam u, karamaikaramiakankanwa kanana , kankana (K )kadan kadankakahra kabrara

kekasa , kekasu

kekasashi a

kori amugun i a

ramamIa

rawayu ( S ) , rawayai ( S )sabab i , sabuishudodi , shuduna

t sofafi ,t sofi

wofuna (K )yofaifai (Zanf)yaranai , yaranon i (both 8 )dayawa

Duka du a

ADJECTIVE 51

CO M POUND ADJECTIVEs

l . Formed wi th na , of, wi th a noun . These are veryfew

,but see also ordi nal numerals , whi ch are formed also

by th i s method

Na ari

Na warai

2. Formed wi th “ mai owner of, and a noun . Thecon struct i on 1s obv 10us , and an un l im i ted number ofadj ect ives can be made in thi s wayMASO . and FEM . PLURAL ENGL ISH FROMM ai -anfani masu-anfani us eful anfani use

M ai -araha masu-araha cheap araha cheap nessM ai -fadi masu -fad i broad fad i breadthM ai -gaski a masu -

gaski a tru e gaski a tru thM ai -hankal i masu -hankal i p ruden t hankali = care, etc .

M ai -kari fi masu -kari fi s trong kari fi i ron , s trengthM ai -ke ao masu -keao fi ne keao beau tyM ai -rai masu -rai l ivi ng rai l ifeM ai -tsada masu-tsada dear t sada dearn essM ai -zuch i a masu -zuchia brave zuchia heartM ai -zuru fi masu -zurufi deep zurufi = dep th

3 . The contrary of the foregoing class of compoundadj ect ives is formed by suffi x ing the part i c le -rasa ”

to“m i

,

”and an equally large number of adject ives can

be formed in thi s way .

For mai -rasa maras 1 is often used , the mean ingbeing the same , but mairasa i s not changed for gender

,

whereas maras becomes marashia in the femin ine

M ASO . FEM . PLURAL ENGLI sH

M ai - rasa-kari fi mai -rasa -kari fi masu rasa powerl esskari h

M aras -kari fi or marashi a-kari fi marasa -kari fi p owerl essmarashi -n -kari fi

M aras -hankal i marashia-hankal i marasa-hankal i fool i shM aras -kachi a marasa-kachi a unc i rcumc i sed

4 . Da ,

”wi th, compounded wi th nouns ,makes adject ives .

These adj ect ives can on ly be used predi cat ively and neverattribut ively . They are Wi thout any idea of gender and

Often p ronounced mara .


number . An un l imi ted number of adject ives can be madein th i s way

Da-keao fi ne Da-hankal i carefulDa-anfan i u s efu l Da-nauyi heavyDa-araha cheap Da-rai al i veDa -bam differen t Da-

yungwa hungryDa-yawa (short ene d to d i awa ) many

The opposi te of these mean ings i s effected by the u se

of “ babu ,

”wi thou t ( li t .

,

“ ba,

”not ;

“abu

,

”a thi ng)

Babu -keaoBabu -anfan i

PRESENT PARTICIPLE

The present part i c iple (so - called ) i s formed by the

prefi xes “ mai and “ ma the former bein g of Sokotoorigin

,the latter of Kano .

1 Wi th the former the V erbstem rema ins unchanged ,

but wi th the latter the stemi s changed for gender and number

MA S C . FEM . PLUR ALM ai -aiki mai -aiki masu -aikiM a-aikachi ma-aikachia ma-aikata

M ai -azum i mai -azum i masu -azum iM a-azumchi ma -azumchi a ma -azumtaM ai -ara mai -ara masu -araM ai -aro mai -aro masu -aroM a-ari ma -ari a ma -ara lendi ngM ai -so mai -so masu -so

M a-soy i ma -soy ia ma - soya,masowa

Th i s part i c iple i s further treated under the verb .

PAST PARTIC IPLE

The past part ic iple pass ive , as in all languages, can be

used as an adject ive . I ts format ion i s examin ed underthe verb

MA S C . FEM . PLUR AL ENGL ISHArare araria araru l en t or borrowedRamtache ramtachi a ramtatu

The format ion of the femin ine and plural i s strict lyregular .

1 A c cordi ng to M i schli ch.

ADJECTIVE 53

USE OF NOUNS As ADJECTIVESNames of countri es ending in -chi

”can be used as

adject ives , but unchanged for gender or numberHausanchi HausaLarabachi (K ) , Larabanchi (S ) A rabFul anch i Fu laTuranch i Europ eanS udanchi Afr i can

M agana larabachi A rab sp eechDaki -n -sudanchi S oudan es e hutDakuna -n -sudanchi S oudanese hu ts (hous es )

R iga - l -hausa Hausa clothR iguna

-n -hausa Hausa cloths

For li ving things these forms are not u sed . The personalforms are used in apposit ion ,

and Show gender and number

Doki ba- larabe A rab horseDawaki larabawa A rab horsesRago ba-haushe Hausa ramRaguna hausawa Hausa ramsAkwi a hausa Hausa she-goatAwaki hausawa Hausa she-goatsor awaki hausa

REDUPLI OATION

S imp le adj ect ives can be redupl i cated . Thei r mean ingmay be in some cases emphasi sed thereby , but equal lythe idea to be conveyed i s somewhat ” or somethingl ike . Thi s can be best seen from examples

Kadan kadan very l i ttl e or very smal lbut

Yaro mugu mugu shi ke= Shi na He i s l i ke a bad boykaman yaro mugu

Dogo dogo shi ke Shi na He i s tal l i shkaman dogo

Sabo sabo s hi ke= Shi na kaman sabo It i s l i ke a new one

Baki -baki blacki sh or dark blu i shBaki n ke rri n very blackFari -far i whi t i sh or greyJa-ja reddi shShud i -shud i l i ght blu i shK ore -ko re l i ght greenNOTE.

—The mas cul i n e s i ngu lar form seems alon e to be us ed .


Compare als o

Kul'

kusa very nearI na da wata turuba keokeowa I have (know) another p ath, a

very good one

SYNTA !

1. When the adject ive i s u sed attribut ively i t mayei ther fol low the noun i t qual ifi es , agreeing wi th i t i n

gender and number , or i t may precede the noun with thecopu lat ive preposit ion n na of, agreeing in genderand number . Wi th the latter method

,however , the

plural i s less commonl y found .

Examples of adject ive following

MAS CULIN E S INGULAR .

Ta gan i gida mai keao S he saw a fi ne houseKai mutum mai gaskia no You are a man of truthTa sa zan e mai zinari a Does she p ut on garmen ts of goldM incne dawa 7 Wani iri -n -ja What i s gu i nea corn .

5’ A sma l ln -kwaya kankan e (Not e con ki nd of grai nstru ct i on w i th two adj ect i v e s )

Ta zuba rua kadan S he p oured ou t a l i ttl e waterSuka sa ta ch iki o n -Wan i daki They p ut her i n to an unp leasan tbabu keao room

M utum maras -kurd i kama n A p oor man i s l i ke a ki ng wi thsariki maras -kari fi shi ke out p ower

FEMINI NE S INGULAR

M ache tagar i tana kula da A good woman takes care of heriyal in ta fam i ly

Ke di a takwarai che You are a good daughterM ache mai -azume tana zamne A fas t i ng woman s i ts yonderchan

PLURAL

Di a-n -i tache n i nanu anchiresu The.ri p e fru i ts are p lucked

K i ba eu di a-n -durum i ni nanu Gi ve them the rip e fru i ts ofdurum i tr ee

Dawaki masugudu suna chan Yonder are gal lop i ng horsesGa dawaki masugudu chan S ee the hors es gal lop i ng thereBatur e dayawa ya mutu (Not e M any whi te men di edthe construct i on )


Predi cati ve Use of the Adjecti ve

The verb “ to be i s employed , the form ne beingenc l i t i c

,as also i s i ts femin ine form che but the

form “ ke”i s used with a pronoun

Ni talaka me I am p oorDaki -n -nan kankane no Thi s room i s smal lKarr e da kurege ramamu eu ke The dog and the fox were l eanM asa n nan antoya su ? i i , Are these cakes baked ? Yes , theyto ayu no are baked

Ba dlhka mutane eu ke miagu ba Not al l men are bad

All adject ives formed wi th da , being from the ir natureonly pred icat ive , the verb to be i s u sual ly impli ed .

The form of pronoun that i s used i s that ending in“na

” for the most part . I t i s to be noted that in the

negat ive form the na i s cast off

Shi na da keao It i s fi ne ( l i t .,I t i s wi th fineness )

Suna daham They are differen tBi sa tana da rai tukun The an imal i s s t i l l al iveShi na da araha ( tsada ) It i s cheap (dear)Doki . maigudu Shi na da anfan i A hors e whi ch gal lop s wel l i s ofkwarai great use

Ba n i da yungwa I am not hungryBa shi da nany i kama -n - saura It i s not heavy l i ke the res t of the

n -kaya loads

Ci rcumlocu ti on to avoi d Use of Adjecti ves

In most West Afri can languages i t i s found that thenumber of adject ives i s very small .They are numerous in Hausa, but , nevertheless , many

compound words whi ch are treated as ad j ect ives arereadi ly d iv i sible into their component part s whi ch arenot ad ject ives, and any idea that an ad ject ive i s beingmade use of can be cast aside .

Besides the use of “ da ,”the two commonest methods

in Hau sa for expressing the equ i valent of the ad j ect i vei s the use of the preposi t i on “ gare ,

”to, towards , wi th

a noun , and to use the verb “yi also wi th a noun . The

ADJECTIVE

verb

Ab i nchi -n -nan zafi gar e shi forAb i nchi -n -nan Shi na da zafi

Zuma dadi gare taM utume -n -wofi ba ya taba fada

n -

gaski a ba, reshi n kum i agare shi

a yi murnaYa y i m i n i kuncheRuanga Shi na da zafi , bai y i

sany i ba

Na 11 dadi

57

ji ,”to hear, feel , is also so used, but to a more

Thi s food i s hot

Honey i s sweetA worthl ess man never sp eaks thetru th , he i s shamel es s

I am glad ( l i t .,I make joy)

It i s ( too) narrow for meThi s water i s hot, and not cold

I am happ y ( l i t . , I feel sweetness )

COMPAR ISON

The degrees of compari son are expressed by a ci rcumlocut i on in Hausa the same as in other languages in West

Comparati ve Degree

1. Use of fi , surpass , wi th an abstract noun .

Ya fi ni kari fi

Ya fi ui da kari fiDoki ya fi r ago gir imeYa fi shi karam i or ya fi shikankanta

Ya fi kowa girimaDaki n nan ya fi daki n changirima

M i kuna so ya fi wannan ?Riga l nan ta 6 wachan keaoDana ya fi naka tsawo,

ammanaka ya fi nawa kauri

M utum wanda a b i ta gaski aa fi wanda ke ratse hai nyaari -n -zuchia

Shi maifadda no, amma matasa

ta fi shi yawa-n -magana

He i s s tronger than I ( l i t he

surp asses me ( i n ) s trength)(Not so good as the foregoi ng)A hors e i s bigger than a ramHe i s smal l er than he (The latt eri s the more c orre ct usage, kan

kanta b e i ng a noun , wh ereaskaram i i s an adj e ct i v e )

He i s greater than any one

Thi s room i s bi gger than that

What do you want better than thi s PThi s coa t i s better than thatM y son i s ta l ler than yours , butyours i s s tou ter than mi n e '

The man who p ursues tru th i s

happ i er than he who followserrorHe i s a quarrelsome man, but hi swife can wrangle more than he


Tafi a da rana ta fi tafi a da fari Travel l i ng by day i s more t i r i ng.

n -wata gaj i a than travel l i ng by moon l i ghtM i h eno ka ke so wanda ya fi Wha t do you wan t better than thi swannan ‘

1’

In sentences where in Engli sh compari son i s expressedby adverbs , “ fi

”wi th an abstract noun i s u sed in

Hausa

Da-n -chiakO -n -zabua ya fi da ‘ n The young gu i nea-fowl grows morechi akO - n -kaza saml i -n -

girima qu i ckly than the young chi cken( saml i n girima z qu i ckness ofgrowth)

J iki ya fi kun e 11 (prov erb) The body hears better than the ear

Ka fi sh i y i-n -chi n iki , don You trade better than he, for thi s

w annan na fi sonka da sh i reas on I prefer you to him

Note alsoAl lah akber da ku God i s more p owerful than you

2. To compare ideas , not things , the words “ garaand “ guma ” are u sed ; also “ gwanda in asimi lar sense in Kano principally

Gara hakka It i s better soGuma yao da jia Better tod ay than yes terdayDa na yi kari a gara en mutu I wou ld rather di e than tel l a l i eDa na amre shi guma mugu

-n Rather than marry him may an evi lchiwo ya kama u i s i ckness s e i ze me

Da babu wawa gwanda da wawa It i s better to have a fool than no

(prov erb) one

3 . Better as appl i ed to health i s expressed by the

nouns “ dama and “rongomi

” wi th “ji ,

”to feel .

Ka ji dama ya fi jia ? Do you feel better than yes terdayNa ji rongomi yao I feel better to-dayNa ji dama yanzu ; zazab i ya I jsel better now ; the fever has l eft

sake ui meKa ji dama kadan Do you fee l a l i ttl e betterShi tal aka ne, u i ma , i na da He i s a p oor man , but I havekurd i da dama money i n moderati on

4 . To exp ress the Engli sh “ too wi th an ad ject iveseveral methods are adopted

(a) Combinat i on of the materi al part i cle mawi th the verb fi ,

”to surpass

M afi kunche Too narrow

ADJECTIVE 59

(b) Yi,

”to do, fol lowed by the preposi t i on ma

Ya. yi m i n i (for ma n i ) wuya It i s too difi i cul t for meKurd i -n -sa ia y i m i ni yawa The p r i ce i s too much for me

The meaning of very is equally conveyed

Ts ia ta yi masa yawa He was very p oor

(c) By the use of fi .

Ya fi n i wuya It i s too difi i cu l t for meNany i n kaya n nan ya fi Thi s heavy load i s too much for mykari fi na s trength

(d) By the verb faskare, overcome, etc .“

Ya faskare n i dauka I t i s too heavy for me to I ( l i t .,

It i s beyond my s trength l ift )Babu ab i nda ya faskare mutane Nothi ng i s too diffi cu l t the

Engl i sh

5 . The verb “ faye , exceed, i s used as an equ ivalentfor “ fi .

”I t may also be trans lated very or too

Yara sun faye da wori gi The boys were very fond of p layGidanga ya fay e kankanta Thi s hous e i s too smal lKa fay i bari konchi You jest too much

6 .

“ Too and “ very may also be expressed by thepreposi t i on gare , towards

Abi nchi -n -nan zafi gareshi Thi s food i s hot (impl y i ng too

hot to eat )

It may here be observed that where in English wordsof a comparat i ve force are used , in African languagesexact ly the same meani ng i s conveyed by merely makin g aposi t ive statement , of whi ch the foregoing 18 an example .

M ore used abso lutely l n Engl i sh can be expressedby

7

the noun kari ,’abundance.

Ba no. so kari ; ya i ssa I do not wan t more i t i s enough

8 . Yi , do, may also be used in the sense of “ equal to

Kura ta fi dam is a kari fi n ji lu'

, The hyaena i s s tronger than the

amma ba ta yi i ts, banz e t i ba l eop ard , but i s not equal to heri n ac ti vi ty


S uperlati ve Degree

The superlat ive degree i s expressed by

1. Fi ,”to surpass , followed by duka , all

Ya. fi duka kari fi He i s the s tronges t ( l i t . ,He exc els

all (i n ) s trength)M utume n nan ya 13 duka Thi s man i s the cl everest of al lhankal i

A llah y i fi duka girima God i s the greates t of al lWannan ya. fi duka nauy i Thi s i s the heavi es t

2. By gaba -n -duka da , before all

Yana (or shi me) gaba -n -duka He i s the s tronges tda kari fi

Shi ne gaba -n -su duka He i s the greates t

3 . By gaba ga duka , before all

Amma Teb i b shi na da bara , shi But Tebi b had a s ervant who was

no baba gaba ga baruansa chi ef of al l the servan tsduka

4. By ga, to, onl y

Yana (or shi ne) da kari fi ga He i s s tronges tduka

5 . A redupli cated form of “ fl i s somet imes u sed informing ei ther comparat ive degree or superlat i ve

Wannan mafi fi chi daga wadanan Thi s ( i s ) the bes t of thes e

6. The word very in English may be expressed byfaye ,

”and in other ways as seen under the comparat i ve

M akafi sun faye talauchi Bl i nd men are very p oor

It may also be exp ressed by redupli cat i on

Kadan kadan Very l i ttl e

NUM ERALS

The Cardi na ls

(Thos e gi v en firs t are i n common es t use)Da i a (pronounc e d general ly dea gudaBi u

Uku

ADJECTIVE 61

Fudu (hudu i n K ats i na di al e ct )Bi ar , bi al , b i at (i n S okoto)

Boko i . Wri t t en bako iTokos . Wr i tt en takos

CD

WQ

OD

OHP

10 Goma11 Goma sha da i a or, i n cont i nuous c ount i ng, sha dai a forshort12 Goma sha b i u or sha bi u13 Goma sha uku or sha uku

14 Goma sha fudu or sha fuduGoma sha b i ar or sha b i ar

16 Goma sha sh idda Or sha shidda

Goma sha boko i or she. boko i18 Ashiri n b i u babu or ashiri n ga i ra biu19 A shiri n da i a babu or ashiri n gair a dai a or babu da i a20 Ashiri n , i sb i ri n ; hauy a ; l aso (S ) ; gom i a bi n21 A shiri n da da i a22 A shiri n da biu28 Talat i n bi u babu29 Talat i n da i a babu30 Talat i n ; gom ia uku ; l aso da goma ; hauya da goma40 A rba i n ; gom i a fud u50 Hams i n60 S i tt i n

70 Sebbai n

80 Tamani n90 Ti ssai nThe forego i ng de cades can also be con st ruct ed w i th gom i a , laso ,

and hauya

9 8 Dari gai ra bi u ; dar i b i u babu99 Dari ga i ra dai a or dari da i a babu100 Dari ( deri ) ; mi a ; m i nya ; zangu150 M i a wa hams i n or dari da hams i n200 M ot i n ; metai n (Not dari bi u )300 Dari uku400 A rba mi a ; arba m i nya500 Hamsa mia ; hamsa m i nya ; dari b iar

Dari shidda700 Dari boko i800 Dari tokos900 Al u ga i ra mi a

Dubu ; ali f ; zambar (rare) ; zangu gomaAl u wa mi nyaAJ11 wa met1uDubu (or ali i ) da dari ukuAlu wa arba mi aAl u wa hamsa mia (or m i nya)Dubu da dari shi ddaDubu da dari boko i


Alfi n gai ra met i n

A lfi n gaira mi nya (or mia) ; alfi n gai ra dariAlfi n ; alfa i n ; zambar b i u (Not dubu bi u)Talata ; zambar ukuA rba ; zambar fuduHams a ; zambar b i arS i tta ; zambar shiddaS ebaa ; zambar boko iTaman i a ; zambar tokosTessaa ; zambar taraZambar gomaZambar dariZambar met i n

Zambar dubu ; zambar al if

(1) Notes on the Cardina ls

Guda .— The word “ guda mean s head or un i t. It i s

often u sed together wi th the .other numerals below ten , aswell as being used alone instead of “ dai a, as— “

gudadai a ”

or“

guda” simply , 1 ; gudu uku , 3 ; ashirin

da guda bi ar , 25 . (S ee further under syn tax of numerals . )Goma sha daia , etc .

— In count ing the “goma” i s commouly omi tted for brevi ty, a feature whi ch i s also foundin most other West Afri can languages where the express i on i s too long or cumbersome .

A shiri n bi u babu .—The two numbers next below the

decades are expressed by u sing babu ,

”nothi ng or wi thout,

or gaira ,”less , as —

“ talat in daia babu ,

”29 ;

“ dari gai rab in , 98 . Thi s system i s also app l i ed to the two decadesbelow the hundreds after the fi rst hundred , as “metin

gai ra ashi rin ,

”180.

Hauya .—The meanin g i s a score, and i t i s only u sed in

count ing cowri es , as hauya b iu ,

”40 ; bauya uku ,

”60.

Laso, 20, i s al so used in count ing cowri es .

Zangu , 100— Used in count in g cowri es .

Gomia .-The pure Hausa p lural form of “ goma . It

was the form in use before the introduct i on and commonacceptance of the Arab i c forms for al l numerals between20 and 100. I t i s st i ll preferred among part s ofthe populat i on that have come less under the Arabi cinfluence and are uneducated . The merchant s, educated


Ti s sai ni -n -mu n i nety of usDari -n-mu or dari ni -n -mu a hundred of usAl ifi -n -mu a thous and of us

Ku you , su , them, may be subst i tut ed for mu as ne c essary ,as

Daia-n -ku one of you dai a -n -eu one of themBiu -n -su two of them

For the numbers above two, however, i t woul d seemto be better , and certainl y more usual , to use a moreextended phrase , as

Fudu daga ehiki -n -ku four of youBi u daga chiki -n -mu two of usDai a -n -su shin a chewa wannan One of them was say i ng thi s meat

nama da ki ba i s fat

When the cardinal number represents the whole of theassemb lage in stead Of a port i on ,

as above , the suffi x -di

i s added .

Da iadi -n -nan

Bi ndi -n -nan

Duka ukud i -n -nan

Fududi -n-su

Bi ardiShi ddadiBokoi di

TokosdiTaradiGomadi

Dari di

Dubudi

(4) Syntax of Cardi na l Numerals

The cardinal numerals usually fol low the nounquali fy . The noun as a ru le takes the plural form , th

thi s is not invari ab ly the pract i ce , and the numeral two

especi ally almost invari ab ly fol lows the noun in the singu larnumber .

I f the numeral precedes , i t onl y does so in such cases as

those gi ven in the previ ous paragraph , and n i s used asa copulat ive .

M utum b i u two men

Shi na da b i nd iga da baki bi u He has a doubl e -barrel led gunKa ani awaki talat in Gi ve me thi rty goats

thi s onethes e twoal l three of thes ethe four of themthe fi vethe s i x

the s eventhe e i ghtthe n i n ethe ten

the hundredthe thousand

ADJECTIVE 65

Ki kawo mini moda zinaria Br i ng me a mi l l i on gold cup szambar dubu

I na tamaha mutane da suka I thi nk the p eop l e who were caughtkama tare da ui ba su fi ba wi th me were not more than two

dari bi u ko dari uku or three hundredNa gani taguaye b iu anyashie I saw two twi n chi ldren thrown on

eu bis a hai nya suna kuka the road cryi ngRakumi nmu dai a One of our camelsSu duka biu sun mutu The two of them di ed

After such nouns as those compounded wi th “mai asimple noun may be inserted before the numeral

M asu -

gaskia mutum ashirin da dai a Twen ty -one r i ghteous men

When the noun i s quali fi ed by both an adject i ve and acardinal numeral

,the numeral may be p laced immedi ately

after the noun wi th the ad ject ive next , the latter beingtreated as in apposi t i on to the noun

Ido -n -sa dai a , mai -girima, ga One of hi s eyes , a large one, was

tsaka -u-hanchi on the m i ddle of the nos eM uka tafi da barua n Tebi b Wewen t wi th two of Tebi b

’s servants ,

bi u, da bara-n o sariki tare da and wi th the ki ng’s servan t , to

bawa -n -se dai a , kuruma gether wi th a s lave who was deaf

Guda .—The fol lowing are examples of the uses of guda,

Guda nawa How many 3’Kwoi guda nawa na sayerua ne 7 How many eggs are there for sal eGuda gu da One anotherShi do gu da, da ta ts ire (Ij he takes one, the other es cap esGuda guda : i a dai a One at a time

Daia . Dai a,” when used correlat ively, corresponds wi th

the expressi on“ the one the other ”

M ache daia tana da duki a da~ One woman had mu ch p rop erty ,yawa , mache da i a tana da the other woman had but l i ttl eduki a kadan p rop erty

Daia can also be trans lated the same

M n duka muka zamna ga wuri dai a We al l sat at the same p lace8 11 duke. da i a no They are al l the same

E


Dai a can never be used independent ly as a noun asi t may be in Engli sh . A concrete noun must alwaysbe added

M utum da i a shi na kora mutum One man i s dri vi ng two beforeb iu him

The cardin als can be u sed as adverbs .

Ya yi kuka dai a . Ya yi kuka He cr i ed out once. He cri ed out

b i u twi ce. Thi s i s li t erall y He madeone cry , etc.

Na i i dai a da i a I unders tand a l i ttl e

The verb to be i s used wi th numerals as follows

Kurdi nsa ba eu dayawa ; zam I ts p ri ce i s no t much ; i t i s

bar dari da hams i n ne cowr i es( 100,050= zambar dari da guda hams i n )

5. Etymology of Numerals

Taking the languages of West Afri ca as a whole , thecommonest system of numerat i on i s on a base of fi ve,more or less di sgui sed or evident , wi th the higher numberson the basi s of twent i es (scores ) .The Hausa numerat i on , on the other hand , i s purely

denary, like several languages to the southward of i t and

to the south -eas tward . In Hausa , though the introduct i onof the Arabi c has d i spossessed many of the purely indigenousnames , the older names are st i ll u sed for count ing cowri es ,whi ch i t i s more conveni ent to deal wi th in twent i es— thati s , the sum of all the fi ngers and toes , maki ng one mancomplete .

”

The fol lowing are the etymologi es of most of thenumeralsDaia —Uncertain and d iffi cult to trace , as i s the word

for “one in very many languages .

Gi lda —Compare “ gudi o ” in Doai ; gade ” in Bode ;gadsi

”in Ngodsin .

Bi u —C ompare “ ful in Ron ; vul in Sura ; boloin Bolanchi ; vucl

”in M ontol ; “

vel in An kwe ; fi o

i n Gurka ; bab in Angas .

Uku — Compare “ kun”

(“ ku l in Sura “ kun in

M ontol , Ankwe , andGurka ; kunu in Bolanchi , Tangale ,

ADJECTI'

VE 67

and Awok ;“kwan in Angas ;

“ koan in Ngodsin ;“ akcan

”in Bode ; “ ko

”in Doai ; “ ku j i in Buta .

Fudu — Compare “ fudu ”in Ngodsin , Doai , and Bode ;

fudi ” in Buta ;“ fodo ” in Bolanchi ; “

pu”in Ron ;

“ feir ” in Sura ;“ fer ” in Ankwe and Montol ; “ fi er

”

in Angas .

Biar.— Compare beddi badi in Bolanchi ; pad

in Sura ; pad ”in M ontol , Ankwe ; pfad in

Doai ; “ fad in Ngodsin ;“ pate ” in Angas ; puat in

Tangale and Awok .

Shidda .— Of Arabi c origin .

Bokoi (bakoi ) .— If the numerals seven and eight , as wel las somet imes six and n ine , are examined in the languagesment i oned in conn ect i on wi th the foregoing numerals , i ti s found that the foll owing syllab les represent “ fi ve

”

Sura , “po Bolanchi , “ bau ,

” “ bo”

; M ontol , “ paAnkwe , “

po ,

” “

pu”

; Angas , “po .

” There i s in thesesyllables some s imi lari ty to

“ ba”in “ bakoi ,

”but thi s

syllable i s not found in Hau sa in any other numeral . As

to the second syllable in “ bokoi ,”i t seems to have no

relat i onshi p anywhere .

Tokos .— No sure etymology seems to offer i tself for thi s

numeral ei ther .

“ To”i s the root for “ fi ve in the

BaNtu languages , and “ kos” may be conn ected with

uku .

”I t would requ i re to be exp lained, though , how

a BaNtu root should have come in .

Comm—Compare guma in Ngodsin ; goma ‘

in

Doai ; guamo ”in Tangale .

The decades twenty to n inety are all of Arabi c origin ,

but li tt le changed .

Dari i s a pure Hausa word .

M i nya and mia .— Both of Arabi c origin .

Zangu .— Uncertain .

M etin and mcla i n .—Arabi c .

Dubu i s also found in Kanuri as “ dubu debu in

Teda , Bag irm i , Longone , M andara ; and thba in Copt i c .

A lif .— Arab i c .

Zambar .— Compare diomber in Songhay .

A lfi n .- Arabi c .


ORD INAL NUMBERS

The ord inal numbers are formed by prefi xing the

geni t ive part i cle to the card inals , na for the mascu line ,“ ta for the feminin e (there being no plural ) , wi th one

except i on .

Thi s except i on i s “the fi rst , and, as i s customary in most

languages , West Afri can included , i t i s not formed fromthe word one . In Hau sa the word na-fari i s deri vedfrom the verb “ fara , to begi n

FEM .

ta-far ita-b iu

ta-uku,etc .

As in other West Afri can languages , after “ten , when

the numerals become compound words , the ordinal form i s

common ly dropped ,and the cardinals are reverted to .

Connected wi th the ordinal numbers and formed in thesame way are some adject ives

MA S C .

Na -bayaNa -

gabaNa-tsakaNa-b i saNa-kasa

Farko fi rs t Karshe las t

Examp les of S yntax of Ordinals

Na zamna ga wuri na na -fari I sat down i n my p lace fi rs tM utum uku eu tash i , b iu daga Let three men get up ,

two of themchiki -n -su eu dauko rua, na to draw water , the thi rd one touku -n -eu shi n emo i tache fetch wood

Farko -n -dawaki Thefirs t of the horsesKarshe -n -dawaki The las t of the horsesDa sunha ke tare dai a , b iu , a When they had cross ed one, two, at

na-uku sunks i ss a wur i -n -kasa the thi rd they reached dry landYaro ya y i sukua rakumi s o The boy gal lop ed the camel three

uku ,a na-fudu ya tafo ya t imes , at the fourth he came, he

dauki yari ni a ya aji eta b i sa took up the gi rl , he p ut her on

rakumi nsa hi s camel

ADJECTIVE 69

ADVERBIAL NUMBERS on MULTIPLICATIVES

These are formed by prefi xing to the cardinals so ,or , as i t i s sometnnes pronounced ,

sau

So ~daia once So-biu twi ce So-uku three timesSo -

goma ten times So-dari hundred times

Derivati on

This seems to be the same word as sau , foot-pri nt orsole of the foot, and so in combinat i on wi th the numeralsi t ac qui res the idea of a step . Compare the corresp

ondi nguse in Twi of peng , a stroke ; in M ende heima , si ttingdown ; in Angas “

shi ,”a foot : all of whi ch go to prove

that so ” is a noun .

Syntax

So-daia kuma Once agai nSo -nawa ka tafi S okot o Na How often have you been to S okoto .

9

ta fi S okoto so-uku I have been to S okoto three timesUku-uku bi u nawa ke nan Twi ce three are how many

D ISTR IBUTIVES

The di st ribut i ve numerals are formed by repeating the

Ya kedaya shi ll i ng goma goma Hew anted them out by ten shi ll i ngs

(Ke daya (S ) =ki rga (K) )Ya bada riguna b i ar b iar ga He gave five cloths to each of theyara -n sari ki chi ef

’s sons

Ya s ikean b iu bi u He s ent them two by two

Ya bada dai a da i a ga kowane He gave one to each of them11 an

Kada ka ki rga kurdi nka shidda Do not count your cowri es i n s i xesshidda, kirgasu b iar b i ar coun t them i n fives

Biasu dubu dubu Pay them a thousand each

Examles aki n

Nawa nawa How many eachGuda nawa How many i’Kwo i guda nawa na sayerua How many eggs are there for sal e

na 1

News nawa anasayerua (or How much are they sold for eachakesayesda eu)


Nawa anasayesda su 7 How much are they (as a whol e)Ni kan ba ma -aiki tana kurd i I give my servan ts two hundred andmet i n da hams i n hams i n fi fty cowri es each da i lykwana da ia da i a

M assara kurdi nsa goma sha b i al Ind i an corn i s fifteen cowri es a-

p i ecesha b ia l ne kwanaki -n -damana i n the wet s eason

Doiya guda nawa ka sayo ? Ta How many yams did you buy ?

dari uku a baki n hams i n Three hundred cowr i es ’ worth at

hams i n fifty (cowr i es each)I t wi ll be not i ced from the above sentences that in

repeat ing the numeral to form the di stribut i ve idea , i f i ti s compound on ly the latter part i s repeated .

FRACTIONAL NUMBERS

These are , wi th the except i on of a half , borrowedfrom the Arabi c , and are rarely u sed .

Half i s expressed by shashi ,” of wh i ch the etymology

is not known , or“ rabi ,

” from “ raba ,”to divi de. Each

of these words may be tran slated by a part in stead ofan exac t “ half

,

”and thi s i s found to be also the case in

many other West Afri can languages .

The fract i on s of Arabi c ori gin are

S ul us i a thi rdRubu i a fourth, a quarterHumus i aS udus i a s i xthS ubui a s even thS umun i or tumun i an e ighthTuen i a n i n thUshuri a ten th

The plural s are sulusai ,”

rubuai ,”

ushura i ,”etc .

A ll these numbers can be expressed by a ci rcumlocut i on ,

whi ch i s always resorted to for fract i onal parts smal lerthan a tenth .

One-eleventh=da ia (or guda) chiki -n -

goma sha da i aOne-twelfth= da ia (or guda) chiki -n -

goma sha b i u

One- thi rteenth z dai a (guda) chi ki -n -

goma sha uku

Three-sevenths z subuai uku

A tenth as appl i ed to a t i the or land tax i s cal ledzaka .

CHAPTER IV

THE PRONOUN

pronoun i s di vided into the foll owing c lasses

1. Personal .2. Relat i ve .

3 . Demon strat ive .

Interrogat i ve .

Indefi ni te .

Reflexi ve .

Emphat i c .

Reciprocal .OO

Q

GB

OI

1. THE PERSONAL PRONOUN

The personal pronoun shows gender, number ,(1) Garden— Thi s i s di st ingui shed in the 2nd and 3rd

persons singular on ly . Al l the other persons , singul ar andplural , are of common gender .

(2) Number.—The plural pronoun s are indi cat ed by

di fferent words from the s ingu lar , and are not formed fromthe singular by the addi ti on of regular plural termi nat i ons .

The 2nd person i s , however , possibly an except ion .

(3 ) Case. The vocat ive i s di st ingui shed in the 2ndperson singu lar, as “ kai !

” masc .

“ ke l” fem ., though

these are in reali ty on ly the di sjunct ive forms of thepersonal pronoun . The ob ject i ve case has di fferent formsfrom the nominat ive in the singu lar , but not in theThe geni ti ve case i s formed in al l persons except tby the use of the preposi t i on of ” “

11”

(“na masc . ,

“ t” fem . , wi th phonet i c vari at i on , as a prefi x

72

PRONOUN 73

to the ob ject i ve form . The l st person singular has aseparate form , as wil l be seen . The dat i ve i s formedwi th the preposit i on “ ma ” to the ob ject i ve form .

Special Uses of the Persona l Pronoun

The 3rd personal pronoun i s used in Hausa not onl yas a subst itute for the noun , but also as a n ecessarycomplement to i t when nominat ive . I t thus assi st s toident i fy the gender of the noun . The tense of the

verb i s also dependent upon the pronoun , whi ch takesdifferent forms , either with or wi thout the assi stance of

S ta tement of the Various Forms of Personal PronounA B C D

m'

, ni a l ni na na

kai ka ; kai ka ka

ke ki ki ki n

shi shi ; sa ; 1 ya ; i (ye) ya, i

i ta ta ta ta

kanaki nashi na ; yana ; 2yi na, yena

tana

muna munka ; muka 3 muu, mu also

mua, makunka ; kuka kuu

, ku alsokua

suna sunka ; suka suu , 8 11 al so sua,

sa

Nia is i nt errogat i v e . S ee under i nt e rrogat i v e p ronouns .

9 Yana 1s commonly wri tt en, bu t rare i n c onv ers at i on .

3 M unka 18 of S okoto ori gi n ; muka of Kano or igi n.


H-na - ta-n -ka -r-ka ; -l ~ka or -t -ka-n -ki -r-ki ; -l -ki , etc .-n - s e ; -n -shi -sa ; - l -sh i nasa ; nashi ; nai-n -ta l -ta nata

K L

tawa mani, m i ni , manataka maka , mataki maki , m ikitasa ; tai . tashi m a s a ; m a s h i ;

m i shi ; mai

mata

tamu m a m u ; m u m u ;

muna ; manamaku muku

masu ; mu su

I .

“ t ,” “ r , are interchangeable for euphony .

H and I . The copu lat ive may be omitt ed .

3rd person “sa

”i s of Kano origin ; “

shi of Bornuorigin . Both are in general use , but “ i

”i s more

common ly heard in Sokoto and Katsina .

In .Kano “ mass ” i s heard for “ masa tass fortasa , etc .

Uses of Foregoing Forms

A . Di sjunct i ve . Used in answer to questi on whoB . Ob j ect ive .

0. Used wi th aori st ten se . S imple form .

D . Used wi th past ten se .

E. Cont inuous ten se , u sually present . I t entai ls a

spec i al verb construct i on whi ch i s examined under theverb .

F . Used wi th narrative perfec t ten se .

G. Used w ith future

PRONOUN 5

H. Possessi ve inseparable , when thing possessed is

I . Possess i ve inseparable , when thing possessed i s

J . Possess ive separable when thing possessed i s mascu l ine .

K . fem in ine .

L . Dat ive .

M . Redupl icated .

Examp le of Possess i ve Pronoun in Combi na ti on wi th Noun

M y father P lu ubanena

Your (m. ) father ubanenka

Your (f. ) father ubanenki

Hi s father ubanensa

Herfather ubanenta

Ourfather ubanenmu

Your father ubanenku

Thei r father ubanen su

M y motherYour motherYour f. ) motherHi s motherHermotherOur motherYour motherThe i r mother

Notes

(1) In“uwalka, etc . , for “ l wi th other noun s “ r or

“ t”may be used for euphony . In these forms “

11 i s

often subst i tuted for t or i ts vari ants if the possessoris a man . I t seems as i f there i s an ob ject i on on thepart of a man to apply a fem in ine form to himsel f, howevercorrect gramat i cally . A s imi lar d i sinc l inat i on i s observ

able i n other languages , as in French when after “son

excellence ” “ elle ” wou ld be stri ct ly correct , but the

tendency i s to revert to“ i l

”at the fi rst poss ible

opportuni ty .

(2) Forms wi thout copu lative . These are in commonuse ,

and are a reversion to the statement of the possessivephase by words in appos i t ion only , as has been di scussed


under the noun . Or i t may be that both “n and “ t

”

have been mod ifi ed for euphony into “ r,” whi ch after

long “ a ” i s scarcely heard .

(3) The possessi ve pronoun i s incorporated in the word ,

and the ac cent is thus moved to the new penult imateas, “

ubanmu ,

” “uwasa ,

” “ubanénsu .

”

Syntax of Persona l Pronouns—Nominative

1. The pronoun agrees wi th the sub j ect wi th whi chi s in apposi t i on in person , gender , and number

Yaro a gani The boy s eesYara ha eu gan i mutum ba The boys do not see the manM ache ta tafo The woman comesM ata ba su tafo ba The women do not come

2. The same rul e i s observed when there are more thantwo predi cates belonging to the same sub ject .

Kura ta'

tafo, ta kawo nama , ta The hyeena came, she brought meat,bayés ga di anta , da i ta kua she gave i t to her offsp r i ng, andta t aba kadan she too tas ted a ti ttl e

Nam i j i a kama bab e , ya dar Theman caught a locus t , he ti ed i time s ya aje up ,

he lai d ( i t) as i de

3 . Two or more nouns in apposi t ion are foll owed bya pronoun i n the plural

Yaro da ubansa suna zua farauta The boy and hi s father are go i ng(l i t . , comi ng) hun ti ng

Yari nia du uwata, su duka b i u , The gi rl and her mother, both ofzuchiansu ta bache them, the i r heart was broken

The omi ssi on of the 3rd personal pronoun i s very rareexcept (1) i n poetry or proverbs ; (2) before

“na ,

”i .e. ,

shina , etc . , are shortened to“na (3 ) w ith the verb

“ to be ,” “ ke

” or “ne

”

Yaro -n -nan ya che bawa -n -sariki The boy sai d the chi ef’s slave had

ke (or sh i ke) da doki the hors eGama kafi rawa kan yerda suabo Becaus e the hea then bel i eve i n evi l(po et i c ) (non -rel igion )

Yarona na da m i rda-n -ch iki , be M y boy has gr i p es , he canno t eas eshi iya baya -n -gi da hims elfWuyana na yi m ini zogi M y neck hurts me

PRONOUN 77

Rashi -n a tu'

o kan chi wake ak Havi ngno“tuo onemus teat beans

before go i ng to bed (“ Tuo

”

i s a sort of p orri dge of gu i ne acorn— a stap le d ish. )

Wan i machiji baki na nan A black snake was lyi ng therekwanche

Comb in at i on of pronouns

M u i s da mi Let us go, you and I

Examp les of S yntax of Possessi ve Pronoun

INSEPARA BLEYour (p lu . ) daughter

Ab i -na M y thi ng my p rop er ty)Ya -r-uwamu Our s i s terZuchiata ba ta so ba war i -n -rua (l i t . , my heart) did not l i ke the smel l

of the waterM a ta -r-wanene ke nan 7 M atata Whos e wife i s thi s S he i s m i ne

cheEnna aboki nka 7 Where i s your fr i endKa zamna ga hanu -n -damana S i t at my r i ght handM ugu

-n -

gatari nka ya fi sare ka A bad axe i s better than an offer tobani (p roverb) cut ( li t . , Your bad axe i s better

than the cu tti ng you give me orw i l l do for me)

Gari nsu ba da girima ba The i r town was not largeKada ku kafa gi da n zan e Do not p i tch my ten t there

na nan

Enna matanka 7 Where i s your wife 5’

Although mata i s femin in e , “n i s common ly used .

The more correct use is mata -ka or mata—r-ka .

”I f the

mean ing were Where are your women 7 “ mata , be ingthe plural of mache ,

”n would be correctly used . As

wi ll , however , be seen under preposi t ions , there i s a tendencyto use the mascul i ne form na and to ignore the

feminine .

S EPARA BLEYa tasa Hi s s i s terKa ban i nawa Gi ve me my own

Ni baka naka I shal l gi ve you yoursS uka che, na wan i ne 7 ta che They sai d Whos e i s i t P S he sai dmasu, nas u duka to them, For al l of you


M ache ta che, yari n iata tana da The woman said , my daughter i skeao , taki ba ta da keao ba beau tifu l , (but) yours i s not

beautifu lAkw i a nan tawa che The goat i s m i neGi danga naku ko nasu ne ? Ba I s thi s hous e yours or the i rs It

namu ba me i s not oursTamu che It i s ours a thing of femi n i ne

gend er)Kowa ya chi shinkafar ranche Whoever eats borrowed r i ce i t i s h i stasa ya chi (p roverb) own he eats

Suka tashi da i ta da. ba iwa tata They aros e both she and her s lave

Instead of the possessive or gen it ive case the dat ivemay be found

Ch iawa da ka rena i ta ta kan The grass you desp i s e may p i ercet sokane maka i danu (p roverb) your eyes

Plural Possessi ve Pronoun s

I t has been seen that i n the adject ive there i s no

di st inct ion of gender in the p lural number . The sameappli es to the possessi ve pronouns . Noun s whi ch arefem in ine in the s ingular are therefore wi thout genderin the plural .The fol lowing examples i ll ustrate thi s

M ata tasa Hi s wifeM ata -n -sa Hi s w ife and al so his w ivesDokata M y commandDokoki na M y commandsKafa tasa Hi s legK afafu -msa Hi s legsM ata tasa ta bata amre Hi s w ife sp oi l t her marri age , i .e. ,

broke her marr i age vowsM ata -n - sa suka beri shi Hi s wives l eft him

Other examples of the possess ive pronoun , and someof i t s id iomat i c u ses , are given under the preposi tion na .

”

The ob ject ive pronoun follows the verb

Ya. ba u i He gave i t meKa ba n i dana Gi ve me my chi ldNa ba ka I give ( i t) youSai ya gan i kai Un ti l he saw you (wi th emphasi s

on you

Na son kai I l i ke youM u kama shi We caught him


2. RELATIVE PRONOUNS

S imple form wi thout Copu lat ive

m. , f. , and p lu .

wi th copulat ive

masc . and plu.

fem.

Compoundmasculi nefem i n i n eplural

The short and the long forms are commonly interchangeable to sui t the euphony or emphasi s of a sentence .

In the short form the copu lat ive preposi t i on n ,

”of, may

be in sert ed or omi tted , euphony being here also the

princ ipal influence

M utum wands. shi na zua or The man who i s comi ngM utume -n - da shi na zua

M ache wadda tana zua or The woman who i s com i ngM ach e da tana zua

M utane wadauda suna zua or The p eop l e who are com ingM utané-n -da suna zua

Doki da ya gudu ya fad i or The hors e that ran away fel lDoki -n -da ya gu du ya fadi

For abu wanda, the thing whi ch, the abbrevi ated formi s the one in common use ab inda .

Objective Case

In the ob ject ive case a pronoun may or may not fol lowthe verb

Ab i nda na gan i zan i fad i or Wha t I have s een I wi l l relateA bi nda na gami shi zani fadi

Daki nda ankagina ya. rushe j ia or The hou s e whi ch was bu i l t col lap s edDaki nda ankagi na shi ya rushe yes terday!

ia

Aliw ia da.ka gani or Akwia -r-da The goat whi ch you saw

ka gani

PRONOUN 81

Addi ti on of Personal Pronoun

When the relat i ve pronoun i s used with a noun in thenommati ve case i t i s fo llowed by the personal pronounthe same as i s the simple noun

Yaro wanda ya gudu The boy that ran away

Excepti ons are found

I ta che da ke yi n hankal i ga She i t was who was ki nd to thebayi s laves

Etymology

A.

clue to the etymology of the relat ive pronouns i sfurni shed by the opt i onal use of the personal pronounln the ob j ect ive case in such a sentence as

M utum wanda ka nemeshi for The man whom you soughtmutum wanda ka n ema

In most West Afri can languages the relative pronoun i sabsolutely non -ex is tent , or at l east very poorly indi cated ,

co-ordi nate sentences be ing un iversal ly used . If , therefore , from thi s analogy “ da ” be no more than the con

juncti on and, Hausa furn i shes an example of a languagein whi ch the primi t ive construct ion i s in use s ide by s idew ith the more advanced whi ch has been developed fromi t . Accordingly, the above quoted sentence can be tran slated in the form in whi ch the objecti ve pronoun i s used

M u tum da ka nemeshi The man and you seek him

Thi s is also shown in the foll owing sentence

Da kaya da mu ke da su A nd the loads whi ch we haveM ashi - n - nan da na soki The sp ear wi th whi ch I p i erced

ubanki da shi your father

What the wa in the longer forms may mean exact lyi s obscure , but i t i s the same word as i s found

.

in the

lengthened forms of the demonstrat ive pronouns and in

the indefi ni te pronouns . That i t has an independent

F

82\ THE HAUSA LANGUAGE

value i s seen from studying the act ion of the gemt ivecopu lat ive embodi ed in the words .

In “ wa -n -da ,”the mascul ine form ,

“n , i .s . ,

“na,

rema ins unchanged as i t must when fol lowing wordshaving a mascu l in e meani ng .

In “ wa-d-da ,

” “ wa” seems to acqu i re a fem in ine

mean ing from the word in the fem ini ne gender whi chi t fo llows . The “

11”therefore becomes a modifi cat ion

of “ t ,” as “ l

” or “ r ,”

etc . Wadda ” i s thereforederived from “ wa- ld a, or “ wa -t -da,

’f etc . , and the

interven ing add it ional con sonant has the effect of en suringthat the vowel of wa shall be short as i t i s in wadda .

”

In the plural , whi ch i s of course the same for bothgenders , the same pecu liar plural terminat i on “ da ” i s

found whi ch i s also found in the demonst rat ive pronoun s .

“Wadauda”i s therefore composed of “ wa-da (da=plu .

suffi x ) -n -da .

The plural form wedanda i s contracted in Katsenaand Sokoto to and in Kano and Zaria towanda ,

”

FurtherExamp les

Nomi nat i ve relat ive , long form , dependent

Fada wan da ba ka i ya ba amai sai The fight whi ch you fi nd too muchwasa (p rov. ) for you turn i nto p lay

Abubua chan wadanda na ga The thi ngs that ] seemov i ng yonder,mots i nsu , ko b i ray i ne ko are they monkeys or dogskarnuka

Ab i nda na gan i , wanda ya fi I n my Op i n i on the bes t thi ngfor usanfan i sai mu tafi to do i s to go

Object i ve relat ive , long form , dependent

Ab inchi wanda shi ke so Thefood he l i kesM atata i dai a wadda ya ke so One of hi s w i ves whom he lovedBa. eu ka sh e mutume nan wanda They do not ki l l the man who s tol eya sache doki the hors e

Dambaria ya chai nye gut s iata The mouse has eaten my nu ts whi chwadda ui ke so-n -ch i gob e I wan ted to eat to-morrow

Short form nominat ive dependent

Ab i nda ba naka ba ne, kaka The thi ng that i s not yours howzaka bayes ? can you give i t away ?

PRONOUN 83

Short form , ob ject ive , dependent

Wani gari ne da uwaka zata Where i s the town to whi ch yourkai ka ? mother i s go i ng to take you ?

Riga -n -da. ka bani ta t sofa The coat whi ch you gave me i s old

Ya tafi gari -n -nan da ya soki He wen t to that town where he

sariki ya mutu s tabbed the chi ef so that he di edS un goda masa bay i nda suka They showed him the s laves whi chkama they had caught

Ba ni da rakuma da zan baka I have no camels to give you

Independent form nominat ive

Wanda kari a y i masa alheri , sh i He to whom you do ki ndness and

ko,“y

a kan ki y i n god ia , he refus es to be gratefu l i s a boorbut me (prov. )

Wanda ya sayemu daga Bornu He who bought us i n Bornu

Independen t form obj ect ive

Ta basu rua da faraufarau S he gave them water whi ch was verycl ear

I na so wanda uwaka ta ba ka I wan t that whi ch your mother gave(S okot o ) you

Ba ni da wanda uwaka ta baka , I have not that whi ch your mothersa i i na da wanda wana ya bani gave you ,

I have only that whi chmy elder brother gave me

M ata -m-Bornu aikinsu dai a ke A s to the women of Bornu there i snan wanda na san i one ki nd of work they do whi ch

I know

Two co-ordinates sentences may be substi tuted forthe use of the relat ive

Ga ji rigi , suanene suna chiki ? S ee tha t boat,who are i n i t ? for

Who are i n the bodt whi ch I see

Use of mai

M u masuaiki mugunta We who work i n iqu i ty

3 . DEMONSTRATI VE PRO NOUN

The demonstrat ive pronoun has two forms . One standsbefore the noun and the syllable wa enters into i ts


composit ion ; the other foll ows the noun and i s the sameword less the wa .

”

FORM STAND ING BEFORE THE NO UN Foam FOLLOW ING

MA S C . FEM . masc . FEM .

wannan wa-nan -n -nan , n-

ga

wa-

ga,

wa-r-

ga

Thes e wada-n -nan -n -nan,-nga -n -nan ,

-nga

wadanga

wachan ,-n - chan

wa-r- chanThose wada -n -chan wada -n - chan -n - chan

INDEFINITE PLURAL

wada wada

Examp les

Thi s hors e wannan dokiwanga doki

Thi s mare wanangod iawaga godi a

Thes e horses wadannan dawaki dawaki -n -nan ,

wadanga dawaki dawaki -ngaThes e mares wadannan

godi yoyi ,wadanga

godiyoy i

That hors e wan chan doki doki -n - chandoki chan

OtherExamp les

NAN L i tafi ~n -nan , l i tafi nga CHAN hainya-r-chanM utane-n -nan yaro -n - chanM ache -nanM utume -n -nan, mu tumenga mutume -n - chanKofalga

Ab i -n -nan ab i -n - chanKasanga

PRONOUN 85

Etymology“ Nan ,

” “ chan ,and “

ga' are the equivalents of the

adverbs here and there . That they are not adverbsat al l in Hausa may be deduced from thei r emp loyment .

They are in fact nouns , and are treated as such . Hencethe copul at i ve n so that li terally translated

Li tafi -n -nan , l i tafi -n -

ga mean the book of thi s p laceL i tafi - n - chan the book of that p laceRiga -l - chan the coat of that p lace

The same con struct i on i s in wa -n -nan ,and wa-n -

ga ,

though what “ wa may be preci sely requ i res furtherexaminat i on .

As has been explained under nouns , the copu lat ive maybe omi tted , leaving the two noun s in appos i t i on . Hencethe following equ ivalent s are equal ly correct

Wanan for wannan L i tafi nan for l i tafi -n -nan

R iga chan for ri ga-l - chan

When i t sounds better the copulat ive i s commonlyomi tted .

The fact that “nan and chan are nouns i s further

borne out by their uses wi th predi cates .

“ Shi na nan .

” He i s at thi s p lace. Compare “ shi nagida .

” He i s at home. I t i s to be noted that whenevera verb has to be placed after the pronoun ending in na,

”

the verb becomes a substant ive . Thi s i s explained underthe verb .

That “nan i s not an adverb of place i s st i l l further

born e out in the phrase “shi ke nan ,

”so i t i s .

These words nan and chan are probably in themselves compound words . The parts “

na”

and “ cha ”

represent present and d i stant pos i t i on .

“N i s aformat ive suffix of some kind . I t may be conn ected wi ththe locat ive suffi x of Kanuri , also or i t may be thepreposi t i on “

n ,

”of, wi th a somewhat di fferent usage .

That the fi nal “n

"

i s vari able and separable i s borneout by one example “ mi j i -nal -mata in a poem call ed“ M utane zina ”

(footnote given in Charlton’s “ Hau saReading Book


From the foregoing i t can be seen that any change forthe copulat ive alone , but in the longwa-

ga,

” or “ wa-r-

ga i t i s not qu i te6 any change , as the gender

of the copu depends upon the unchanged precedingsyl lable or word “ wa.

”

Remarks on Usages , etc .

The longer are natural ly more emphat i c than the short er .

Nga i s a di alect i c vari at i on of nan .

Wanga ,” waga are Sokoto and Zanfara forms .

Waimen (masc . ) and“wai

’en (fem ) are Kat sina

forms of Wannan ,

”etc . , to whi ch place they are rather

st ri ct ly confi ned .

Wankai i s a Zari a form for wanchan , wi thoutinflect i on for gender us ed by the talakawa Zari a .

Examp les of S yntax

Wannan mutum talaka ne Thi s man i s p oorK i ko i ya man i waka nan Teach me that songYaronga shi na Qy i n fada That boy i s fight i ng

Wh i l st “ chan expresses strongly d i stance nan

commonl y indefi ni te .

Doki nga n aka ba na iya say i nsa Thi s hors e of yours I can not buy i tBa na so - n -ch i - n -tuo - n -nan I cannot eat that foodM asu -kaya b i unga eu sake ka Thes e two carr i ers have changedyansu the i r loads

In the translat i on of the Lord’s Prayer nan i s gi ven

an emphat i c use, as , Ka ba mu rananga ab inchi -n -yaoda gobe .

”Give u s thi s day our da i ly bread .

M u wadanan uku anhai fc mu ga We three were born at the samegar i dai a p lace

Din. ya tashi dawuri wadanan Had he s tarted early the hors emenmasudawaki da ba su tar wou ld not have overtaken himsheshi ba

( I n the las t s en tence wadanan i s ess en t i al ly weak. )


Wannan can be u sed independent ly as a noun

Wannan ya kare Thi s has fin i shedWannan ba na so shi ba Thi s (man ) I do not l i ke himWannan ne wayo da na baki Thi s i s the advi ce whi ch I gi ve youWannan barao ne Thi s i s a thi efWannan nam i j i ba mach e ne Thi s i s a mal e not a femaleWanene wannan a kofa-r-daki na Who

,

i s that at the door of myhous e .

9

FINAL “ N

It may here be not i ced that a fi n al “n i s somet imes

added to noun s , espec i al ly at the end of a phrase or sentence .

I t 1s not a fi rml y expressed “n ,

”and I S somewhat nasal .

I t i s possibly primari ly euphoni c , but i t commonl y hasthe effect of expressin g emphasi s , and so puts the nouninto the defi ni te state, or , in other words , i t has the effectof the defi ni te art i cle . I ts u se i s opt i onal .Thi s fi nal “

n was not recogni sed by the older wri terson Hausa, possibly because i t i s more commonl y u sed inthe centres of the Hausa country to whi ch they had not

access , and because i t i s more apparent in wri t ing thanin speak ing .

As i t i s a detai l of the language that has received muchdi scussi on of lat e , i t may be here stated that a not

di ssimi l ar use of “n i s found in at least one other

West Afri can language . In far di stant Temn e , for instance ,

“ng

” occurs at the end of some pronoun s and

adverbs to make a conveni en t termin at i on when theyare u sed at the end of a preposi t i on or absolutely .

Al so as an exten sion of thi s use i t expresses emphasi s .

I t i s , however , qu i te di st inct from the art i cle whi ch i s

a prefi x i n that language . I f, therefore , thi s use of “n

exi sts in one other language besides Hau sa , there wi l lundoubtedly be found other languages whi ch have asimi lar prac t i ce .

Thi s “11”in Hau sa i s not to be confused wi th the

preposi t i on of . The latter i s often wri tten at the end

of a noun when in real i ty i t i s connected wi th the

noun that follows . Wri t ing i t attached to the fi rst oftwo nouns i s merely a convent i on . I t must , however,

PRONOUN 89

be added that in some in stances i t i s hard to say whetherthe “

n”i s real ly the preposi t i on or the speci al “

n”

here referred to

Uban ya che da keao The father sa i d , al l ri ghtYa che da uban He s ai d to the (or hi s ) fatherYa fi ta a gari n He left the townDaga bayan M usa ya yi yaki After thi s ( or behi nd them) M usa

made warBan sam i magani n ba I did not fi nd the medi c i n eDuka gari n ba ma che mai keao I n the whole town there was no

kama tata woman as beau tifu l as she

Ya tafo ga wuri n enda machiji Hewen t to the p lace where the s nakeshi ke was

Ya. che da matan kun gama a iki He sai d to the women , have youn -ab i nchin ? fin i shed p r ep ari ng the food ?

M u tumen ya che da sari ki The man sai d to the chi ef

Wi th Words other than Noun s

Dom i n ta hanbare ka ga addi n i That i t may ki ck you away fromrel i gi on

Ku yi ab i nchi “ i ri - i ri”kam i n M ake ready every ki nd of food

en zo before I come

Examples of the absence of fi nal n are numerousin thi s grammar .

4 . INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN

The following pronouns are used in asking quest i ons

Independent Forms

S INGUL AR PLURALMAS C FEM . MA S O . FEM

Who , whi ch wa,wan e ,wanene

mi ,m i n e ,mi nene

A ttached Forms

Whi ch wan e wache wadane

Etymology—The longer forms are made up wi th the

masculin e and fem inin e forms of the verb to be sutfi xed


to “ wa and dupl icated in the longest forms for

emphas i s .

P lural — The plural of the independent forms i s madeby the personal pronoun su ,

”they, prefi xed to the stem

wa .

” Thi s use of “ they to form the p lural of nouns , etc . ,

i s found in other languages in West Afri ca,and i s di s

cussed in the chapters on the plural and the pronoun i nThe Languages of West Afri caIndep endent Forms—When used independently before a

verb they requ i re the 3rd personal pronoun aswere nouns . Where the latter i s omi tted the reasonsare the same as those given for the nouns under personalpronouns .


(MA S CUL INE FORMS )Wa ke chan 7 or Wan e ke chan 7 Who i s thereWa ka ke 7 or Wan e ka ke 7 Who are youKai wanene 7 Who are youWa. ya yi wannan 7 Who has done thi sWan e ya yi wannan 7 Who has don e thi sM utume -n -nan , wanene 7 Who i s thi s man 1?

En ji wa Let me hear who / i .e who saysso ? Thi s i s i n answer to the

summons , wa1 ka zo ,

”

you aretold to come

Wanene wannan 7 Who i s thi s i’Wanene chiki -n -su 7 Whi ch of themWanch e (or wan e ) shi na i ya Who can buy i t

sai yensa 7

Chiki -n -ku wa ke zua taran ta da Whi ch of you i s com i ng hun t i ngui 7 wi th me

Wa ya fada maka labari nan ? Who has told you thi s n ewsWan e maiki ddi ? Who i s the drummerWa je shiga ri j ia 7 Who wi l l en ter the water -holeDan wanene S on 0

“who- i s - i t son of so-and-so

Wa ke da Ii tafi -n-sa ri ki 7 Who has the chi ef’s book .

9

Wanene na ku duka ya chai nye Whi ch of you has eaten al l the

nama duka 7 meat ?

It wi ll be not iced from the foregoing examples that thedi fferent forms wa,

” wane , and wanene are largelyused to su i t the euphony of the sentence .


Indep endent Form app li ed to Things

NO GENDER AND NO PLUR AL

M i ya fadi 7 M i ne ya fad i 7M i nene ya fadi 7Kana yi -n -m i ne 7M i nene wannan 7M i n e ya sa ka zo 7

M i nene shi na chi tumaki -na 7M i n e da Engl i z ?Fada man i mi nene su 7

M i ya faru 7M i zan i yi yao 7M i nene wani ab i n - nan 7

Gu du -n -mi ki ke yi 7Kuka -n -mi ku ke yi

Forms coup led wi th the Noun—M ascu l iue S ingu lar

Wan e mutum ya gudu 7 Whi ch man has run away i’Wan e yaro shi ke da hima 7 Whi ch i s the di l i gen t boy l i t . ,

Whi ch boy he i s w i th d i l i geWan e launi tsuntsu shi ke da What colour i s the bi rd

shi 7

Wane l okachi ya 20 7 What time di d he come orWhen .

9

Wan e mutum ke nan wanda Who i s the man that was caughtakakama jia 7 yes terday

Wan e iri -n -hal i garesa 7 What sort of character has heWan e l oka chi ne yanzu 7 What i s the time now 19

Here “ wane i s mascu line to agree wi th “ hali . I f afemi nin e word i s subst i tuted for “ hali ,

” “ wane takesthe femini ne form .

An except ion as to agreement occurs wi th the wordiri ,

”ki nd, i n the phrase what k ind Of . To al l i ntent s

and purposes i ts exi stence i s ignored as to gender , and i ti s treated as part of the i nterrogat ive pronoun i tself

Wane i ri -n -mutum 7 What ki nd of man 1?

Wache i ri -n -mache 7 What ki nd of woman 7Wadane i ri -n -mutane What ki nd of men 7

What di d he say 1?

What i s i t he sa i dWhat are you do ing 1?What i s thi sWhat has made you comeWha t i s i t that des troys my sheepWhat i s i t i n Engl i sh .

9

Tel l me what they areWhat has happ en ed 2What shal l I do to -dayWhat i s that other th i ngWhat are you run n i ng away forWhat are you shou t i ngfor

PRONOUN 93

Forms coup led wi th the Noun— Femi n ine S ingu lar

Wache ari n ia ta ke da h ima 7 Whi ch gi rl i s di l i gen t ?Wache ai nya ya tafi 7 Whi ch road has he goneWa che ma che che wanan What woman i s thi s that comeswadda ta 20 7

Wache iri -n -fi t ila ke nan 7 What sort of l amp i s thi s .9

M utum mai dukia, wa che i ri - n A s regards a r i ch man,what ki nd

ri ga shi kan se 7 of dress does he p ut on .9

Form joi ned to the Noun , Plural

Wadane mutane ke nan 7 What men are thes e

01‘

Wadanan mutans , suanene 7 What men are thes eWadane mata suna kuka 7 Whi ch women are scream i ng

Possessi ve Interrogative Pronoun

Thi s i s formed by putt i ng na, of, before the interrogat ive pronoun .

I f standing alone the longer forms are used na

wane 7 na-wanene 7 na -wache 7 etc .

If accompani ed by a noun the short form is commonl yu sed , n -wa following the noun .

If the ob ject possessed i s femi n ine the preposi t i on 11

becomes etc . , as with nouns .

In the plural , ~n -wa i s found , of course , i rrespect iveof gender

Na-wanena ya bache 7 Whos e i s los t ?DOki -n -wanene ke nan 7 Whos e horse i s thi sDoki -n -nan na wa h eh e 7

DOki -n -wa ke nan ?

Dia-r-wacheche ki ke 7 Whos e daughter are youDia-l -wa ki ke 7

Di a t -wa ki ke 7

Yaya n wa sunka y i wori gi nan 7 Whos e chi ldren have p layed hereM ata -n wa ta kawa gi shiri 7 Whose wife was turned i nto sal t 6’


Ban san i ba na wanene I do no t know whoseTumaki -n -wa ke nan 7 Whose sheep are thes e .

9

Interrogative l st Personal Pronoun

The l st personal pronoun has a spec ial in terrogat iveform . I t i s chi efly used in answer to a questi on .

Nia 7 I s i t I .9

Nia na fada maka 7 I s i t I who sai d so

Nia che ? I s i t I / (fem. )

5 . INDEFIN ITE PRONOUNS

S INGULAR PLURALMAS C . FEM . BOTH GENDERS

Someone , somethi ng, a wan i wata wadansu ,

certa i n p erson or thi ng. wensu , wa suUs ed adj e ct i val l y and

p ronom i nal lyA nother wam wadansu

Any one, every one,each kowa ,

one. Us ed as a pronoun kowane,kowanene

A ny, every . Us ed as an kowane

adj ect i v e , and i t pre

c edes the nounA nythi ng, everythi ng kom i ,whatsoever i t be, what kom i n esoever komi nene

I t wi ll be not i ced that the indefi n i te pronoun s whi ch arecomposed wi th the part i cle “ ko

” have the same formsas the interrogat ive pronoun s

S o-and-so wameS u ch and such a thi ng kazaThe one the other wani wan i wata wataS ome others wa su wasu wadansu wadansu

No one ba kowa , babu kowaNo one who ba wanda , babu wandaNothi ng ba kom i , babu komi


Kowane, etc . , adj e c ti v al

Kowane yaro ya tafi hai nya Each boy went a differen t roaddaham

Kowache yari n ia ta tafi ha i n Each gi rl wen t her roadyanta

Kowache safi a anadada muna Each morn i ng bless i ngs are addeda lbarka to us


Wan i , etc. , adj ect i vall y

Wani mutum ya yi kari a S ome man has l i edWa ta mache ta y i kari a S ome woman has l i edWasu mutane sun yi kari a S ome men have l i edM u rubuta magana n wan i Let us wri te the story of a man ,

mutum da na ji daga Bornu whi ch I heard i n BornuBan tafi wani wuri ha I di d not go anywhereDoki -n -wani mutum ya mutu S ome on e’s hors e i s deadNan gari n dai , ha wani mai Here i n thi s town , i ndeed , there was

sa i da zuma sai wane no one sold hon ey excep t so-and-so

Wan i , p ronomi nal ly

M asallachi nan , akwoi wani That mosque, i s there any one i nachiki ? Aa, ba kowa s i de ? No, no one

Ni ko i ya ga wadansu I shal l teach othersWan i ya tafo daga Hadi j a S ome one has come from Had ij a

Wan i = another, others adj ect i val ly

Babu wani sarki dun ia There i s no other ki ng i n the worldWata rana A nother day

Wan i , another, pron omi nall y

Naka ba ya fi na wani ba Yours i s not heavi er than any other’s

Ni ko i ya ga wadansu I shall teach others

Use of wan i i n s i ngu lar for plural (S okot o)Wan i mutane ya tafi gari -n S ome p eop l e wen t to the coun tryBauchi tari tari of Bauchi i n large numbers

Komi , etc .

Akoi kom i chi ki -n -rami 7 I s there anythi ng i n the holeYa fadi kom i amma ban ji ba He sai d somethi ng but I did not

hearK om i n e ta roko A l lah, A l lah Whatever i t was she asked God,ya bata God gave her

K om i da ka bani n i ke so Whatever you give me I l ike i tKom i ka yi us. so Whatever you do I l i ke i t

PRONOUN 97

Ab i nda ka ke y i duka Whatever you doBabu kom i chi ki -n -ram i Nothi ng i n the holeBa shi fad i kom i ba He sa i d nothi ngBa shi y i maki kom i He wi l l do you no harmSariki n Kano ya fada masu babu The chi ef of Kano sai d nothi ng to

themBa su che ba kom i The di d not say anythi ngBa ya beri kom i sai gasusuka He eft nothi ng but thefeathers

Wa-ne

Thi s i s l i t eral ly Who i s i t 7

Enna wane 7 Where i s what’s hi s name 7Ya che, daga gari saraki n wan e He said—(I come from) the coun try

Of K i ng S omebody. (a Ki ng

”

i s i n pl ura l)Wan i wan i , etc.

Wani farke ya tafi Kano, wan i One trader goes to Kano , one to

ya tafi S okoto S okotoWata mache ta y i dari a, wata One woman laughed, the other cr i edta yi kuka

Wadansu suna chi -n -nama , wad S ome eat meat, others do not eat i t

ansu ba su chi ba

Wadansu mutane suna kiwo S ome m i nd camels , others work therakuma , wadansu suna noma farms

S undry Negative I di oms (see also underAdverbs )Ba ab i nda babu There i s nothi ng shortBabu daiansu. Babu dai a Not one of them

chiki nsu

Ba wanda for ba kowa

Wanda , the relat i ve pronoun ,i s made use of in stead

of “ kowa ” in negat ive sentences . Such short sentencesas

“ Ba kowa chan ,

”etc .

,are exceptl ons . Wl th a

dependent sentence ba wanda i s used .

Ba wanda zaya y i shi sai ui No one shal l do i t but me

Here ba kowa woul d be qu i te incorrect .

“ Ba kowa ” may be translated by “nobody, but “ ba

wanda ya ” “there i s no one who .

”In the latter

in both Engli sh and Hausa there i s a relat iveof two co ordi nate sentences

Babu wanda ya san’ shi There was no one knewo

himA bi nda fadawa sun fadi be What the ki ng

’s counc i l orders no

wanda shi ke da iko shi sake one has the p ower to changeG


6. REFLE! IVE PRONOUN

The reflexive pronoun i s formed wi th the aid

noun “ kai ,”head.

Kai naKai nka or kankaKai nki or kankiKai nsa or kansaKai nta or kantaKai nmu or kanmuKai nku or kankuKai nsu or kansu

Examp les of Syntax

S o kai nke , wan i ya ki ka ; ki Love yours elf, others wi l l hate you ;kai nka wani ya soka hate yourself, others wi l l love you

Ba ya kula da kai nsa ba , ya sa He cared not for hims elf but he set

kai nsa (or ya mai da hanka hims elf to save othersl i nsa) gari n ch etou wadansu

Ya bata kansa He des troyed himselfTa gamu da kuda suna dafa She met some fl i es who were cookkansu i ngfor themselves (story )

7. EMPHATIC PRONOUN

These are , simi larly to the reflexive pronouns , formedwi th “ kai ,

”head , wi th the addi t ion of the preposi ti on

“ da, wi th

Ni dakai na I myselfKai dakai nka or kai dakanka you yourself (m. )Ke dakai nki or ke dakanki you yourself (f. )Shi dakai n sa or shi dakansa he hi mselfI ta dakai nta or i ta dakanta she herselfM u dakaimu or mu dakai nmu dakanmu we ourselvesKu dakai nku or ku dakanku you yourselvesSu dakai nsu or eu dakansu they themselves

The ob j ect ive forms of the foregoing only di ffer inthe 2nd s ingular and 3rd femin ine singular , whi ch are“ ka dakainka,

” “ ki dakainki ,” “ ta dakainta .

”

100 HAUSA LANGUAGE

Wi th da

M un yi murna da juna We rejo i ced wi th one anotherZaku y i -n -fada da juna You wi l l fight wi th one anotherM una soyeya da juna -mu, gama We are at fel lowshi p eachkowa yana ba aboki nsa gaski a other because each trus ts hi s

fri end

Wi th ga

S una taba kurd i ga junansu They di vi de the money amongthemselves

CHAPTER V

THE VER B

PART I

DER IVATI ON

There are in Hausa primi tive and deri ved verbs .

The ori gin of the former cannot be ascertained from the

language i tself . Amongst them are such verbs as “chi ,

”

eat ;“ sha,

”dri nk ;

“ji ,

”hear.

Deri ved verbs are formed in a vari ety of ways . I t i s

always by the addi t i on of a suffi x , ei ther wi th or wi thoutsome mod ifi cat ion of the stem , never by means of a

Class 1

An indeterminate root recei ves a fin al vowel expressingrest , or mot i on to, or mot1on from , as

Dauki , take up ; dauko, take up and give me ; dauka , take up and

take away.

Kawo, carry to me ; kai , carry or carry away.

Glass 2

Suffi x ta to form verbs from nouns , as

Tsorata, to fr ighten one, from ts oro , fear.101


Glass 3

Redupli cat i on to form frequentat ive or intensit ive verbs ,

Buge -buge , from buga , s tr i ke.

Or by part redupli cat i on , as

Raraba , scatter, from raba , divi de.

Class 4

To an indetermin ate root che or ta i s added , the

former having rather present and future meani ngs , and

being frequent ly in tran si t i ve , and the latter having a pastmeani ng and a transi t ive sens e , as

M an che and manta , to forget.

Glass 5

Certain primi t ive verbs take a number of suffi xes . Therei s pract i cal ly li tt le or no change of meaning attached, but

they have special uses , and may change the verb from atransi t i ve one to an intransi t ive one, and vi ce versa . As

each form can be con jugated , they can be treated asseparate verbs as much as are the verbs in Class 1.

The suffi xes in quest i on are '-da ,

” “s hi ,

”-yes ,

s ,”

-sda,” as

Ba, bada , bashi , bay es , bayesda, to give.Zuba , zu bas , zubasda , to p our .

Glass 6

Nye may be added together wi th some sl ightmodifi cat i on of the vowel of the root . I t i s an intensi t ivepart i cle .

Chi , to eat ; chai nye, to devour.

Class 7

A noun i s seldom used as a verb , but manyverbs in Engli sh can only be trans lated into Hausa


wi th the passive form , whi ch wi ll be explain ed in i ts

proper place .

When the pronoun has the terminat i on “na i t i s

general ly found that the verb ends in a also . (S eeunder thi s ten se in chapter on v erb .)The following are examples of the foregoing changes

appl i ed to a certain number of verbs

Buga, strike

Ya bug1 yaroBugi yaro 1Ya buge shiNa buge duchiBuga shi

Na buga kafata ga duchi stoneI na bugu n yaroI na bugu -n-sa ( or bugu n -shi )Buga kofa l

The terminat i on “0 does not seem to occur wi th thi s

verb . In all the examples of “ buga ” given above i t i sseen that the sense of d i rect i on scarcely appli es . I t musttherefore be assumed that the vari at i on s are all foreuphony , whi ch wi ll be apparent i f an attempt be madeto use the wrong vowel .

Dauki lDauki ri gaNa dauke taDauka ta !Ya dauka kayaZani dauka-l -ri gaDauko l

Dauko shi

Ya dauke shiDauke suKu dauki kayaDauki sabun i mai - i ssa

S ame

He received the c lothA ccep t the clothI have rece ived i t

He s truck the boyHi t the boy !He beat himI s truck a s toneBea t himI s truck my foot agai ns t aI am beat i ng the boyI am beati ng himKnock at the door

Dauka, take

Take i t !Take the clothI took i tTake i t !He took up the loadI am go i ng to take the clothTake and br i ng i t hereTake i t downHe took i t upTake them away !Take up your loadsTake enough soap

VERB 105

Sama ta A cc ep t i t !Na samu doki I have recei ved the hors eNa samu mutane I found the men

Hai nya ta samu ; there i s a road, or the road i s found, or now exi s ts .

Thi s i s the passi v e v erbal form , and has no connect i on wi th thescal e of v owels i nd i cat i ng di rect i on , etc .)

M i ya same ka What i s the matter wi th youKomi ya. sama se Whatever befal ls himBa ya samu ya shiga He could not enterYa samu wata guda He 8 ent one monthNa samu rongomi , na samu I fee betterdama , na samu sank1

Kama

Na. kame dokiNa kama yaro a bi sa dokiKama !Kamo !Ya kama hai nyaBa ni kamaYa kamu ki fiK i fayo nawa munka kamoDaga gar i nan ki sh irua ta kamomu tane

Ku mayes mamu rakumamu da Return to us the camels that youkuka kamu have taken

Damre

Na damre kaya I ti e the loadNa damra fi t i la a b i sa kaya I ti e the lamp on the loadAdamra s i l i yu dama baun i Chai ns shal l be bound on the i r(poet i c) r i ght and l eft hands

An amre kaya duka Are al l the loads ti ed up

Komo

Komo l Come back !Koma 1 Go back!Ya koma daki -n-sa He has returned to hi s houseYa komo dah ina He has come back to my hous eTun ba akoma ba Un ti l there i s no returnEn mu komo mu futa rana da ia , When we come back we wi l l res tkana mu tafi eu one day, then we wi l l go fishi ng

Komo ,” koma , being rad ical ly verbs of mot i on , i t i s

not possi ble for them to take the terminat i ons “ i ,” “ e ,

”

I caught the hors eI caught the boy on the hors eCatch i t and go 1Catch i t and come IHe took hi s roadI wou ld not bel i eve ( i t)He caught the fi shHow many fi sh have we caught ?I n that land thi rs t se i zed the p eop l e


or “u and the same appl i es to other verbs whi ch

cann ot be d i ssoc i ated from any idea of mot ion

Dawoyo

Return here 1Return there I

Gudu

Gudu l Run (away)Gudo l Run to me !Kadda ka gudu ! Do not not run away !

Ya fi ta da shi He went off wi th i tRana. ta fi ta The sun has r i senYa fi ta nagari He has turned out wel lFi to 1 Come out !Enda rana ta ke fi towa Where the sun comes out from

Nema, s eek

Bawana ya tafi nema -n -yaro , M y s lave has gone to look the

ba ya same shi ba, kai ka tafi boy. He has not him.

ka n emo sh i Do you go and look himS uka che ku nemo masa mache They sa i d fi nd a wife for him

A i ki , send

Na a i ki wani Kano I have s ent some one to KanoNa. a i ko wan i nan I s ent some one hereYa aikoni He s ent me hereYa ai ki n i He s en t me thereSari ki ya a i ko agai she ka The chi ef has sent to salute you

Ko i ya, t each Koi yo, l earn

A l lah shi koi ya muna hai nyansa M ay God teach us Hi s way

Fada , t el l

Ya fada man i He told meYa fad i ga skia He sp oke the tru thM una fad i , ba mu ho iyo ba We tel l ou ,

we do not hi deKun ji fa , mun fad i Do you i sten, we say

Fad i , fada, fal l

Ya fado daga b i sa doki Hefel l off the horse


Derived Verbs , Class 3

Redupli cat i on to form inten si t ive or frequentat i ve verbs .

Ei ther the whole verb 1s repeated , or more commonly onlythe fi rst syllable

Buge buge , to beat much from buga to s tr i kebubuga, bubugi

Chai nye chai nye to be glu t tonous chai nye to devourChi chika to fi l l up chi ka to

Fakake to grop e for 7 fake toGushe -gushe , gush out frequen tly to gush

gurgusa or abundantlySansanche exp lai n much, under to know

s tand mu cht ear to p i eces t saga tearp i ck up o r out tara to gatherto shake up , walk 7 zaga to shake,abou t walk back

wards and

Sosoke to p i erce wi th manyhol es

Ya bubugi yara He beat the boys wel lM u tane suka bubuge ta ta mutu The men beat her t i l l she d i edM unka soso ubane-n -mu We have loved ourfathersZasu rurubuta takardu are go i ng to wr i te l ettersKu kaka she raguna K t l l

ysheep

Ya kakashe su duka He exterm i nated themKaddadai aj i ta yi sagara mai Let her not be heard cal l i ng fowlski rki ra

!ppoet i c) wi th a loud voi ce

Ku dadan a ab i nchi Each one of you take so foodI na so-n gaga ida mai nya I wi sh to salu te each of the eldersS una gagan i -n-mutane They see menShashafesu da t suma Wip e each of them wi th a rag

I t i s to be noted that whenever there i s a redupli catedform of the verb and the noun i s in the plural , the nounusual ly has an indefi ni te sen se .

Deri ved Verbs . Class 4

In thi s class are verbs whi ch may end ei ther in “ cheor ta ,

”these termi nat i ons being added to the root whi ch

has no separate exi stence as a word . The meani ng in

VERB 109

ei ther case i s the same in Engli sh , but their uses8

The followi ng are some verbs of thi s nature

M anche forgetBache des troy, los eKwanche l i e or lay down to s l eepJ i ehe turn up s i de downJi rki che

Lalache (1) be i dl e ; (2) p er i shRubuchi wr i teRi ki che (1) be confus ed ; (2) confus e

The form end ing in che i s more common ly intransi t ive .

Thi s form i s used for preference w i th present and futuremeani ngs . The form in “ ta

” has for preference atransi t ive and a past mean ing .

Because a verb ends in “ che i t does not in vari ablyfoll ow that there i s a form in ta .

I t i s further to be noted that the “ ta form can neverbe used as a substant ive . The “ che form i s commonlyu sed as such , however , as lalachi ,

”i dleness .

Na ji che kori a I turn the calabash up s i de downNa j i ta kori a a b i sa -n -ta I turn ed a calabash up s i de down

over i tNa rubuchi li ta fi I wr i te a bookNa rubuta suna -n -se a b is a l i tafi I wrote hi s name up on the bookKada ka manta Do not forgetAb i -n nan ya bache mani I have los t thi s thi ngS u bache tare They p er i sh togetherM a lika ya batansu The angel shal l afi l i ct themYa batayhai nya He los t the way

Derived Verbs . Class 5

To the termi nat i ons , -da ,shi ,

” s ,”

-yes ,-

yesda i t i s not poss ible to ass1gn any precl se meanmgin Engli sh .

The effect of their add i t ion to the primi t ive verb i s tomake i t trans it ive , intransi t i ve , causat ive , or by makingthe word i tse lf longer to supply su i tab le words to make astatement more formal or di gni fi ed .

Al l forms can be con jugated .


Their effect upon the primi t ive verb can be best seenfrom i l lustrat i on s .

Da .

—Thi s may be the preposi t i on wi th . In any casethat rendering wi ll sat i sfy the majori ty of instances of i t suse qu i te clearly

Ba give Bada give upSay i barter Sa i da barter wi th= sel l

Tara col lec t Tarda come up wi th, overtake

In monosyllabi c verbs ending in “ i ,” da i s sharpened

t uo ta, as

Ku y i ta a iki Get on wi th your workBi ta hai nya nan Go by thi s road

S ee further exampl es under y i i n chap t er x1i .

Yes gives an intran si t ive force

Bay es give up

If da i s added to yes a transi t ive force i s resumed .

Na bayes I give up Na bayesdashi I give i t up

S gi ves intran si t i ve force .

Shi gives a transi t i ve force to an intransi tive i ve

verb , but i s added to tran si t i ve verbs wi thout ofmeaning . I t takes a pronoun only as direct ob ject , nota noun .

Examp les

Ba, giv e . Transi ti v e

Ya bani ku rdi He gave me the moneyYa bashi i ta He gave her to him

N0TE. Ba i s on ly fol lowed by the rec ip i en t as a s econd d i rec tobjec t if the latter i s a p ronoun . If a noun bada i s used. Therel at ive p os i t i on of the two objec ts i s changeabl e.

Bad a always requ ires a preposi t i on before the indi rectob j ect .

Ya bada kurd i ga mutane He gave money to themenNa bada kurd i ga kai I gave the mon ey to youNa bada i ta gare shi I gave her to himNa bada shi ga kai I gave him ( or i t) to you


Ya sayes (sayas) He sold ( i t)Ka sayes

fi ab i nda ba ka i ya so S el l ( i t)— whatever you may notwan tDa Kelow i sun sa i da n i They sold me to the Kelowi

S un saye ui wuri -n -wani mutum They sold me to a certa i n manSun sayes mi ga Sa lah b i n Omer They sold me to S alah bi n OmerI na so ka kai zan e -n -nan wuri I wan t you to take thi s cloth to the

n -di lal i , shi sa i da shi . Idan broker to s el l . When he has soldya say er ka karb i kurdi ka i t take the money and buy for mesayo mani rago , ka kawo a ram . Br i ng back the res t ofsaura -n -kurd i the money

Doki -n -nan na sayerua me A s , I s thi s hors e for sal e ? No, i t was

ansayesda shi jia sold yes terdayKa tafi ga wan i ka sai yo Go to some one els e and buyNawa nawa akesayesda su How much eachNawa anasayesda su How much are they ( i n a lump)Suna sayesua dukiansu They are sel l i ng thei r goodsAbubua duka ambayes garen i A l l thi ngs are del ivered un to me

NOTE.— “

r”i s found as a p honet i c var i at i on for “

s , but “3 i s

always emp loyed at the end of a s en tence .

Ya bata da kurdi nsaYa bata da shi

Ya batashe shi

Ya batasShi yaro ne, shi na batasua

Bache , to be sp oi l e d

The v ari ous forms of bata are used for thi s v erb , whi ch i n i tselfa dm i ts of no v ar iat i ons

Ab i -n-nan ya bache man i I have lost the thi ngYaro ya bache mata The boy was los t to her

F i ta , to take out , go out

Ya fi ta da mutum He p u l l ed theman out

Ya fi ta da shi Hefreed himYa fi she n i He rel eas ed me or pul l ed me outYa fi tas He pul l ed (him) outNa fi she ka I di smi ss youYa fi tasda ri ga - sa He took off hi s coatShi fi she mu a iki mutano z i na He s ep arates us from the work of(poet i c) adu l terers

Su sa fi tasua kurkono . (“ Fi ta They made the gui n ea worm come

sua i s fi tas”wi th the t ermi ou t

nat i on na

Bata , to l os e , sp oi l

He los t hi s moneyHe los t him or i tHe los t him (or i t)He los t ( i t)He i s a boy and wi l l sp oi l i t

VERB 113

Tashi , to ri se

Other forms “ tashe ,” “ tayes ,

” “ tayesda,

taso .

”

Saidai shi ta da haba y i jaki He wou ld merely l ift up hi s chi nberbera (p oet i c) and bray l i ke an ass

Na tada manzo I s ent a messengerKa tasheni da sasafe Wake me very earlyEn na. tash e yaranku kua zo If I ra i s e up your chi ldren, wi l l

you come ?Hada ri ya taso masu a chiki n The storm des cended on them i nda j i thefores t

Chi , eat

K i chi nama ! Eat meat you i s fem i n i ne)Na chishe shi I gave him to eat , I fed himYa chi da doki da dawa He fed the hors e wi th gu i n ea cornYa chi da shi da dawa Hefed him wi th cornYa chiyes He has fed, or eaten (i t)

Jefa, throwNa jeféda abu I threw a thi ngNa jefada shi I threw i tNa jefashé' shi I threw i tNa j efas I threw

Other forms jefshi ,”

jefasda ,

” jeida jefadaalso found as shepta and shebda.

Ajefo har takardu-n -a iku uamu We shall be p lac ed accordi ng to the(poet i c) l i st of our deeds

Yas or yes , to throw away

Na yada shi (yada= ya-r-da= I threw i t awayyasda

Na yashe shi I threw i t awayYa yas He threw ( i t) awayTa yada zane S he threw off her cloth

Tara , ass embl e

Ya tara mutane He col l ec t ed the menYa tarasu He col l ec t ed themS uka tara ga ri They are of one townUwa muka tara We have one motherYa tarda mutane He ass embl ed the menYa tara da eu He collected them


Ya tarsha eu He assembl ed themYa tarda chiwuta He w i ll contrac t a d i seas e (p oet i c )Na tarda shi I overtook himYa taras He col l ec ted ( them)Ka tarshi mu ] 1 dad i (poet i c) Help us to feel happyKadadai ka tara hanuka don A l though you pu t both your handstsoro -n -b eri (po et i c) to i t forfear of los i ng i t

Tsaya , stand

O ther forms—tsa i , tsayi , tsai shie, tsai sa

Na t saya dai dai I s tand upr i ghtYa t saya It i s fin i shedNi na t saya ga li tafi nan I hi t up on thi s bookM alaiku eu tsa i da zugazuganta The angels wi l l l ift up the bel lowsp o et i c)

Da ya fara chewa sun tsai sa sa When he began to sp eak theys topp ed him

Na tsai t se shi I got before himKowane zashi tsa esda wannan Whoever sha ll detai n thi s man shal lmutum zaakass e shi be ki l l ed

Sun san i mi ya t sai shi e n i haka They knew what delayed me so

Kawo, bri ng

Kauda (= kawo da) take away, abrogate ; Kawasda , remove,kawas , kaushi di sp ers e ;

Chi ra, sav e

Ya chi rada mutum daga rua He saved theman from the waterYa chi rada ui daga me. He saved me from the waterYa chirashé shi He saved himYa. chi ras He saved (him)

Zuba , p our

Ya zubada rua He p oured the water outYa zubada shi He p oured i t outYa zubshé shi He p oured i t ou tYa zubas He p ou red ( i t) ou t or It gushed out

Zubasda mia To exp ec torate vi ol ently

Amsa , amsashi answerBi , b i she fol lowM u roke ta’ala shi bi shemu We bes eech the Exal ted One tohai nya di rec t our s tep s

Cheta , chetas saveIssa , i she, iyes, iyesda reach


Use of“j’l

The verb 31 i s combined wi th substant ives orad j ect i ves simi larly to yi ,

”and must be equally regarded

as a form -word Ji tsoro , to be afrai d , ji baushi , be

angry ji kumi a ,’’feel p i ty , ji dadi , be p leased .

The ob ject whi ch i s indirect i s expressed by adding thepossessi ve pronoun to the noun

Ba ka ji tausayi mu You felt no p i ty or usBa na ji -n -da di -n -hawanki , I do not feel com ortable r i di ngyou ,

kura hyazna

Ka ji dadi -n -hawana Do you l i ke r i di ng me

Derived Verbs— Class 8

Noun s and verbs of same form

Ya fadi masu He sa i d to themDa ya kare fadi n-sa When he hadfin i shed hi s sp eechDuni a ta lalachi The world p er i shesLala ch i IdlenessBa magana Do not talk !

Don All ah ya badamu so-n Becaus e God has given us a lovekwana s leep

Tambaye n-nan da ka ke yi The qu es t i on you ask (make)Kana yi -n-magana Hausa Do you sp eakHausaKoi ya na Sha i tan The teachi ng of S atanS u dora ki ra They ra i s e a cryYa ki ra shi He cal l ed himSuna magana banz a They ta lk nons ense

PART I I

DIVIS ION or VERBS

Verbs are of two ki nds—transi ti ve and intran sit ive .

The transi t ive verb requi res an ob ject .

The intransi t ive verb denotes a state , feelin g , or act i onwhi ch terminates in the doer or agent .

Some verbs in Hausa are (1) onl y transi ti ve ; others

VERB 117

(2) only intran si t ive (3 ) some , primari ly one or the other ,may be used in the opposi te sense wi thout any change ofform and (4) yet others by taking an addi t i on to the stemcan be recogni sed as transi t i ve alone or intransi t i ve alone .

Thi s last feature i s not found in the Engli sh language ,where there i s in general nothing in the look or appearanceof a verb , un less i ts intransi t i ve counterpart i s knownra i se , ri se ; set , si t ) , wh i ch renders i t possible to tellwhether i t i s tran sit ive or intransi tive .

Causat ive verbs are , of course , all transi t i ve .

The fol lowing are examples of the di fferent kinds oftran si t i ve and intransi t ive verbs

(1) Verbs on ly Trans i tive

Gani , to see ji , to hear kawo , to br i ng

(2) Verbs on ly I ntrans i tive

20 , come tafi , go zamna , s i t down

(3 ) Verbs both Trans i tive and I ntrans i tive i n M ean i ng

K iwo , t end a flock, graze , feedBoy e , hi de , hi de oneself , be hidChi ka , fi l l , be fu l l

(4) Verbs whose Form I ndi cate whether Transi tive orI ntrans i tive

Trans i tive

Verbs formed from nouns wi th sufi i x “ ta (see class2 of deri ved verbs ) ; also verbs ending wi th

“ta

” whi chhave correspondi ng intrans i t ive forms endi ng in “ che .

”

The terminat ion “shi

”

(see derived verbs , classalso the terminat ion “

yesda .

”

I ntransi tive

The termin at i on che usually ; a lso the term inat i on

yes also verbs endi ng in u wh i ch are formed fromtrans i t ive verbs by the change of the fi nal vowel . M any ofthe latter are u sual ly found on ly in the 3rd person singu lar ,and so a mi ddl e voi ce may be said to be produced .


The suffi x “wa may be added to thi s form (seeexamples under present part i c iple) .Thi s intrans it i ve ending 11 —mu st be carefu l ly di stin

gu i shed from the termin at i on n ,

” whi ch many transi t iveverbs take , wi thout ceasing to be transi tive , ei ther foreuphony or to indi cate absence or neutrali ty of di rect i on .

These are di scu ssed in class 1, Deri ved Verbs .

S ome Intrans i tive Verbs i n u

Budu , to be op enBugu , to be beatenDadu , to be i ncreas edDafu , to be cookedDamru , to be boundFaru , to happ enFasu , to be brokenFuru , to be burn i ngGodu , to app earGamu , to meetHai fu , to be del i veredKafu, to befas tenedKaru , to be addedKasu , to be s la i nKuntu, to be loos en edM atsu , to be narrowM utu , to di eNadu , to be rol l ed upNiku , to be groundRabu , to dep ar tRagu , to be decreas i ngB etu , to be swi ngi ngRufu , to be shu tS anu , to be knownS himfudu , to be sp readTaru , to be ass embl edWazu, wasu ,

to be d i sp ersedYiwu , y iu , to be don eZubu , subu, to be gushed out

Thi s form i s u sed in a reflexi ve sense , and al so foll owsthe same verb in the pass1ve voi ce for emphas1s

M utum ya bugu The man i s beatenDundu ya dafu The yarn i s cookedK ofa ta budu The door s tands op enKofa ta m i n The door i s shu t

bude, to op enbugs , to beatdade , l engthendafe , to cookdamre , to b i ndfara , to begi nfash e , to breakfura, to ki ndl egoda , to showgama, to

'

oi nhai fe, to egetkafa , to fas tenkara , to addkashe , to ki l lkunche , to un t i emates , to squ eeze

nade , to co i lnika , to gr i ndraba , to divi derage , to l essenret o , to shake to andruf e , to shu tsani , to knowshimfude, to sp readtara , to col l ec twasa , to di sp ers ey i . to dozuba, to p our


substant ive verb . In the latter capac ity i t usuallyrequi res the complement to precede i t

Da ka ke or Kai , da ka ke You are a free manS ania ta ke It i s a cowDana ke nan Thi s i s my sonShi dana shi ke He i s my sonEnna ku ke 7 Where are youShi ke nan S o i t i s

Ba da ka ke ba You are not a free manJia u i ke nan n i da ia Yes terday I was here aloneYari n ia da ka gan i i ta ke nan The gi rl you see i t i s she

Ka tafi ke nan har abada You are l eavi ng i n fact for ever

Ne

Thi s form i s usually enc l i t i c . I f a pronoun i s added i tmay foll ow in i ts capac i ty of complement , but i f the personi s the 3rd sin gular , i t i s commonly omi tted

Ni no It i s IDa ne ni I am a free manDa ne ka i You are a free manKai ne sariki Ni sari ki ne Are you the chi ef ? I am the chi efYaro ne or

, l ess common ly Yaro It i s a boyne shi

Kai dansa ne You are hi s son or Are you hi s sonKano dagari karam i ne. Kano was formerly a smal l townNi danfari no, 9 11 no na baya I am the firs t born

,they are after

me

In the following examples “ne becomes encli t i c to a

whole sentence

Gurubi -n - ido ba i do ba ne (prov . ) A subs t i tu te for the eye i s not theeye

A l lah shi ne ya ba n i It was God gave i t to me

Wani mutum maihalbi ne shi na A certa i n hun ter had a wifeda ma che

Ba zaka ka i ui wuri n malam i n Wi l l you not take me to thi s mal lam?nan ba ne !

M u kuma duka sha i du ne ga We a lso are al l wi tnesses of thi swannan

Compare the fol lowing

A l lah shi no abada God i s etern i ty (or for ever )A llah shi na koenna God i s everywhere

VERB 121

Che

Thi s femin ine form may be subst i tuted for “ne, but

not for “ ke”

D ia che ni I am a free womanDia che ki You are a free womanSan ia che i ta or sania che It i s a cowBa dia che ni ba I am not a free womanI ta ma che che It i s a womanNi , fa , ba akw ia che ba , ma che A s for me , I am not a goat , I am

che ni a womanKama da wan i ba wan i ba che L i ken ess to another i t i s not the

(prov . ) same p erson

(The noun phrase ba wan i ba, i .e ., not another, ends in

“ a ,”

and so i s treated as feminin e , probably by a verypedant i c mallam ) .

Ni che is not found but on ly n i ne of whi chevergender . In Dia che n i the femi nin e form i s used afterdi a,

”ni being treated as a complement .

Emphas i s on the Pronoun

If emphasi s i s required on the pronoun , i t

the beginning of the sentence

S hi dana no He i s my son

I ta di yata che S he i s my daughter

I di oma ti c Uses of ne

Ne is somet imes added almost pleonast i cally to theend of an an swering sentence for emphasi s .

In answer to such a quest ion as What do you want t

Na zo wuri nka no I have come to see you ( l i t . , I havecome to your p lace , i t i s )

Na sa ni no I know of cours e

Some of the examples given under “no above al so

exempli fy thi s .


Ne, preceded by the pronoun , somet imes stands beforethe main sentence for the same purpose

Shi ne, shi ke shakka azaba -n He i t i s , he doubts the p a i ns of hel llakhira

Shi ne, na fada maka It i s as I told youShi ne, uba na yara goma He i t i s , the father of ten boys

Omi ss i on of Pronoun

The 3rd personal pronoun singular i s somet imes omi ttedWI th ne .

”Thl s 1s common in negat ive sentences

Sari ki no da doki for Sariki shi The chi ef has the hors ene da doki

Banza fari - n - i do babu gan i A br ight eye that cannot see i s

(prov . ) worthless

Al so omi tted wi th ke

Enna ke y i maka zogi Where i s the p a i n .9

Yao da gob e ke sa gi n i-n -ri j ia To - day and to - morrow are l i ke

da a lura (prov . ) havi ng a wel l dug w i th a n eedl e

After the relat ive pronoun

Suna tareya da duka-n -ab i nda They were col l ec t i ng everythi ng theyke garesu had

The verb to be i tself is often understood

Akoi A l lah, ba shi gabas, ba shi There i s a God, he i s not i n the

yama eas t, he i s not i n the wes tGaskianki You are r i ght (l i t .

,your (f. ) tru th)

Da-n -zomo wayo gare - i (gareshi ) The young hare i s cunn i ngEnna sari ki 7 Where i s the chi ef ?Kurdi nsa nawa 7 How much i s i t

OtherWays of expressing“ to be

The form of the pronoun endi ng in “na

”i s used, the

verb “ to be”i tself being understood .


The fol lowing i s obscure

K i -e ma en zaki shiga ki shiga But you , if you are go i ng to enter.ki kawo en ter and br i ng i t

FutureUse of “ zama

Ka zama da You wi l l become freeK i zama di ya ( f.)Ba ka zama da ba You wi l l not become freeNa zama malam i I shal l become a p r i es t

To have

Hausa agrees wi th al l 1 West Afri can languages of whatever group in having no auxil i ary to have .

”

To describe possessi on the preposi t i on da , w i th, i s

used . The form of the pronoun whi ch accompan i es i t i smost commonl y that wi th the suffi x na .

” The auxi l iaryke i s , however, also not uncommonl y used

I na da kurd i I have moneySu ke da su They have them or are wi th them

There i s , however, a slight di st inct ion in making use ofthe foregoing . For instance , in Ina da shi and Ni keda shi

” —the first is used in making a plain statement ,and the second for preference in answer to the quest i onWho has i t 2

To express tense —that i s , point of t ime— adverbs areadded

I na da shi yanzu I have i t nowWanda ya ke da shi da ya ba u i He who had i t before gave i t to me

Instead of “ da i t i s often poss ible to use some otherprepos i t i on such as gare .

Other examples of the use of da may be found underpreposi t i ons .

1 The author has not found a si ngl e i ns tance of the contrary .

VERB 125

Meaning conveyed by use of two nouns in apposi t i on ,

one formed wi th “mai”

Da ki shiyoyi nan babu mai -da And thos e r ival wives had no

chi ldren

PART I V

CONJUGATI ON or THE VERB

There are two voi ces—act i ve and passi ve .

There is no change of form for mood, but two part i ciplesare di st ingui shed .

Ten se carri es no inflec ti on of the stem , but the pronounsare subjected to some modi fi cat i on , and part i cles are addedin certain tenses .

The following i s the con jugat i on of so, to love, like,want

Active Voi ce

It i s to be noted that in the negat ive both ba are putin in all tenses , but the second “ ba

”is often om i tted in

pract i ce .

Aomsr on CO M M ON TENSE

AFFIRMATIVEus. so also ui soka so

ki so

ya so

ta so

mu so

ku so

eu so

so ba

NEGATIVEba. na so ba or banba ka so ba

ba ki so ba

ba ya so ba

ba ta so ba

ba mu so ba

ba ku so ba

ba su so ba

PRESENT Iba ni so ba also baba ks. so ba

ba ki 80 ba

ba shi , ya , i , so baba ta so ba

ba mu so ba

ba ku so ba

ba su so ha.


PRESENT II

n i ke so also na keka ke so

ki ke so

shi ( ya , y i ) ke so

ta ke so

mu ke so

ku ke so

eu ke so

ba ni so ba

same as negat i v e of Present 1

PA ST I

same as a ori st

PAST II

(K)) , munka so

(éS )

, kunka soK) , sunka so (

HS )

same as aori st

FUTURE I

naa so, us so

kaa so, ks so

kii so , ki so

shi i so, shi so

yaa so, ya so

taa so, ta so

muu 80 , mix sokuu so, kfl sosuu so, su so

Robin son gives “mua,plural .

cc$ 7

saw

be. no. so ba

ka ka so ba

ba ki so ba

ba Shi so ba

ba ya so ba

ba ta so ba

ba mu so ba

ba ku so ba

ba su so ba

ma,”

kua,


IMPERATIVE

2 (m.) so, ka so

(f. ) so , ki so

ku so

Kar i s found for “ kada in Kano .

“ Ba ” i s alsosomet imes subst i tuted for “ kada ,

”but i s

after the verb .

asosa

PRESENT I .

anasona anakamnata

anasonka anakamnarka ba anasonka ba ba anakamnarka

(f. ) anasonk i anakamnarki

anasonsa anakamnatasa

anasonsh i

anasonta anakamnatata

anasonmu anakamnarmu

anasonku anakamnarku

anasons u anakamnarsu

ba anasona ba ba anakamnata

ba

baba anasonki ba ba anakamnarki

ba

ba anasonsa shi ba anakamna

ba tasa baba anasonta ba ba anakamnata

ta ba

ba anasonmu ba ba anakamnar

mu ba

ba anasonku ba ba anakamnarkuba

ba anasonsu ba ba anakamnarsu

ba

PRESENT I I

ba ason i ba

same as aori st

ba asoni baba asoka baba asoki ba

ba asoshi , asosa , baba asota baba asomu ba

ba asoku ba

ba asosu ba

VERB 129

PRESENT II. INV ERTED

To correspond to the act i v e form u i , su ke

ni akeso ni akasokai akeso kai akasoke akeso ke akasoshi akes o Shi akasota akeso ta akasomu ake so mu akasoku akes o ku akasosu akeso su akaso

(S ee not e on Frequ entat iv e i n A ct i v e . )

PA ST Iauson iansoka

ansoki

ansosa , ansoshi

ans ota same as aor i stansomu

ansoku

ans osu

PA ST 11

same as aori st

FUTURE I I

zaasona zaakamnata ba zaasona ba ba zaakamnata

ba

2 (m. ) zaasonka zaakamnarka ba zaasonka ba ba zaakamnarka

ba

(f. ) zaasonki zaakamnarki ba zaasonki ba ba zaakamnarkiba

FUTURE Iba aasoni ba

ba as soka baba aasoki ba

ba aasoshi ba

ba aasota ba

ba aasomu ba

ba aasoku ba

ba aasosu ba


3 (m. ) zaasonshi zaakamnatasa ba zaasonshi ba zaakamnatasa ba

(f. ) zaasonta zaakamnatata ba zaasonta ba zaakamna

tata bazaasonmu zaakamnarmu ba zaasonmu ba ba zaakamnarmu

ba

zaasonku zaakamnarku ba zaasonku ba ba zaakamnarku

ba

zaasonsu zaakamnarsu ba zaasonsu ba ba zaakamnarsu

ba

These are all noun forms after zasu , etc .=they wi ll go

to the loving of them. The possess ive pronoun i s masculineafter so and feminine after kamna .

”

Compare Zasu kamna—r—mu ,

”They wi ll loveus Zamu

kamna -r-su , We wi ll love them.

The noun form i s not always stri ctly adhered to , hence,zaason i , zaasoka, etc .

FREQ UENTATIVE

ba akanson i ba

ba akansoka baba akansoki ba

ba akansoshi ba

ba akansota ba

ba akansomu ba

ba akansoku ba

ba akansosu ba

SUBJUNCTIVE AND IMPERATIVE

SUBJUNCTIV E IMPERATIVE BOTH

I t i s seen that these forms are the same as in the aori st .

NOTE.—I n theforego i ng tenses shi and sa are common ly

i n terchangeable, theformer bei ng p referably S okoto, the latterKano di a lec t.


sequence they too assume a substant ival force and arejoined wi th the copulat ive “

n .

”

WA OR YA TERM INAT I ON USED

Enna kana tafi a When are you goi ngShekara goma yana tafi a har He had been travel l i ngfor ten years

ubansa ya hanashi un t i l hi s father s tapp ed himEnna ubanka S hi na tafowa Where i s yourfather He i s com i ngTana zua Kano S he i s com i ng (go i ng) to KanoM una soyeya da j unamu We a

ge at fri endship wi th one

anot erDa na ganshi shi na tafi a (or ya When I saw him he was travell i ngke tafi a)

S una i sowa gul b i (A s ) They were gett i ng near the r i ver

In the following sentence the noun force i s strengthenedby the addit i on Of a personal pronoun

S hi na tafi a tasa sai ya gamu da He travell ed un ti l he met the toadkwado

UNCHANGED FO RM

Kulum gari ya way e i na addua A lways at daybreak I p raySaanda ka tada su suna fada da When you came up on them werej una ? suna y i they fighti ng ? They were

Enna Shi na zamne Where i s he s tay i ng

WITH DIREOT O BJECT

I na gi na ram i ( for I na gi na -r I am diggi ng a hol eram i )

M i kana y i t I na yi-n -a i ki (or

i na a iki )I na so-n -ubana . I na so-n-AllahI na ji -n -

yungwa da ki shiruaKana y i -n -a iki ‘

2

M una kamna -tasa gama ya ri

gaya ya kamnachemu

I na s onsa , da shi kua shi na sona

S UBORD INATE VERBS ADDED

I na so-n-kawa malam i (for i na I wan t to become a mal lamsom-kawa -r-malam i )

What are you doi ng 1? I am worki ng

I love my father. I love GodI am hungry and thi rs tyAre you worki ngWe love HimforHefirst loved us

I love him and he loves me (Not ethe p oss essiv e form i n so-na

VERB 133

In thi s sentence so i s mascul ine , and kawa , endingin a ,

’ femin in e . Compare

Kana so ka kawa maimagan i Do you wan t to become, a doctor

in whi ch all the forms are pure verbs

I na so-n - saye -n-turm i goma I wan t to buy ten c loth-s tr i p s

NEGATIVE

The na term inat i on of the pronoun i s dropped , but

the verb i s st i ll treated as a substant i ve

Kadan ba ka tsoro -n-al lah ba shi If you do not fear God He doess onka not love you

Ba su samu-n-ab inchi They find no foodM ugu n mia ba ta karewa a Bad soup does not get fin i shed i ntukunia (prov . ) the p ot

Gulb i na ba sh i chi n mutum M y r i ver does not eat a man i n the

tsaka sai ge i e . Wuka ( ri ddle) mi ddl e but at the bank. A kn ife(whi ch cu ts at the edge)

K owa ya hal be zaki ba shi Every one shot at the l i on but di dsamu -n -sa not get him

Ba ka s ona ; n i , ma , bani s onki You do not love me and I, I donot love you

Compare , on the other hand

Har gari duka ya tashi sun yi , Then al l the town aros e, they try,sun yi , ba eu samu ba they try , but they do not get him

The fol lowing are examples of pure nouns used afterpronoun in -na,

”thus confi rming the change Of verbs

into substant ives in thi s ten se

Tun i ns.Iyaro S i nc e I was a boy

Don sari i shi na mugu- n -sheria l Because the chi ef t 8 unjust i n hi s

judgmen t

The foll owing i s an example of mixed idi om

I na ao-n en tambaye ka i ns t ead I wan t to tel l youof I na ao-n-tambayenka or i naso en tambayeka

S ee note, later, on om iss i on of pronoun i n thi s tense .


As with nouns , the copu lative may be omi tted

Ku lum kulum suna kashe mutane They are ki l l i ng p eop le wi thout( for kashe -m-mutane) cease

As wi th pure nouns , somet imes the copulat ive preposi t i oni s not put into i ts proper gender

I na ki rra -n -ka for i na kirrarka I am cal l i ng youSai ya gan i gawa anadaukansa Excep t he s ees the corp se be i ng

zua wuri -n -bi zne taken to the cemetery

Etymology

I t i s to be not i ced that the pronoun in na cannot befollowed by any of the forms of the verb

“ to be ,”e.g.

S hi na gi da He i s at homeShi na nan He i s hereSuna baya They are behi nd

From thi s i t i s clear that the two words are not in thesame relat ion to each other as they wou ld be i f the con

nect ing link of the verb to be were possible , but omi ttedin pract i ce .

It might , therefore , be assumed that the syll able na

Of the pronoun i s no other than the preposi t i on of ,”not

readily translateable, however , uniformly into of,as

indeed i t i s not in many other cases also .

USE OF PRESENT I. W ITH FUTURE MEANING

Kadan na fushe ta, kuna ba ui If I p u l l her out, wi l l you gi ve mei ta en yi ar ime ? her i n marri age ?

W ITH PAST MEANING

I na tamaha shi ban i kurdinsa I thought he wou ld give me al l hi s

duka money

OMIS S ION or PRONOUN

The personal pronoun i s a necessary adjunct to the verb ,

the latter being incomplete wi thout i t . If a noun precedesthe verb as the sub j ect , the 3rd personal pronoun still

has to be employed .


n arrat ion i t i s often conven i ent to trans late i t by theimperfect tens e .

The object usually precedes the sentence

M i ku ke y i A iki mu ke y i What are you do i ng ? We are

worki ng

If the latter statement had not been made in answerto a quest ion , i t would be in the form of “ Muna yi -naik i .

M i su ke y i yanzu Suna chi What are they doi ng now ? Theyn -ab i nchi nsu are eat i ng the i r food

Fromthi s example i t i s seen that the idea of con tinu i tyi s stronger in Present 1. than in Present I I .

M i ku ke kawowa ? A b i nda What are you bri ngi ng ? What wemuka samu ch i ki -n -kasua found i n the market

Suka che, dom i muke fasawa They sa i d, Why are we delay i ng

In the foregoing the noun form of the verb i s used .

Ubana mi ke so or ubana n i ka so I love my fatherS hi u i ke so or shi n ika so I love himShanu ya ke kashe or Shanu He ki l ls oxen

shi ka kasheDa na ganshi ya ke tafi a When I saw him hewas travel l i ngKowa ya ke yi shi Whoever shal l do i tAb i nda na ke so The thi ng whi ch I wan tM i ya sameku, ku ke kuka Wha t i s the matter wi th you that

you are howl i ng

A perfect sense may even be found

Tun da, har kwanaki nan , For a long time back ti l l thi s day,mutane-n-R imo eu ke pesshi thep eop le of Rimo have p lunderedn -hai nya the road

Also a future sense

Chiki -n-wannan l oka chi ka ke A t thi s s eason w i l t thou then res torema ar (mayas ) wa Isra i la da to Israel the i r ki ngdommu ki

VERB 137

Pas t I

Thi s i s the tense that indi cates simply past t ime , and i ti s Often best translated by the perfect in Engl i sh

Daga enna mutume nan ya tafo ? Whence has thi s man come ? HeYa fada man i ya fi to daga told me he came from Kano.

.

1

Kano . Ban san’abi nda ya do not knowwha t has brought hi m

kawo shi ba

Kun rataye tufafi

Ta che da mu : kun gamu dawan i s zucmaidauka-n -namaM uka che, mun gamu da shi

Na so shi , shi kua shi na so na

Ni , na y i murnaK i n ganiK i n san ab i nda ya kawo ni gari n

nan

Past I I

Thi s past only di ffers from the preceding in the pluralforms, and in the 2nd person singular femin ine . I t i s to

be not i ced that in past tense I . the 2nd person singu larfem inine also takes a terminat i on . There are four u sesOf this ten se in quest i ons ; (2) in matters of fact ; (3 )in narrat i on ; (4) for emphasi s .

There is no negative form , that of the Past 1. beingused

Enna magan i -n-da kika d ebo ? Where i s the med i c i n e you help edyourself to ?

M i ki ka ani What have you seenM utum aia sunka buga They have beaten a manDakuna nawa sunka gi na

‘

P How many hu ts have they bu i l tEnna mutane sunha kwana Where have the men s lep tFulani sumka chi Kano The Fu lan i cap tured KanoM u munka huge shi We have beaten himKu kunka yi a iki You have worked (wel l )S u sunka yi sata It i s ( i ndeed) they who have s tol enSaanda muka komo muka ga When we came back we saw thatkayanmu duka sun bache al l our loads were sp o i l t

M uka tafi kasua , muka zamna , We went to themarket, we sat down ,

muka yi chi ni ki , muka komo we di d trade , we have return edYanshe sunha zo When did they come

Have you hung up the clothesS he sa i d to us : did you meet acerta i n p agan carryi ng mea t ?We sa i d : we met him

I loved him, he too loves meI rejoi cedD id you see i t ?

D id you know what brought me tothi s country ?


In dependent sentences there may be a future S i guifi cance

l dan suka zo gobe If they come to -morrowI yayenta sunha gan e ta suna Her p aren ts s ee i ng her rejo i ced andmurna da kuka shou ted

Future I . and I I

There are two future tenses wi th the same meaning .

In one the verb remains and i s treated as a verb throughout . In the other the verb stem becomes a substant ivein the same manner as in Present I .

Future I . i s formed by a redupli cat i on of the vowelof the pronoun , though some wri ters cons ider that i t i san

“ a that i s appended throughout .

Fu ture 11. i s formed by employi ng the verb zani , etc . ,

I wi ll go. As one says zani Kano , I am goi ng to Kano,so the Hausa also says , “ zani zamna, I am goi ng to s i t

down . The idea of actual mot i on i s modi fi ed to that offuturi ty .

1

Other tenses may also have a future S igni fi cance fromthe context . I t i s the pract i ce when two future ten sesfoll ow each other to use Future 11. fi rst , fol lowed byFu ture I .

Examp les of Future I . wi thout Object

Kaa zama talaka You wi l l become p oorGob e da sasafe mu tashi We wi l l s tar t very early to-morrowKom i zaay i masu ba sua beri ba Whatever may be done to them,

they wi l l not give i t upKadan ba ka zuba mai chiki -n If you do not p our oi l i nto the

fi t i la ta mutu lamp i t wi l l go ou t

Ni tafi ga sariki da n i che masa I shal l go to the chi ef and say tohim

Babu ab i nda zaya sa sua taban i Nothi ng he cou ld do wou ld makethem touch me

1 S ee The Languages of We st Afr i ca , chapt er on the v erb .


Examp les of Use of Verb S tem Form of Verb when Noun

Form i n Exi stence

M ata chan ta che ba zata tafi That woman sa i d she wi l l not goba sai mun 20 before we come

Ba zaka i ya dauka -n -ta (for You cannot take i t up qu i cklydauka -r-ta) maza

Amn

f

i a aboki na yanshe zashi But when wi l l your fr i end cometa 0

Yanshe zamu tafi When shal l we go

If the verb i tself has a preposi t i onal terminat i on ,

“11

i s omi tted . Thi s appl ies to the deri ved verbs in “ da .

There i s al so no“n”i f there i s an ind i rect ob ject , e ither

preceded or not by a preposi t i on

Zashi gai da sarakunansa He i s go i ng to salu te hi s chi efsTalauchi ba zaya kauda yan chi Poverty ought not to take awayba freedom

Wata rana da zamu tafi a ga One day as we were go i ng to thegona farm

Zasu y i masu They wi l l do to themWan i iri -n -magani zaka ba n i What ki nd of med i c i n e wi l l you

give to meKowani zashi t sayesda wannan Whoever s top s thi s man w i l l be

mutum zaakassheshi ki l led

The copu lative n , being often omi tted in the gen i t ivecase , i s also omi tted wi th thi s tense , commonl y wi thnegat ive

Zashi halaka duni a He w i l l des troy the worldFulan i ba zasu fada -mu ba The Fu lan i wi l l not fight as

(Common ly— Fulani ba zasu y i fada da mu ba. )

After y i ,”do, i t i s usually omi tted .

Babu i tache , kaka zan y i wuta There i s no wood, how can I makefire

Zaka yi tafi a You are go i ng to travel

This is so , espec ially if the simple verb stem i s u sedand a pronoun i s the direct ob j ect . I t seems as i f themaintenance of the substant ival idea were too much ofan effort and the con struct i on too cumbersome .

M i zai kai -mu Hausa ? What w i l l take us to the Haus acoun try

Ya che zashi wanke ta He sa i d he wi l l wash i t

VERB 141

In the following examples the personal pronoun i s

repeated after “ zasu in order to ensure a pure verb

Da Fulani suka gani ba zasu When the Fu las saw that they weresamu -n -nasara , suka che, ba not go i ng to get the vi ctory, theyzasu su y i fada ba sa i d , they wou ld not fight

Zashi ya ko i ya masa kari a He wi l l teach him falsehood

Frequentative

Thi s i s formed by the insert i on of the part i cle “ kan

between the pronoun and the verb . I t has (1) a i re

quentat i ve or hab i tual use ; (2) a sub junct i ve or con

cess ive sense ; (3 ) a sense of necessi ty or certainty or

1

Shi kan yi hakka He i s i n the habi t of do i ng so

Bi ri ya kan y i bauna , hal i nsa ke A monkey always does mi schi ef, i tnan i s hi s nature

2

Alkema b i sa duchi Allah shi A gra i n of wheat on a rock Godkan ba ta rua gives i t water

K i kan tafi , ki kan kunche en You can go and loos e themWanda ya kan chi amana ba ya He who p lays fals e wi th fr i endshipi ssa ache da shi aboki ha is not worthy to be cal led a fr i end

3

Uwa ta kan ki danta Can a mother hate her chi ldWanda ya chi gigi ni a , chi kinsa Who eats the (fru i t of the) fan

ya (or shi ) kan yi chiwo palm , hi s bel ly wi ll be sure to bes i ck (after i t) . (Nola—Thi s i snot a fact. )

Wa ya ka shiga (ka= kan ) Who can enter ? (S ee p rev i ousnote on the t ense)

Etymology

M i schlich considers that “ kan i s in all probabil i tyan abbrevi at i on of “ kana , then , before

Eu na gani mache , kana ui If I see a woman I want herso ta=ni kan so ta

En ya gani kura kana ya gudu If he s ees a hycena i t runs away= ya kan gudu


S ubjunctive M ood and Tense

There i s no separate form for the sub junct ive mood inany tense except the l st person singular , whi ch carri esgeneral ly rather a future sense . I ts principal usage i sconcessi ve or interrogat ive . The other persons are thesame as in the aori st tense

I na so en tafi I wan t to goI na so Shi (or ya ) tafi I wan t him to goKa y i nu fi ka tafi D id you i n tend to goNa y i kokari en komo I sha ll try to come backNa a ike shi shi kaw o doki I s en t him to br i ng the hors eNa che, en tafi en kawo shi I sa i d may I go and fetch hi mNi ma en zo en kwanta M e too , let me come and l i e downUwata ta che en tafi en wanketa i ll other sa i d I mu s t go and wash herTa che ta tafi ta wanke S he sa i d let her go and wash ( i t)Kana en tafi en chi nama—na Then I wou ld go and eat my meatYa che zan i en gan i makari - n He sa i d I wi l l go and see the end

duni a of the earthYa che masa Shi gi na masa He told him to go and dig a gravekushi eya for him

Ba na so en passa kanka ba I do not wan t to break your headKada su mutu That they shou ld not di eKada nama ya tash i Les t the game shou ld s tar t

Imp erative

In the singular the pronoun i s omi tted when secondverb i s there , but not u sually otherwi se

Tafi ka chi Go and eat

Ka tafi . Ku tafi Go ! (s i ng. and plu . )Kada ka buga Do not s tr i keKada su tafi tukuna They mus t not go yetBa magana ! Do not talk !

The verb “ beri,

”leave, let, i s largely u sed for giving

orders , etc .

Bermu tafi Let us go

Ber en duba tukuna enda ta ke Let me seefirs t where she i s

Somet imes , for emphasi s , the pronoun precedes as wel las fol lows the verb

Ka i i ka Hearken thou !K i je ki guri n sariki You , go to the chi ef, or you , go to

where the chi ef i s


the noti on that a pass ive was necessary, and to producei t merely made use of the natural method , as statedabove, but wi th the aid of an obsolete form of they— namely, a .

Thi s i s as i t appears from the present -day point of vi ew .

What actually took place , probably, i s that a foreign influxof popu lat i on whi ch possessed a passi ve voi ce in their own

language , and also the word “su

” for “ they ,” brought

in these new element s wi th as li ttle di srupt i on to the

ex i st ing language as possible .

“ Su” attached i tself to

the act ive voi ce, and the obsolescent a ” main tain edi ts ex i stence only in an art i fi c i al u sage .

Regarding “ a as “su simply , the translat ion of the

vari ous passive forms i s seen to run harmoni ously wi ththe act ive voi ce

Present I

A nasona z suna sona they love meBa asoni ba= ba. su so n i be. they do not love meAnasonka= suna s onka they love youAnakamnarka=suna kamna -r they love youka

Present I I

Akesoka su ke so ka, orAkcsonka= su ke s onka they love you

Akekamnaka = su ke kamnaka, or Akekamnarka z su ke

kamnarka

Shi akeso= shi , su ke so

S hi akaso= shi , suka so

Ansomu= sun so mu

Ba ansomu ba= ba sun somu

Akasoku= suka so ku

A nkasoku= sunka so ku

Ba asoku ba= ba su so ku ba

Future

Aasosu= sua so eu they wi l l l ove themZaasonsu= zasu son su

Ba. zaasonsu ba= ba zasu son su ba they w i l l not love them

they love youthey love himthey love him

Past I

they loved usba they di d not l ove us

Past I I

they have l oved youthey have loved youthey di d not love you

VERB 145

Frequentative

Akansosu=su kan so su they are all loved

S ubjunctive

Asoshi = su so shi ( let them) love himKada asoshi=kada 811 so shi let them not love him

In plac e of a pronoun as di rect ob ject (in the activerendering ) a noun may be subst i tuted

Anabugu n yaro don mugunta The boy i s beaten on accoun t of hi s1as. bad deeds

Gari ake chi yanzu The town i s be i ng taken now

If by whom i s added the act ive voi ce i s reverted tofor preference

Tonawa suke chi -n -

gari The Ashant i s are taki ng the town

I f the fol lowing sentence from M i schl ich i s correct thepassi ve may be adhered to in the Past I I . ten se .

Anka chi gari da t omawa The town was taken by theA shan t i s

Anka , Aka

There i s a great tendency to use forms “ anka

(aka) ins tead of the active voi ce in

1. Quest i ons .

2. Narrat i on .

3 . Emphas i s .

1

Yaushe ankabu eka When were you beatenEnna ankagane u Where were you s eenDomi ankasache d oki Why was the hors e s tol en 5’

2 and 3

J ia ankabugesu They were beaten yesterdayJia ake y i wannan abu Yes terday thi s thi ng was doneTundadewa ankasache doki The hors e has been s tolen a long

timeAkay i sansani ; da sa fi a ta y i , The camp was p i tched ; when mornakatashi ; akay i ta fada har i ng came the

yarose and fell to

akekasshe mutane wojen ta la fight i ng un t i abou t 3000 menta ; kana akadena were ki l l ed ; then they ceas ed

K


I t wi ll be not i ced in the last example that i t i s impossi blein Engli sh to keep to the passi ve constructi on throughout .

The act ive mu st be resorted to .

Passivewi th Intransi tive Verbs

The passive form can also be used in Hau sa wi th intransi t ive verbs . The origin of the passive form as statedabove i s thus fu ll y emphasi sed

Anazua da eu They are be i ng brought=Suna zua da su They are comi ng wi th themAnje Kano They went to Kano

Sp ecial Uses of Pass ive Form

The passi ve i s often used in an imperative sense

En kawo rua ? akawo S hal l I br i ng water ? Br i ng i t orlet i t be brought

Asa su tafi chan , adauko kayamu , Let some one go there and take ouraz o da su wuri nmu loads and br i ng them here

A real noun may be used wi th a passive prefi x in thoseten ses where the verb acqu i res a substant ival idea

Ban debo wan i ba don anarua I did not take any out on accoun tof the rai n

Zaman i n nan anayungwa I n thos e t imes there was hungerAnshekara bi u bai rua ba For two years there was no ra i nBayan anshekara duni a ta i dad i After a year there was p eace

Al so

A na- uan Thereup onAna-haka -nan

In the passive as wel l as in the active voi ce the verbroot i s occasi onally redupli cated in the p lural . Thi s givesa di stribut ive force

Ankasosu They have been loved (al l of themt ogether)

Ankasososu They have been loved each o ne

Wi th sp e c i al attent i on )


present tense form “ ke just as if i t were “na . To

complete the analogy n i s inserted

I na fada maka kamada akeyi n I wi l l tel l you how tuo i s madetuo

A -ke-samunsu They were caught

If the verb has the terminat i on “ da, the “n”i s of

course omi tted

Har ya zo wuri nda a-ke-sa i da Un ti l he come to the p lace wherebay i they sold s laves

THE INFINITI VE

The fact that the infi n i t ive i s a noun i s not lost s ight ofin Hausa . In rendering such sentences as

1. To sl e ep i s p l easant2. I w i sh to go

the infi ni t ive may be employed , though in secondexamp le a circumlocution may be adopted .

The above may be trans lated as follows

1. Beri chi ya y i dadiBeri chi da dad i ya keBeri chi yana da dad i

2. I na s o-n -tafi a

I na so en tafi

The foll owing sentences furni sh examples of pure nouns ,or verbs u sed as noun s, ln the same posi t i on

S u tafi halb i They go to shootS u tafi gi da They go homeM uka tafi farauta We wen t hun ti ngSun ta fi chi -n -tuo -n -su They have gon e to eat thei r food

Sometimes the preposi ti on ga, to, i s added

Ka i , ba ka gi rima ba ga a i ki You are too sma ll for work( or ga yi -n -a i ki )

M n tafi ga sha-n-hi ska We go to take the a i r

VERB 149

Examp les of Infin i tive in Nominative Case

Gudu , gado n mat sorachi ne ; To run i s the i nher i tanc e of at sayawa , na maikari fi n coward to s tand ( l i t .

,s tand i ng)

zuchia that of a brave manGani , em ba chi ba , karre (shi ) To see if not to eat means the dogkan kwana da yungwa (p rov . ) w i l l s leep hungry

Gani -n -sa da kea o It i s beau tifu l to see ( l i t . , The s eei ngi t i s beau

Na samu wani abu da kams i , I found somethi ng sweet smel l i ngchi nsa babu dadi bu t not good to ea t

PLURAL

Chi ye chi ye ya fi chanyewa To eat a l i t tl e at a time i s better(p rov . ) than to devour

I nfin i ti ve as D irect Object

Zaki ya 11 kukan ta The l i on heard her cri esHal bi a wuts ia ya fi kuskure It i s better to hi t the ta i l than to

(prov . ) m i ssI na so -n-tafi a I wan t to go

I nfi n i tive as I ndi rect Object wi thout Prep os i ti on

M un tafi chi -n -ab i nchi We wen t to eat foodYa tafi nema -n -doki He has gon e to s earch for the hors eNa zo tambaya -r-ka ne I come to ask you

Infin i ti ve as I ndi rect Object wi th Prep os i ti on

Na a i ke shi gar i -n -kawo -n- doki I s ent him to bri ng the hors e

In Future Tense 11. i t i s , of course , the infi ni tivei s used after zani , etc .

Na rassa ab i nda zan yi I do not know wha t to do . L i t . ,I am wi thou t the thi ng I shal l do

Ya yi terko da zaya kama He made a trap and he wi l l catchkurege a weasel

In such a sentence as“He heard us come , theHausa

cons truct i on 18 He heard our com ing ,” keeping come

stri ct ly as a noun

Ya i i mos i -mu He heard us movebut

Na same shi zamuc I found him si tti ng down


The fol lowing are examples of themood in stead of the infi ni tive ei ther wi th or w hout acon junct i on

WITHOUT

I na so shi (or ya ) tafi I wan t him to goYa soki sari ki n da mashi -n -nan He p i erced the ki ng wi th that sp earda ubangi dansa ya ba shi ri ko whi ch hi s mas ter gave him to

holdKa y i nufi ka tafi

‘

t D id you i ntend to go 19

Na.aike shi shi kawo doki I s en t him to br i ng the horseFad1 en ] i Let me hear ( l i t . , Sp eak so that I

hear)

WITH

Na ai ke shi don shi kawo doki I s ent him to br i ng the hors e

(For don ,

” dom i n . or gari n may be subst i tut ed )

Ins tead of a subordinate sentence two co- ordinatesentences may be employed

Sun tafo gidansu suna rabawa They came home to d ivi de i tBa naku no da zaku san zamanu It i s not for you to know the t imesTa shigo gari tana n ema-n -m i j i S he en tered the town looki ngfor ata y i amre husband to marry him

Use of the FutureTense

Na aike (mutum ) wanda zashi I s en t some one to br i ng the hors e( or zaya ) kaw o doki

Na koi ya masa yada (or kanda I taught him how to clean the gunor wada ) zashi (or zaya ) wankeb i ndiga

Ni , ba ruana ba ne, eu ne zasu I t i s not my bus i ness . They arey i shi the p eop l e to do i t

Use of Prefix“mai

Kana da mutum mai taya maka Have you any one to help you

Note also foll owing

M un ji tausay i en rabua da shi We were sorry to leave him


Vari ous Examp les of Syntax

M utum ma irufe kofa A man who shu ts the door, i .s . ,

Door-op en erM alam i ma irubutu yana zamuc A mal lam i s s i tt i ng yonder wr i t i ngchan

M uka nema mutane ma -i su tafi We looked for one who would ( l i t .

,

Balma cap abl e of) go to Ba lma

No . 2

Noun Form 1

The other form of the present part i c iple i s as used inEngli sh in the sentences , I am coming ,

” He i s ki lli ng ,”

etc . It i s formed by adding “wa to the verb stem .

Thi s produces a noun form ,and not every verb i s capable

of taki ng i t . Being a noun form , the pronoun that precedes i t i s the one end ing ln -n whi ch suffi x 1s droppedin the negat ive . In the 3rd person the form of pronoun“ shina ” i s preferred to “ yana

Zo

IyaS ayas (of say e )

S hi na fi towa He i s com i ng out Ba shi fi towa He i s not comi ng(actual ly now ) out (actual ly now )

These have , besides , supplementary mean ings .

( 1) Fu tu r i ty

I na zuwa or u i kc zua I am comi ng or I wi l l comeI na tafi ata I am go i ng my journey. (Thi s i s

the p ossess i v e pronoun at end of

the n oun )S uka che ba mu bayesua They sa i d we wi l l not give ( i t)

(2) Poss ibi l i ty or Abi l i ty

Shi na y i nwa ba shi y i nwa Can i t be done 1? I t cannot be doneGulabe suna ketaruwa 7 Can the r ivers be crossed

1 S ee deri v e d nouns , c lass 8

VERB 153

Ba ta amrua or auruaBa. na damuaAbi -n -nan ya fasu ba shi

gertuwa

Iri -n-nan ba shi geruwaYana y enkan rua da lauj e shi nadamrewa shi na ajiyewa sai

rua ya yi sarar i

If the present parti ciple i s not u sed a seri es of co ~

ordinate sentences may be found

S uka kama ha i n a , suna waka , They took the road s i ngi ng (and)suna y ebo -n -A lah p ra i s i ng God

PAST PARTICI PLE

The past part i ciple i s a pure adject ive formed from theverb stem by a redupl i cat i on of the last syl lable for themost part

MA SC . FEM . PLURAL FROM ENGLI SH

Rubutaohe rubutaohia rubutatu

Rufafe rufafi a rufafuSanane sanani a sananu

S he i s not marri ageabl eI am not to be annoyed or as ton i shedThi s thi ng i s broken , i t i s not

rep a i rabl eThi s ki nd cannot be imp rovedHe cut the water wi th a s i ckl e heti ed i t up and set i t as i de un ti lthe water made an op en sp ac e


Examp les of Syn tax

A Kan o akoi takardu rubutatu

dayawaKano akoi

kardu dayawaKada ka tafi wuri -n -sariki , sai

ka ga kofa budadia or Kadaka tafi wuri -n - sari ki sai ka gabudadia-l -kofa

Bo i ya nan dai nye che, wadanga

kua dafafu ne

L emu da ka kawo man i banuuanu ba ne

Yara nan lalatatu ne, da sunasamari akakial i su ,

shi ne ya sa

rubutatu -n -ta

Ya damra fi t ila juyaya a b i saadaka

Zakara ya zamna adaki matache

A t Kano are many wri tten books

Do not go to the chi ef unt i l you see

hi s door op en

Thi s yam i s fresh thos e howeverare cooked

The l imes you brought me are notr ip e

Thes e boys are corrup ted , whenthey were young they were ne

gl ee ted ; that i s wha t caus ed i tHe has t i ed the lamp on the box

up s i de downThe cock lay i n the room dead

VERBAL ADVERBS

These are formed from the verb stem wi th the prefi x“ a

,

” whi ch may perhaps be the preposi t ion “on , and

the fi nal vowel i s changed to e ,”as

Abude from budu op enAdarime damre t i edAfalke falka wakedA fi fi ke fi fi ka flownAfure fura ki nd ledAfuche futa res t edAbad i e hade

Amanche

swal lowed Arataye

Ajefe from j efa thrownAkafe kafa fas ten edAkwanche kwan ta la i d downAkunche kunch e loosedAmache mutu dead

manta forgottenrataya hung


Za i s the reverse of zo , come, and so means go.

Yaka yaki (f . ) come hereYaku

0

come here (p lu . ) jImp erat i v e

nfi Jekl (f‘ )33 Imp erat i v e

Je i s also u sed in the ordinary way preceded bythe pronoun

Zani Kano I go, or wi l l go, to Ka noNa b iku har wuri nda zaku I wi l l fol low you to the p lace you

are go i ng toKe je ki Go thou ! (f. )Ni ma za en je u i en rama ab i nda A nd I wi l l go and revenge myself

ubana ya yi m i n i on my fatherYa. tafi ya je sari Oban He wen t and ki l l ed hi s father

IMPERSONAL VERBS

There are two impersonal verbs in Hau sa “akoi

(akw01) and“ wai (wae ) .

Akwoi

Akwoi means there i s . There i s no change for tense ,t ime being indi cated by adverbs

Tun a mafar i akoi Al lah God has been s i nce the begi nn i ngor There i s a God ever s i nce thebegi nn i ng

Sometimes the 3rd personal pronoun plural follows inan swer to a quest i on , as Akwoi su There are.

Akwoi su dayawa , ba arasas u There are p l en ty, they are not

want i ng

Wai (wae)

Wai ya che , he says . I t i s always used when thespeaker i s not speak i ng on hi s own authori ty . I t i s not

uni versal ly interchangeable wi th ya che .

”

Wai ku tafi He says you mus t go or you areto go

Wan i yaro ya 20 wai shi Audu A cer ta i n boy has come, he says hei s Audu

NOTE—M i l ler says thi s i s a Zari a i di om.

VERB 157

of impersonal verbs may al so beof the noun “ saura ,

”

Saura kadan muu gama aiki nmu I n a short time we shal l fin i sh ourwork

Saura kwana uku I n three days or There i sdays

Yi

The verb yi i s O ften used as an impersonal verb .

Ya y i kusa It i s n ear

S ee i n chapt er on i d i oms under y i

CHAPTER V I

ADVERBS

ADVERBS may be di vided as foll ows

1. Place .

2. Time .

3 . M ann er .

4 . Affi rmat i on and Negat i on .

5 . Interrogat i on .

Most adverbs are ei ther compound words made upwholly or partly from other part s of speech , or , in regardto adverbs of place in part i cular , some nouns are usedwi thout any change Of form .

There are some words whi ch are c lassed under adverbsof mann er and t ime Of wh i ch i t i s hard to dec ide whetherthey are not better classed as con junct i ons , a doubt whi chi s equall y common to other West Afri can languages .

Some West Afri can languages , among whi ch may bement i oned Yoruba , Efe , and M ende have long l i sts ofin tensi tive adverbs . These words are very commonlyattached to certain verbs alone , and cannot be used w i thother verbs . Hausa i s qu i te defi ci ent in thi s respect , butseeing that many of these intensit i ves have an approximat ion to the root of the verb to whi ch they are at tachedwhen needed , i t may be assumed that they are derivedfrom that verb . I f that be confi rmed ,

a germ Of the

same idea li es in Hausa in the use of the neuter formending in u

” foll owing the principal verb (see underdi vi si on of verbs) .


Shi na nana He i s hereBa shi nan He i s not here20 nan Come hereAje b i nd iga nan Put the gun hereBa shi daga nan He i s not hereTumaki duka suna nan Ba eu Are al l the sheep here They areduka nan ba not al l here

M i zaki y i nana What wi l l you (f. ) do hereDaga chan na gani abi -n-mameki There I saw a wonderfu l thi ng

Note' that the adverb p recedes for emp has i s

Daga nan muka tashi , muka i ssa From there we started (and)nana we reached here

Daga wuri -n -nan There or from there or from thatp lace

Daga nan har chan From here to thereDaga chan har nan From there to hereAboki na shi na (or yana ) nan M y fri end i s hereTun yanshe kana nan zamuc How long have you been s i tti ng ( or

l i vi ng) here ?NOTE.

— If wur i -n -nan were used i t would fol low zamuc

S una nan zamne da shi They are s i tti ng there wi th himI na tamaha kwanaki shi da daga I thi nk i t i s s i x days from here to

nan zua ga Bornu Bornu

Tare

M utans duka suna tafi a tare A l l the p eop l e are travel l i ng together

Tare i s di s ti n c t from tari very many

Enda, wuri nda

S uka tambaye sa enda ( or wur They asked him where hi s motheri nda ) uwasa ta ke was

Enda ha l i , mun i keao ne ; enda Where there i s character unfavourba ha l i ba , keao mun i ne abl e app earanc e coun ts for(prov erb ) nothi ng ; where there i s no

charac ter good looks are of no

avai lBa enda ban tafi be There i s nowhere I have not beenTafi enda zaka Go to your des ti nati on

N i sa, da n i sa , etc .

Bature shi na nisa tukun The Europ ean i s sti l l ar ofl'

Bature ba shi n i sa The Europ ean i s not arNa gan

’shi daga n i sa I saw him afar off

Ya tsaya daga n isa He stood afar ofi

ADVERB 161

Kadan ku tafi n i sa daga garemu ,If you go far away from us , do not

kada ku shi da ni sa daga uban encamp farfrom your p aren tss uku

M u tafi wuri da ni sa Let u s go to a far p laceBan gan

’su ba, suna da n i sa I have not seen them , they are a

long way (

ffi

Rua n i sa ya ke daganan The water i s ar from hereDengi na sun tafi n i sa duk’ sun M y coun trymen have gon efar away ,rabu da ui they have a l l p arted from me

Ya y i ni sa It i s farSuna tafi a sun y i n i sa They wen t a long way

Kusa, da kusa, etc .

Shi no kusa garen i He i s n ear meN0TE. Ku sa gare rea l ly makes a p rep os i ti on .

Ba ka gani ba ya kusa gareka You do not see he i s n ear youYa kusa ch i ka da rua It i s n early fu l l of waterShi na kusa da shi He i s n ear him. (Prep os i t i on here )Shi na kusansa He i s n ear him. (Noun here )Daga ku sa From n earGa shi tsakan i n kulkusa S ee him i n the mi ddl e very clos eKusa da juna Clos e to each otherYa kusa mutua He was n early deadRan i ya kusa zakua The dry s eason i s n earRana ta kusa fadowa The sun i s n early s etti ng

ya kusa karewa Hi s work i s n early fin i shedYa kusa fadua He almos t fel l

The last fi ve examples show that the fact that kusai s always a noun i s not lost sight Of. The succeeding verb takes a noun form (in wa and kusa and

the verb are thus two nouns in apposi ti on

Ya y i kusa It i s n ear ( not he i s near )Ku y i kusa Come near

Koenna, wuri duka

Al lah shi na koenna . Allah shi na God i s everywherewuri duka

Koenna sun sha gia sun koshi Wherever they dr i nk beer, they getdrunk

Koenna ka tafi Al lah shi nana Wherever you go God i s there

Dabara,daura

Su jeru da ida i ba na so su tsaya Let them fal l i n p rop erly. I do

daura da j una not wan t them to s tand one

( s l i ght ly ) i n fron t of anotherL


Gaba, bayaSuna tafi a gaba i na bi nsu daga They are walki ng i n front, I ambaya fol lowi ng them behi nd

K i wu che gaba, rua-n -M ad ina Pass on , the water of M edi na i sba kusa ba not near

Ba shi iya shi dauki kayansa He cannot carry hi s load onnan gaba

Bi sa, kasa , kalkas , etc.

Shi na daga b isa, n i ne daga He i s on top , I am underneathkalkas

Ya shi do daga b i sa He came down from aloftKadan ka kai shi b i sa , ka kawo When you have carr i ed i t up , br i ng

shi kasa i t down agai nKai b i sa Carry i t upTai nya shi ! shi dauka kaya a Help him to carry i t upb i sa

M u fad i kasa We fel l downZamna kasa S i t downKu aje kasa Put i t downS afko kalkas daga i tache Come down from the tree

WajeYa fi to waj e He came ou ts i de

Waje might equal ly wel l be cal l ed a noun here i n theobjective cas e after fi to

Sun fi ta waj e sun yi yaki They wen t outs i de and fought a

battl e

Tsakan i

Aje tsakan i Put i t between

Chi ki

M uka samu yara suna wori gi Wefound some boys p lay i ng i ns i dedaga chiki

Sa chiki Put i t i ns i de

Gangare. Us e d w i th hi l lsGangare duchi A cross the moun ta i ns

Ketare use d w i th wat er as we l l as land

K etare gul bi -n -nan A cross thi s r iverKetare chan That s i deKetat e duchi Over the rock


Daganan thereupon(Yanshe When .

9 see i nt errogat ive adv erbs )Koyaushe at any t ime, i mmed i ately, alwaysSaa-nan , l otu -nan , l okachi -nan , now,

thes e dayszaman i -nan , kwanaki -nan

Saa duka , l oka ch i duka , l otu at any t imeduka

Wan i l otu another timeTundadewa (S ) long s i nceBadewa long s i nceDadai ever. Usuall y w i th negat iv e ;

neverDa wuri , Dauri (S ) of old, formerlyDa far i (S ) at firs tChi ki n da -farko (K ) at firs tDa safe early morn i ngDa mareche at even i ngDa dere at n i ghtZama - zama after a l i ttl e t imeS O dayawa often , many times+Baya ga after. (Prep . real ly )Baya -n -wannan after thi sTAgaba i n fron tGaba ma later on , i n the fu tu reNan gaba hencefor th, i n fu tureGaba da i a (S ) at onceBaki da i a (K )

Kuma , agai n , more , al s oD e ri v ed from koma , to return

ZO kuma Come aga i nBabu ni sa kuma No fartherBa n i da ku rd i dayawa kuma I have no more money at al lA -kan -

y i- su da kasa , a -kan -

y i They are made of earth, they aresu da i tache kuma made of wood also

Wan i l okachi za -a-

yenka sa a When wi l l they ki l l a bul l aga i n i nkasua kuma the market

Audu ya yi sata ; M ahma ya y i Audu has s to len M ahma has al sosata kuma stolen . (Thi s d oes not imp ly

that M ahma has stol en agai n ,

i .e. , a s e c ond t ime )

Kana , kan , kanda . S ee also bel ow under before

Kana u i kan tafi u i kan ch i Then I used to go, I us ed to eat

tu ona_my food

Bai eri na gan i sariki , kana F i rs t I saw the chi ef, then the

galadi ma , da karshe sari ki -n m i n i s ter, lastly the head butcherpawa

ADVERB 165

Hari o ya ki rani so-bi u , kana na Agai n he cal l ed me twi ce , then Ianswered

I na son Al lah, kana aboki na I love God before ( then ) my fr i endKan eu gama Before they have don eKanda ta rabika (p o et i c ) Before i t p art youKanda na je daga nan Before I go from here

Dada=Kana

Suka fi de nama dada suna b i da They ski nned the an imal , then theyn -wuta (began ) to lookforfi re

Kami n

Kam i n rua shi taso Before the ra i n s tartedSai ka shi ria kam i n na zo You mus t get ready by the time I

comeShiga daki kam i n masugayya Go i n to the room before the ass em

su zo blage comes

Har rana ta fadi Un ti l the sun s etsHar yao Un t i l to-dayYana tafi a har yanzu ; ba ya He was travel l i ng un t i l now, he

gama ba did not meet himTsaya har ya tafi Wa i t ti l l he has gon eKa j i ra ui har en zaka Wai t t i l l I comeYa tambaye ta her so uku He asked her three t imesYa j i ra harruaye eu zuba kasa He wa i ted un ti l the rai n came ( li t

Waters p our on the earth)Na rike as iri n nan har ga I have kep t thi s secret u nti l now

yanzu ( yao ) ( to -day)Kada ka ma i de mani dana bar You n eed not return my son to me

na gamu da kai daga chiki -n un ti l I meet you i n the otherlakhi ra world

Har i oHari o mutume -n -uan , ko ubanta, Aga i n the same man ,

or p erhap s i tya zaka ya mai shi eta was her father, came (and) made

her return

S ee examp l e under kana

Tun bara S i nce las t yearTun da safe S i nce morn i ngTun jia bawa shi ke, amma yao Only esterday he was a s lave, butda ne todby he i s free


Tun a mafari eko i A l lah God has been s i nce the begi nn i ng( li t . , S i nc e i n the begi nn i ng therei s God)

Ubanka yana da rai ? Aa, ya I s your father al ive ? No, he hasmu tu tun i na yaro been dead ever s i nce I was a boy

Ku tuba tun ba ku mutu ba Rep en t before you di eTun da S i n ce a long ti me back. Thi s i s

di st i nct from tunda , whi le ,etc.

Tun daakoi daki From thefirs t there has been a hut

(here)Tun da babu sai Allah From thebegi nn i ng nothi ng but God

Comp are “ tun a mafar i above

Tunda= tun lokachi nda

Tun da n i ke, kulum na fad i Ever s i nce I was born ( l i t . , I was )gaski a I have always sp oken the tru th

Tunda ankahai fen i ban ga bature Ever s i nce I was born I have n everba seen a whi te man

Tunda, whi l eTunda suna chika bi ndi gansu Whi ls t they are loadi ng the i r gun sdori na ta tafi n i sa the hipp op otamus wen t far away

I na son chi tuona da safe tunda I want to eat my food i n the earlyba shi y i ba sainyi morn i ng before i t gets cold

Tunda ba shi kare maganansa Before he had fin i shed talki ngTun da ya mutu birni ya zama S i nce he di ed the ci ty has becomewofi desolate

Tun i,tun tun i , tundadewa. The last i s a stronger form

Ya tafi Kano tuni He has already gone to KanoNa rabu da gi da tuni I l eft home long ago

Na y i shi tuntuni I did i t very long ago

Kari fi tara ne, antafi makaranta I t i s n i n e o’c lock, everybody has

tuni gon e to school long ago

Ka shimfi da tufa tun i Have you sp read the cloth yet ?Ka t oya gurasa tuni 7 Have you baked bread recen tlyI na j i ra-n -ka tundadewa I have been wai t i ngfor you a long

t imeYa mutu tundadewa He d i ed long s i nce

Tukuna, as yet ; not yet ( i n n egat i v e s ent enc es)Abi nchi ya kare ? Tukuna , ba I s the food ( l i t . , fin i shed) ready ?ya nuna ba sara i Not yet, i t i s not p rop erly cooked

Ban chi kom i ba tukuna I have not eaten anythi ng yetBa ya 20 ba tukuna He has not come yet


Da suka dauka abu duka chiki When they had taken everythi ngn—gari sun sa wuta of the town they set fire to i t

Da safi a ya yi muka tashi When i t was dayl ight we s tartedDa mareche ya y i When i t was even i ngDa gari ya way e When the dawn had come

S aanda, (S aa’da) lokachi nda, lotuuda,

wokachi nda-when ( relat iv e )

Saanda na samu dama When I am betterLotunda na tashi ba na ] 1 lafi a When I s tarted I did not feel wel lba

Kun zo da safi nga‘

? I , muka D i d you come this morn i ng ? Yes ,zo , amma kwanaki nda muka we came, but when we came youzo kana karatu were r eadi ng

S aa-nan , lotu -nan , lokachi -nan , zaman i -nan , kwanaki -nan ( or saa

n -nan , at that t ime

Lotu nan i na tamaha shekarata I thi nk I was eleven years of age

sha dai a thenSaa nan M usa ya tafo Then M usa came

AlsoDaga rana nan anasukua-n -doki On that day there were horse racesda anabuga b i ndiga and shoot i ng

Wan i lotu, etc .

Wani l otu shi kan kawo labari S omet imes he br i ngs good n ews,nagari , da wan i l otu mugu sometimes bad

Karske

(S ee exampl e under Kana

Yao, gobe , ji a, etc. Usual ly at begi nn i ng of s enten c es

Yao ba mu tafi ba makaranta Tod ay we di d not go to schoolJia na ji labari da ui ke so To -day I heard the news I l i ked

Ananan

Anauan da safe After that, i n the morn i ng

ADVERB 169

Yanzu ,

Yanx'

u-

yanzu

Hal ya zua yanzu

Ya che Batur e shi tafo yanzu

Koyanzu na yi koda na gap

Koyanzu na tafi Lokoja

Koyaushe

I na tunawa koyaushe I am always remember i ng i t

Dada i

S ee other ways of expres s i ng n ev er und er n ev er .

M u tume kama -n -wannan dada i I have n ever seen a man l ike thi sban gani ba

Bako gari ba ka zo dada i ba A s trange c i ty to whi ch you haven ever before come

Dada i ban gan i ba anadafa I n ever saw dates cooked before

Ban y i sata dadai I have n ever stolen

Nan da nan . (Usua lly i n narrat i on )Ka y i sh i nan da nan Do i t at once

Daganan

Daganan sariki yache After that, or thereup on , the ki ngsa i d

Bawur i , daur i

Na 31 magana nan dawuri I have heard that before

(S ee exampl e under kana

Da safe, da mareche, etc. , p o i nts of t ime . Da i s the

prep os i t i on w i th

M uka tashi da dere We start ed at n ightI na tamaha sun a ike wadansu I thi nk they sen t some p ersons awrydaga chiki -n -dere nan dur i ng the n ight

Gob e da safe mu tashi To-morrow we s tart

Koyanzu

Now at onceUp t i l l nowHe sa i d, Let the whi t e man comeat once

I wi ll do ( i t) at on ce though I amti red

Just now I go to Lokoja


Zama-zama or sama -sama

Ban 11 ba sai sama - sama I on ly heard a l i ttl e

Baya ya (a p repos i t i on i n real i ty )

Daga baya ga wannan thi sBaya ga beri -n-

gidansa leavi ng homeBaya ga mutua-r-kanuata na 11 the death of my younger s i s terlabari -n -yaki I heard rumours of war

A gaba

A l lah ya sa kwanaki nsa agaba God prolonged hi s l ife

Gaba ma

Gaba-ma Shi zama da Later he wi l l be freeGaba -ma i na da kurd i I n the fu ture I shal l have

money

Nan gaba

Nan gaba ba kana kara Henceforth do not do i t agai n

Gaba-da i a,baki -da i a, gabadai

M asukaya eu zO gaba dai a , ba The carr i ers mus t al l come together,dai a dai a ba not one by one

Kana gan i dari suna tafi a gabadai You mi ght see hundreds walki ngabout at one time

Dom i ba ka zo wuri na gabadaia Why did you not come to me atbe once

Ku beri ataru atafi gaba dai a Let them assemble and go all

togetherBaki dai a mu tashi We wi ll s tart all at once

Idi omati c expressions and ci rcumlocut i on .

Some adverbs of t ime in Engli sh may in Hausa beexpressed idi omat i cally

,or a ci rcumlocut ion may be

adopted . There may also , however, be a corresponding


Whi ls t

Wa zaya yerda wan i ya chi Who wi l l agree to another’s taki ng

sarota tasa , shi ko yana da rai hi s ki ngdom whi ls t he i s s t i l l al i ve

S ee under p repos i t i on chi ki -n

Dufu ya y i kusa It wi l l soon be dark. (Li t Darkn ess makes n ear)

S undry Exp ress i ons of Time

Dare -n -

Jl aansache kaya guda On the p revious n ight a load was

s to lenYao kwana uku ban chi kom i It i s now three days s i nce I haveba eaten anything

Daga chiki -n -shekara nan I n that yearS un yi masa ai ki kwana shi da They worked for him s i x or threekO uku days

Kadan sun kwana dere uku ko When they had s tayed three or fourfudu n ights

M uka zamna daganan kwanaki We remai ned there many daysdayawa

Gobensa (= gobe -n -sa) On the n ext dayYao shekara -n -mu '

goma sha bi ar I have had that jar for exactlyda ui da buta nan fifteen years

3 . ADVERBS OF M ANNER

Those marked are also used as con juncti ons .

Bal e (S ) , bal e - i a (S ) , barshema

(K ) , balantana bal

anta , barshe (K ) much more, much l essDai dai p rop er ly, equa l ly , together,

formlyDa ia -ne ready, comp l etelyDaki r , deke t wi th difi ‘icu l tyDol e (S )= t i las (K ) wi th forceFache much l ess , however fa and

to be

Gaya (K ) = kwarai exactlyGi rshi sudden lyHaka , hakanan so

Halama p erhap s

ADVERB 173’

Kama ( noun ) , kamada , kamanda*KO

Kokaka

Kwara i (S )

p rop erlyTar1 many . (A noun= abundance)Ti las (K ) wi th forceWada (S ) , yada (K ) , awa (Zanf) how, the manner i n whi ch

of n ecess i tyWataki la p erhap s

Bal e , etc.

Na y i murna doki da ia bal e i a I rejo i ced for one hors e mu ch moreover two

Ba ya tafi M asar ba bal e M akka He di d not go to Egyp t much l essto M ecca

Bal e fa mu dada It i s mu ch better for us to wai t

Da idai

Thi s i s possi bly not the same word as “ daidai acontract i on of daia dai a

M a i da tana mot s i , ba ta tsaya The tabl e moves i t does not s tanddai da i ba even ly

S una gi na dakuna b i u daida i They bu i ld two houses a l i keBan ji da i da i ha I did not hear correc tly

Da i a ne (= i t i s one, un i ty )

S un yi aiki nsu da ia no They di d thei r work comp letely

Daki r , daket

Dakir na samu hainya I found the road wi th difi icu lty

alonea l i ttl e (al so an adj e ct i v e )how, l ike aseven . S ee under con jun ct i onsanyhowexactly, p rop er lyi n any cas e, of n eces s i ty

, of a suretythen , do ! A c ommand Of urgen cyqu i cklya lone, excep t, etc . Al so prepos it i on and conjunct i on

excep t


Caya (K ) kwarai

Ya gudu gaya He ran wel l

Gi rshi

Girshi na gan i kura S uddenly I saw the hycena

Girshi ya mutu S udden ly he di ed

Gara haka or Guma hakaHaka shi ke

KO ba haka ba

Ya che hakaI na fada maka haka shi ke

Wan i i ri -n -sanda ke nan

nany i haka ?Haka da girima

Hakanan

Hakanen shi ke It i s so ( in reply to a quest i on )Nan da nan ya mutu , ash e ! i i , He di ed immedi ately ; ah, yes , thathakanen ne i s so

Halama

M u nem i halama muu samu Let us look, p erhap s we shal l fi nd i t

Kamada, kamanda (Kama -n )I na fada maka kamada akey i shi I wi l l tel l you how i t was doneObangiji ya bashi ya komo The Lord gran t ed to him that hekamanda shi ke da shou ld become as he was before

The noun kama , from whi ch kamanda i s made up (kaman-da ) , i s us e d w i th an adv erb ial s ens e w i th the c opulat i v e n

Yare ya y i kama-n -uwansa The boy i s l i ke hi s motherDa rana ta fara tas hi i na gan i nta When the sun began to r i s e I sawkama -n tana fi ta daga chiki n i t as though i t was comi ng out ofgul b i the sea

Kama -n ya shi ga gari As he en ters the townKama -n ba eu san ka ba A s if they did not know you

Ko (see c onj unct i ons also )

Ban gani kO daia ha I have not seen even one

HakaBetter soI t i s so. ( I n rep ly to a qu est i onor as a sort Of punctuat i on i n asp e e ch)

Or i s i t not so (Use d at end of

qu est i on )He sai d so (or thus )I tel l you i t i s so

da What ki nd of s ti ck i s thi s , i t i s so

heavyS o big


Sai anjima

Sai anjrma kadanSai lafi a

Salbarka z ? sai albarkaSai gai sua

Sai ambi dekaSai ankwana b iu

Sai kada dai a na gan iSai ka dawoBabu bawa ko dai a daga chiki

n -

gi da sai uiSai ubana ya che man iKafa -ta duka sai j i n iSai mutume dai a akesashi yahawa b i sa. i tache

Ya che masa sai ya aika wurin

fisariki -n -S okoto ya tambay’

s 1

Ya che man i babu kom i sai

lafi a

Shi ne, shi ke shaka azaba-nlakhira ; sai ya gamu da wutaya kan che kai tero (p o etry )

En ba ka da kurd i ba ka dakomi , sai kare

Ab i nda ki keso sai en baki

S a idai

M un ki ra ka sai dai ba ka j imu We called but you did not hearba

S anu . S ee also under salutat i ons

Ya tafi sanu (sanu sanu ) He went slowly (very s lowly)

S ara i

Ya y i magana sara i He sp eaks correctly

Ti las (a noun by ori gin)Kama shi t i las S e i ze him by forceAmma ka sha rua nan da t i las But you dr i nk thi s water from

n ecess i tyYa ki zakua, don wannan ya sa He refus ed to come so he forcedshi t i las him to

Good-bye for the p res en t . (Li t . ,

ti l l you have wai ted )Wa i t a l i ttl e. I n a l i ttl e whi l eQu i te wel l . A rep ly salu tati onNothi ng but thanks . No thankyouNothi ng but thanks . Li t . , onl y as alu tat i on

(Wa i t ) t i l l you are s en t forGood-bye for an i ndefin i te t imeLi t . , Un ti l you have s lep t twi ce

I saw on ly one crocodi l eUn ti l you returnThere was not a s i ngl e s lave i n thehous e excep t me

Bu t my father sai d to meM y feet were nothi ng but bloodOn ly one man was made to c l imbthe tree

He sa i d to him he mus t s end andask the ki ng of S okoto firs t

He sai d nothi ng to me excep t thatal l was wel lHe i t i s he doubts the p a i ns of hel l .Wai t t i l l he meets thefire and hewi l l say, A las I

If you have no mon ey you havenothi ng, you are on ly a dog

A nythi ng you (f. ) l i ke I wi l l give i tyou

ADVERB 177

Ya kamata maihankal i da dere A p ruden t man ought to s tay atzamna wuri dai a , shi home at n i ght. He should not go

wo sai t i las , ko wan i ya out excep t forced to , say, by someko wani ya ki raka t i las body dy i ng or cal l i ng you im

p eratively

Tar i (a noun )Turawa suna tara soja gabas da Thewhi te men are col lecti ngsoldi ersKukawa tari tari eas t of Kuka i n vast numbers

Wataki la

Wotaki la obanka shi zo kuwa Perhap s your father wi l l come too

Waji b

WaJi b mu do hai yasu (poetry) We ought to take the i r road

Wada, yada, awa (thes e are nouns )Yada ankay i zan i fada maka How (= the way) i t was don e I wi l l

tel l youKa i ya gaya m i ni yada mutume Are you abl e to tel l me how thi s

n -nan ya mutu man di ed

Formati on of Certa i n Adverbs

adverbs are formed from adject ives in Engl i shadd it i on of the suffi x ly .

”InHausa correspond

ing adverbs—whi ch may also equally be adject i ves— are

formed from nouns wi th the preposi t i on “ da ,”wi th.

The following are a few

morn i ng

Da ni sa

Da gaski a tru ly Da hankal i care u l lyDa awa many Da wuri of o dDa ari fi p owerfu l ly Da kafa on footDa dadi p leasan t ly Da gudu w i th runn i ngBagushi da kari fi Beat him we l lYa tah da kafa He wen t on foot


The use as adverbs of s imple adjecti ves or others ofdi fferent format i on from the foregoing i s not unknown

Ya fi ta nagari He has turned out wellEnda ya shi ga duka ka b i shi Wherever he en ters you fol low himEnda zaka duka a duni a Wherever you go i n the world

There i s also the use of the intrans i t i ve verb form .in

u , usually in the 3rd person . I t accompan i es i ts

parent verb ,and i s probably an indi cat i on of the ori gin

of those inten si t i ves in other languages , so many of whi chhave the same root as the verb they accompany

Adamreshi shi damru Ti e i t t ight

Other examples are given under the verb .

There are some adverbs in Engli sh,such as “ very ,

too much , etc . , whi ch are rendered in Hausa in avari ety of ways

Very

By R edup l i cat i on

Fari fari , very whi te M aza maza , very qu i cklyKadan kadan , very l i ttle

Wi th c ol ours the s econd part may be mod i fied .

Fari -fet , fet -fet (S ) very whi teFari fer, fer-fer (K )Lafi a lau or lau-lau very wel lJa-wur, wur-wur very redBaki ki ri n , ki ri n -ki ri n very blackUwata tana da ra i amma ta M y mother i s al i ve but she i s verytsofa da gaske old

S ee also examp l es under kwarai .

Too, too muchNa fay e chi I ate too muchNa ch i na fai fayc

Qu i ckly

Kada ka dedi ka y i hanzeri Do not delay , make has teEn ka komo da saml i em baka If you come back qu i ckly I wi l llada give you a reward


Fadawa sunka che, la, ba ka be. The counc i l lors sa i d, No, do not

shi give i t himBa ab i nda zan chi There i s nothi ngfor me to eat

Ba i s somet imes used as a negat ive form ofi nterrogat i on

Ka j i ba Do you not hear

Somet imes one“ ha i s omi tted , especi al ly if several

cc - ordinate sentences fol low each other

Ba u i da kurd i , ba n i da kari fi ba If I have no money I am p owerless

Babu

Wi th pronouns i s often i nterchangeable wi th ba

Babu kom i or ba kom i baBa kowa or babu kowaBabu kowa da ya y irda da shiBabu n i saBabu ruanka ( i d i om )Babu ab i nda kana i ya y iBabu mai tafi a ga r i j i a da dcreBabu mu tum da ya taya masaBa ab i nda babuBabu daiansu or babu dai a

chiki nsu

Da babu wawa gara da wawa(prov erb)

Kom i ya bache hankur i a babuor ne babu (prov erb )

Don babu na uwansu chiki

Examp le of babu for ba wi th Verb

S ariki nan babu shi da da That ki ng had no son

En ka tafi babu i na gaferta maka If you go I wi l l not p ardon youM unche masu, mu babu zamu We sa i d to them, We wi l l not dr i nk

sha non o wurinku mi lk wi th you

Nothi ng at al lNobodyTher e i s no onewho bel i eved i n himNot farIt does not concern youThere i s nothi ng you can doNo one goes to the wel l at n ightNo one help ed himThere i s nothi ng shortNot one of them

I t i s better to own a fool thannothi ng

Everythi ng goes wrong wherep ati ence i s wan ti ng

Becaus e the i r mother’s (food) wasnot amongs t the other (di shes offood)

ADVERB 181

5. INTERROGATIVE ADVERBS

Kaka (K ) How I n what manner .9 Thi s word i s

not c oup l e d wi th other adv erbs as i n theEngl i sh phrases, How far Hows oon 7

As (8 ) HowYaushe WhenTun yanshe ‘

t S i nce whenWan i l okachi What time .

9

Nawa How many How muchDom i (= do -n-mi ) Why 5

’ On accoun t of what .9

Gari -n -mi 7 Why 49 On accoun t of what ?Ba

‘

2 Not (S ee und er Affirmat iv e andNegat iveadverbs .)WhereWhenc e

Kaka, A a

Kaka ka he ‘

I Kaka ki ke How are you (m . or f. )Kaka i yal i nka How i s your fami lyKaka sunanka What i s your nameDa kaka zaka tafi a yaki babu And how wi l l you go to war wi thfadawa no ofi icers .

9

Ka an i kaka su yi gi na ga Do you see how they di g underka kashi - n -kasa ground ? (Kaka i s not d i re ctly

i nt errogat iv e here . )Kaka zan y i cn sam i wannan How shal l I be abl e to fi nd thi smashi ? sp ear ?

Yaushe (usual ly wi th pres ent and future)Yanshe ka zo nan When di d you come hereYanshe sar iki sh ina gi da When wi l l the chi ef be at homeYanshe zamu tafi a When shal l we go 1’

Tunyaushe

Tunyaushe barao ya beri gari S i ncewhen has the thi ef teft the town

Wan i lokachi al so wan i saa ? wan i lotuWani l okachi zaayenka sa a Wha t time wi l l they ki l l a cow i n

kasua kuma the market agai n ?

Nawa

Yaro nan shekarunsa nawa How old i s thi s boyNawa How old i s thi s horse 7Guda nawa 1 How many t’


Nawa nawa How much eachKwo i guda nawa na sayerua ne 7 How many eggs are there for sal eNawa nawa anasayerua How much are they sold for each .

9

Nawa anasayesda su How much are they al lKu nawa kuka tafi wuri -n -sata How many of you wen t to the p lace

where the thef t tookp lac e

Domi , don mi

Dom i ka che haka Why do you say so .9

Dom i ka zo Why have you come

Gari nm i

Gari -n -mi sunka bache Why are they los t ?

Enna

Enna shi ke Enna ta kc Where i s he .9 Where i s she

Daga enna kun tafo Where have you come fromEnna ka fi to Where have you come fromEnna hankali nka Where i s your s ens eEnna danka Where i s your sonEnna zaka Where are you goi ngEnna ka ke Wher e are youEnna kana zemn e Where are you s tayi ngEnna hainya-r-

gi da Whi ch i s the way home .9

Enna marab i n wannan da What i s the d ifferenc e between thi swanchan ‘

2 and thatBabu marab i tsakan i nsu There i s no difference between themKa tambayesa, Enna uwasa A sk him where hi s mother i sEnna sunanka (= kaka sunanka) What i s your nameEnna ruanka da wannan What have you got to do w i th that ?Enna azenchi -n -wannan What does thi s mean

For Adverbs . I nterrog.

How

Bes i d es b e i ng translat e d by nawa or kamada vari ousc i rcuml ocu t i ons are n ec essary to r epres ent thi s Engl i sh word

Daga Kano zua Kats i na na da I s i t farfrom Kano to Kats i na ?n i sa

Daga nan ki ngi -n-mu (or, saura How long before we reach the

n-mu ) nawa mu i ssa Kwara Kwara (Niger) ? Howmany weeks


1 Gaba -n i n front of1 Baya-n behi ndTsaka-r (also tsaka -n i n m i ddl e ofTsakani -n between

1 Chiki -n i n1Woj e -n bes i de, ou ts i de of , towardsShi ya-l (S )A baki -n i n exchange forKama -r (Kama -n l i keKusa -r (kusa-n n ear. S ee also ‘5Kusa daGu -n to, at the p lace of

1Wuri -nBi giri

-n (K ) i ns tead ofGurbi -n (Zani )M aimaki -n (S )Tamka -r l i keBatu-n wi th reference toKafi -n

Oomp Prepos i ti ons formed wi th da, wi th

Bam-da differen t fromDabara da i n fron t of and n ear one anotherDaura daGam i da together wi thKusa da near toTare da together wi thS aba -da on accoun t of

Other Comp ound Prep os i ti ons

Daga from

Thi s preposi ti on can be combin ed wi th many others , as ,Daga chikin for chikin ,

”etc . , etc .

A , at , on

M uka b eri kaya-mu a wani gari We have l eft our loads at anothertown

Tafi a a hankal i S low travell i ngAhmadu ya samu m iki a hanu Ahmadu has a bo i l on hi s right

n -dama handTun a mafari akei All ah God has been s i nc e the begi nn i ngDa sunka ketare dai a, b i u , a When they had crossed one, two, at

na-uku sunka i ssa wuri -n -kasa the thi rd they reached dry landM i ku ke y i a

-nan What are you do i ng there 1?

1 A=on , may or may not be prefixed to thes e .

PREPOS ITIONS 185

Azabal al lahu a rana -l - lakhira The p a i ns of God on the day ofjudgmen t

Na tura mu tum a rua I p ushed the man i nto the waterYa fad i a ma Hefel l i n to the waterYa fada rua (Rob i nson ) Heflung hims elf i n to the waterHa lbi a wuts ia ya fi kuskure To hi t the tai l i s better than to m i ss(prov erb )

Ya fi eu duka a dauka-n -kaya Hewas better than they al l i n carryi ng a load

Ya koma a chan a Bornu He returned yonder to BornuDa ankasheka a banza You wou ld have been ki ll ed for

nothi ng

Da, w i th. Al so by, of, etc .

I ns trument

Ya buge shi da bulala He beat him wi th a whipYa yenke shi da wuka He cut i t wi th a kn ifeKa chi ka shi da rua F i l l i t w i th water

A c compani ment

Tafi da shi Take him away or go wi th himYa 20 da shi He brought him or came wi th himS un sai dan i da kelow i They sold me to the Kelowi , i .e. ,

they traded me wi th the Kelowi

Poss ess i on ( see also und er aux i l i ary v erb )

S una da bi nd iga They have a gunBa mu da ab i nchi We have no foodI na da shi and Ni ke da shi I have i tEn ba ka da da , ba ka da fari If you have no son you have no

n -chi ki happ i n essI na da kafa ( i d i omat i c ) I have a (bad ) leg

M annerTafo da gudu Come qui ckly, i .e. , come runn i ngDa mi akany i su Of what are they made

M i sc e llane ous other Examp l es

Ta fada man i da Hausa S he told me i n HausaM i n e da Bugl ix What i s i t i n Engl i sh .

9

Na gaj i da sakua b i sa rakumi I was t i red o r i d i ng on the camelKa yi hankal i da duni a Be careful o the worldS uns. fada da mutane chiki -n They were fighti ng wi th the p eop lekasua i n the market

Ka gai mani da ubanka S alu te your father for me


Da dad i -n -ch i

Sun ki ra ni da sunana , or , sun yiki rana

Sai da nono -n -mache anasayensa

Da babu wawa gara da wawa(prov erb )

Ya che da shiNa lura‘ da bal i nkaKu y i kama da sarikiYa komo da bayaBan san i da guba a chiki ba

Ka yi murna da gan i -n -ubankaKare ka mutu da baushi -n -kura(prov erb )

I na murna da gan i nka

Da i s us e d i nst ea d of daga

Kudu da Kukawa S ou th of KukawaGabas da rua sunansa Shari Eas t of the r iver cal l ed S har i

Da i s us e d i n c omparat i v e stat ements

Yao mun fi na jia da b iu To -day we have (don e) more ( than )[of] yes terday by two

Nasa ya fi nawa da shi dda Hi s exceeds mi n e by s i x

Ya fi n i da keao He was more beau t ifu l than INa fi so wannan da wannan I p refer thi s to that

Da i s u s ed w i th nouns to make adj ect i v es and adv erbs, as

Da hankal i careful or carefu l ly

G’a, to, etc.

I t i s found i n c ompany wi th other prep os i t i ons , as“ b i sa ga,

baya ga,”etc .

M ot i on

S un tafi ga wani gar i They wen t to another town

S impl e Dat i v e

Ya fadi ga sariki He sa i d to the chi efYa fadi ga shi He sai d to him. (M ore usual

ma

Ni ce to eat

They cal l ed me by my name

On ly for the breast of a woman i s

i t to be soldRather than to be wi thou t ( even ) afool , i t i s better to have a fool(wi th you )

He sai d to himI wi l l look i n to your characterYou are jus t l i ke the ki ngHe return ed backI di d not know that there was

guba”

p oi son i n i t

Are you p l eas ed to see your fatherDog, you wi l l di e of hatred to thekyana

I am p leased to see you


Only us ed before p ronouns

M utume -n-nan fari -n-

j i ki gare-i Thi s man i s p opu larS u say e eu gareku They buy them from youBature nan , shi ne za-abashi eka Thi s i s the whi te man to whom yougaresa wi l l be given

Bar, to (see also adv erbs )

Na se mutume -n -nan aboki -n I app o i n t thi s man your travel l i ngtafi a - r - ku , shi kai ku har comp an i on , he wi l l take you as

b i rni -n -Kano lafi a far as the c i ty of Kano i n safety

NOTE Bi rn i Kano i s als ofound, the two nouns bei ng i n app os i ti on .

M a, to, for

M a may be c ome mi or mu for euphony (S )Ya fada mani He sai d to meYa fada maka (m. ) maki or He sai d to youm i ki (f. )

Ya fada masa , mashi , m i shi , mai He sa i d to himYa fada mata He sai d to herYa fada mamu , mumu , muna He sa i d to us

Ya fada maku , muku He sa i d to youYa fada masu , musu He sai d to themYa fada ma sari ki He sai d to the chi efNa gode maka I thank you (formal )Kawo man i rua en sha Br i ng me water to dri nkYa gaya mani labari He told me the n ewsKada ka fada ma kowa labar i Do not tel l any one the n ews

M eani ng for

Ka rike mani Hold ( i t) for meNa dakan ta ma sar i ki I wa i ted for the chi efKa y i mani shimfi da-r-

gado Sp read my bedfor meKa gai mani da aboki nka S alu te your fr i end for meKawo mani doki Br i ng my hors eAkadaurawa masa dawaki surdi They wer e saddl i ng the horses

him

PREPOSITIONS 189

Of

Bature ya kashe masu mutum Thewhi t e man ki l l ed many of themtari da doki wi th the i r hors es

Sun kashe ma Turawa mutane They ki l l ed of the A rabs many men

Achikin wani gari anache masa I n a certa in town cal l ed Dangagarra

FromTa b i da masu magani S he sought medi c i n e from them

Wa

This is probably another form of ga compare guri

Only used before nouns , not before personal pronoun s ,and usually wi th verbs to tel l (K )

Na dakanta wa sariki I wa i ted for the chi efKada ka gaya wa kowa Do not tel l anyon eYa yenke wa sari ki kun e He cut ofi

’the chi ef s ear

Kafa r-wani ba ta y i wa wan i The foot of one man cannot wa lktafi a (prov . ) for another

S uka sa i yo wa dumme nan ba iwa They bought a s lavefor the p umpki n

Na ( 11 ; or d , m for n ) (m. )Ta ( t ; or 1, rfor t ) and modi fi ed often to any l ett er of the ofalphabet whi ch may begi n the fol low i ng word

Thi s preposi t ion i s of two genders , and that form i s usedwhi ch agrees w i th the gender of the fi rst word . If, however ,the fi rst word i s plural , the masculine form i s used .

When the short form is used , whi ch is generally the case ,i t is encli t i c to the fi rst word in enunci at i on but not in

mean ing .

1

Da-n -sa riki (dan sari ki ) The chi ef’s son

Ya- l sa riki (S ) The chi ef’s daughter

Ya r sari ki (K )Ya t sari ki

1 I n ordi nary text the n , etc . i s wri tten as part of the firs tword . Thi s work, howev er, be i ng a

(grammar, i t is n ec essary to

di st inguis h i t cl early , and so i t is joi ne i th hyphens to ea ch wordi t c onne cts .


Yaya-n -sariki The chi ef’s chi ldren

Yari ni a-t -sari ki The chi ef’s

M ata -r-sariki The chi ef’s

M ata -n -

gari The women townM ata -n -sa (for mata tasaAboki -n -tafi a-ta M y travel l i ng comp an i onDa-n -uwansa Hi s brother (becaus e danuwa

i s mas c . )Da matausa saura shi dai a A nd of hi s women (wives ) there

was l eft one to himSarari -d-dun i a ( rare ) . (Poet i c ) The p la i n of the earthDaki o d -duni a ( rare ) . (Poet i c ) Thehouse of the world (= the world )Wuta-l -ki ama . (Poet i c ) Thefi re of the day of judgmentRa-l -ki ama . (Po et i c ) The day of judgment

N i s j oined to many noun s to make preposi t i ons ,as

,

wuri -n ,

”kai -n ,

” chiki -n,

” of whi ch examples are givenlater .

I t i s us ed when adject ives precede the noun ,thereby

making them in reali ty noun s .

Baba - l -kaza for kaza baba A bi gfowl

As “ baba ends in a i t has to be treated as afemin ine word . When , however , the second word is one

of importance , especi al ly a person ,i t seems to have a

dominat ing effect upon the preposi t i on ; se

Baba -n -sar iki The big chi efBaba -n -rago The bi g ram

A lsoSabo -n -wata New moonShashi -n gar i na zani bashi I wi l l give him the half of my

ki ngdomAl lah shi baka yawa -n -ra i M ay God give you a long l ife

Yawa -r-rai is also found , and i s correct , as yawa i s

a femin in e word ; i t i s less frequent ly heard , however, notbeing so euphon i ous .

The long form i s used (1) in poetry, (2) when“na

i s the first word in the sentence, (3 ) when a pronoun

i ntervenes , (4) wi th the cardi nal numerals to form the

ordi nal , (5) for emphasi s or c learness, and (6) when the

previ ous word i s not a noun

Namu me It i s oursNa sar i ki me It i s the chi ef

’s


I f this proverb were formed like the precedin g, for ta

gaida kura ” there would be “gai sua

-r-kura .

” “ Karamban i ,

” whi ch begins the sentence , i s not continued wi th ,and “

ta pertain s to “ akwi a ”

Gaskianki You have sp oken the tru thKariansu They have l i ed

Na is somet imes found in stead of shin a . S ee

under personal pronouns .

Examp les of of omi tted

Lafi a j iki arzi ki ne Heal th of the body i s p rosp er i tyLai fi baba rowa, lai fi yaro ki awa The fau l t of age i s meann ess , the

fau l t of youth i s lazi n es sGi da b iu magani gobara (prov . ) Two houses are a remedy aga i ns t

fireYanmata gidanmu da fari baki . The daughters of our hous e haveTaberia a whi te mou th. Fufu - s ti ck.

(R i ddle ) The fufu -st i ck bei ngi n constant use w i th p oundingcorn has always i ts endwhi t en ed

Ba su chi s hi nchi kowa ba They do not eat the food of any one

Ku mutans yamma You men of the wes tM utane z i na A du l terersKwana -mu goma mu na tafi a We have been travel l i ng ten daysM uka ber i kaya -mu We have l eft our loads

Thi s seems to be common ly so when fin al a is long

Shi fi she mu a iki mu tane z i na He sep arates us from the work ofadu l terers

Examp les of use of M ass . forFem.

Uwansu Thei r motherUwan matausa M other of hi s wifeZuchiansa ya y i b i u He was i n doubtDere ri gan mugu N i ght i s a cloakfor the evi l man

I t i s commonly found that when there is a seri es oflinked nouns , some have the copulat ive and others standin apposi t i on ,

usually alternately

Zam’

guri n dia sari ki I wi l l go to the p lace of the daughterof the ki ng

S unan sariki gari n Wandara The name of the chi ef of the coun tryof Wandara

PREPOSITIONS 193

The foll owing i s an example of the use of the part i cle“mai

” as a subst i tute for “na

Ta zo kusa da wani gi da mai S he came n ear a certa i n goat’s

hous e

S ai , exc ept (see also adv erbs ) . Pronounced so (say )

Sai wannan Only thi sSai lafi a Only heal th, i .e. , qu i te wel lShi kua dan sariki nan ba shi A nd he the chi ef

’s son had no

da wani chini ki sai sha-n -

gia other bus i n ess bu t to dri nk beer

Don (K) , domi n (S ) , gar i n (Zani ) . S ee also conjunct i ons

Thi s preposi t i on takes ei ther a direct obj ect or a sentence

Don bawa da ia sun y i yaki On accoun t of one s lave they madwar

Ya ragu don kai nsa It i s dimi n i shed of i tselfYa tafo wuri na don gai she n i He came to me to salu te me (because

o

fsalu t i ng me )

R i ki karenka don kare -n -wan i Ho d your dog on account of the

(prov other man’s dogM ahmadu ya dauki kaya guda M ahmada has taken one load fordon kansa himself

Domi n

Na je Kano dom i -n -

gani -n I went to Kano to see my fri endaboki na

Dom i n hakanan On accoun t of thi sYa che do-n-mi bai y i aure ba 7 He sai d why i s he not marri edDom i -n -shi na mu tum ki rki Becaus e he i s a vi rtuous man

Kuka da no. yi dom i n gani nka The cry I made i n order to see you

Dom i n mi 7 What for

Gar i n (see also i nterrogat i v e adv erbs )Ya tafi gari gari n -saye -n -nama He wen t to the town to buy meatYa tafi gari -n -yawo He has gone to take a wal k

Zua-r or ya zua (= he i s c om i ng) or zua ga, to

Sun tafi zua r Kano They wen t to KanoS un tafi ya zua Kano They wen t to KanoM una godi a zua ga Al lah We give thanks to GodHal ya zua yanzu Un t i l nowNa komo zua-r-gi dana I came back home


Ya tafi zua-r-gabas He wen t eas tZua-r-mutua -r-Ahmedu ya y i On the death of Ahmedu he became

sarki K i ngDaga Kano zua-r-Kats i na na da I s i t farfrom Kano to Kats i na .

9

ni sa 7

In the foregoing the “ r ” i s very commonl y omi ttedafter zua .

”Its exi stence i s , however, supported by the

alternate rendering of ga.

”

Kai -n , kan , on top of

Doki shi na tsaye kan (or akan) The horse i s s tand i ng i n the roadhai nya

M uka gamu da shi kai -n -hai nya We met him i n the roadSa tukun ia kai n wuta Put the p ot on thefire

Jo i ned wi th other pr ep os i t i ons

Bi sa -r-ka-n-doki for a kai -n-doki On hors eback

On the subj e ct of

Akai n m i ku ke zanch e What are you tal ki ng abou t ?M anzani - n - A l lah suna waaz i The mes sengers are tal ki ng aboutakan atuba da beri -n -zunu fi rep en tan ce and forsaki ng s i n

Ya sa dan uwansa akai n abo He p u ts hi s brother before al l hi skai nsa duka fr i ends

Ya bani wannan kai n alkawal i He gave me thi s accordi ng to a

da ya y i man i da p romi s e he made me long ago

Dan sari ki ya yi fada da sari ki The young chi ef fought wi th the

akan saranta chi ef over the ki ngdom

Bi sa or,al s o bi sa-n or bi sa al one

Doki shi na tsay e b i sa-r-hai nya The hors e i s stand i ng i n the roadYara duka sun tuma b i sa -r A ll the boys jump ed up on the i rkujeri nsu cha i rs

Lokachi nda anadaukanka bi sa When you are carr i ed on a man’skai head (as a corp s e )

Shimfi da tufa b i santa S p read the cloth on i t

Kana b i sana You are on top of me

Wi th ga

Gida nsu b i s’

ga i shi The i r houses up on p os tsYa kwanta b i sa ga gadona He s lep t on my bed

Wi th other p rep os i t i ons

Ya sabko daga b i sa -r-kai -n -doki He got off hi s horse


Tsaka -r and Tsaka-n , m i ddl e of (most ly mascul i ne )Tsaka -n -woj e aho i ri j ia There i s a wel l i n the mi ddl e of the

yardTsaka-n -dere I n the mi ddl e of the n ightSuka tafo tsaka -r-daj i They came i n to the mi ddl e of the

fores t

Tsakan i -n , b etwe en

Ya zamna tsakani nmu He sat down between us

Amana ke tsakani nmu da shi There i s fri endship between himand me

Tsakani n dakuna masal lachi Between the hous es s tands a mosqueyana tsa e

Babu mara i tsakan i nsu There i s no difi erence between themKofofi n Zari a t sakan i nsu da There i s a long di s tance between

ni sa the gates of Zar i aBa shi tsakani gabas da ku du He i s not between eas t and sou thDom i n babu gaba tsakan i nmu For there i s no enmi ty between us

da ku and you

Tsakan i na da ubanka ka sare Deci de betweenme and your fatherdaga chiki nmu

Chi ki -n , i n

Chiki -n -chiki nta I n her bel lyA chiki -n -daki I n the hut or roomChiki nsa Hi s bel ly or i ns i de i tChiki -n -wata shawal I n the mon th S hawalZani tafi a-r- chiki -n -rua I shal l walk i n the waterDa i a chiki nsu One of themChi ki -n -wannan l oka chi ka A t thi s s eason wi l t tho'

u res toremayar wa Isra i la da mu lki to Israel thei r ki ngdom

Jo i n e d w i th other p rep os i t i ons

Biu daga chiki nmu Two of usTa fi ta daga chiki -n -rua S he came out of the waterTa che, ga chiki n gul b i S he sai d , I n the ri ver

Note the following

Suna chiki n dubawa Whi ls t they were looki ng

Woje -n ,shi ya - l (S ) , bes i de , outs ide , t owards

Woj e -n -

gabas , shi ya -l -gabas Towards the eas tWoj e -n -kasa - l -nan Towards that landYa wa iwai s wojensa ( or wuri nsa) He turned towards himSun tafi wojen Kano They wen t Kano-wayWoje-n -ku Wi th youShi na daga woj e (adv .) He i s ou ts i de

PREPOSITI ONS 197

Woj e -n -nan On thi s s i deDaga woj e -n -chan On that s i deI na tafi a woje (adv . and n oun ) I am wal ki ng outs i deWoje-n -dama , woj e -n -hauni On the r i ght s i de , on the l eft s i deWoj e-n -dari da ashiri n ne They were abou t 120

Kama -n , l ike (see also adv erbs ) . M ostly masculi neKama -n -kwana uku ya tambaya After about three days he asked themutane men

Yaro ya i kaman uwansa The boy i s l i ke hi s motherKaman ki n chan Li ke that hous e

Tamka-r, l ike . Als o tamka-n

Sun yi ma sabo -n -malam tamka They di d to the new mal lam l i ken -t sofo ~n -malam the old

Kusa -r, n ear . A ls o kusa-n . See also kusd da

Ta kusa mutua da dar i a S he n early di ed of laughterKusansa Near himKusa -n -nan N ear here

Wur i -n , at the plac e of. A lmost i nv ar iably us ed w i th a p erson

Z0 wuri na Come to meGudu wuri nsa Run to himNa 20 wuri nka I come to see you

Abi nnan yana wuri na The thi ng i s wi th meBan che lai fi yana wuri nka I di d not say that the faul t was yoursA lhaki nda ka dauka ya komo The s i n you commi t ted has returnedwuri nka up on you

Ansa wani wuri ns a A nother was p ut i n hi s p laceBa ya bude ido ba tukuna wur i He i s i gnoran t as regards rel igi ousn-karatu educati on

Al lahu'

ya bada dun ia wuri -n God has given the wor ld to the

bature whi te manWanda kuka 11 awuri na What you heard from meYa koma wuri -n -ubangiji Allah He return ed to the Lord GodYa i i kum ia wuri n ubangi ji Hefel t ashamed before GodAllah

Na 11 labari nka wuri n M ahmada I heard of you from M ahmadu

Ou -n whi ch i n the northern d i al e cts is s omet imesfound as

“guri

”

M ost ly us e d w i th a p erson

Zo guna Come to meGu -n -chan Over thereGudu gansa Run to himA gun fare nan A t the p lace of theflower


B igiri-n (K ) , Gurbi -n (Zanf) , M amahi -n (S ) , inst ea d of

Ya tafi Kano b igiri -n -S okot o He wen t to Kano i ns tead of S okotoBa n i rago gurb i -n -akwi a Give me a sheep i ns tead of a

Abaki -n , i n exchange forYa tafi Kano baki -n -S okot o He wen t to Kano i ns tead of S okoto

Batu -n , w i th referenc e toBatu -n -mi Wi th reference to what

Kafi -n , before

Kafi -n -shekara nawa goro shi I n (before) how many years doeske yi n yaya the Kola bear

Bamda , d i fferent from , apart from

Bam da Al lah ba n i tsoro -n Excep t God I fear nothi ngkom i

Bam da wannan ba u i da wan i Excep t thi s I have nothi ngM i kana so en sawo maka bam What do you want me to buy forda shi nkafa you bes i des r i ce

Dabara da , daura da, n ear to, al ongs i de

Su t saya daura da juna They s tand alongs i de each otherYa t saya dabranka He s tands n ext beyond youIta che -n -nan shi na tsay e dabra The tree s tands n ext to that tree

n - i ta che -n -nan

Sai ga mutum b iu daura da su Bu t two men were s tand i ngatsaye them

Gami da , t ogether w i th

Deri v e d from gama , to joi n , fin i sh.

Ya tube wandonsa gam i da shi He took off hi s trous ers togetherwi th i t

Kusa da, kusa gare, near to (see a lso kusa-r)

S hi na ku sana He i s near meS hi na kusa ga u i

Shi na kusa garen iShi na kusanka He i s near you


OMI S S ION or PREPO S ITI ONS

In a great many cases certain preposit i on s are omi tted ,

though they are necessary in English .

Local i ty . At,in

The two nouns are then in appos i t i onNa tafi kasua Lokoja da laasar I wen t to the market at Lokoja

i n the even i ngBabu wani sariki duni a There i s no other ki ng on the earth

(“ Sariki duni a ”

i s an exp ress i on al so meani ng ki ng of a b i gc ountry , “

sariki ” be i ng chi ef of a t own , market , headman, etc . )

Ba shi sama He i s not i n heavenSun sa barao jaru , ya mutu They p ut the thi ef i n gaol , and he

di ed. (Jaru i s p robabl y a c orrupt i on of the Engli sh gaol

Yanmata gi danmu kulum The daughters of our hous e alwayswanka . M oda . (Ri ddl e ) wash. A dipp er

Gari nku , kadan yaro ya y i I n your country when a boy growsgirima, mi nene anayi masa up , what i s done to him

Shi na Kano He i s at KanoSuka kwana j eji They s l ep t i n the bush

Time

Po i n t of Time

Kwanaki n -nan ban yi girima ba I n those days I was not grown upChiwuta nan ba zata wori ke ba Thi s s i cknes s w i l l not heal i n one

kwana , da i a ko kwana b i al ba day , even fi ve are not enoughsu i ssa ba

The noun saura re mai ns , may be used .

Saura kwana uku mun tashi or I n three days more we shal l s tartkana mu tashi

Per i od of Time

Kwanarmu goma muna tafi a For ten days we have been travell i ng

Omi ss i on of wi th

I na Jl -n -haushi nsa I am angry wi th him

Wi thou t i s rendered by babu .

Ba ka iya sayensa babu kurdi You cannot buy i t wi thout money,l i t . , You cannot buy i t no money

CHAPTER V111

CONJUNCTIONS

Nora—S ome conjuncti ons are often classed as adverbs and vi ce versé.

CO -ORDINATING

Amma , amana (not coll oquial )

i nt er

Gara , goama, guma

K0 koKokaKua

SUBORDINATING

BamdaDon (S ) Dom in (K )

Don kada , don en

Don wannan , don hakaEn , i dan (S ) , kan ,

1 kam,

l kadan(K) kur (Z )

En i n order to, thatInda if . Inda da, Had I

I shoul d (not)for

1 S ee als o A dv erbs of Ti me.

201

but

and

both and

had I I shou ld (not)then , i ndeedtherefore ( abou t ; usuallyrogat iv e)

rathere i ther or evenei ther , whetheras wel l as , l i ke asalsoalso (not coll oqu ial )aga i n . S ee under adv erbstoo, l i kewi s e

excep tbecaus e , i n order that. (S eePrep os i t i ons )

les tfor thi s reasonif , when


Kada (S ) kar. (K ) Do not, l es tKoda al though, when , even ifSabada on accoun t ofSai excep t, and, etc .

Zama becaus e

Nouns USED (wrrn PARTICLES ) IN SENSE

or CONJUNCTIONS

Kama -n -da i n the same way, as soon as , l i ke asKwatamshi (S )Kama -n l i ke , the same

Amma

I na dubensa , amma ban gan e shi I looked for him but I did not

ba see himDa uwata kua tana kuka , amma A nd my mother also was cry i ngkan ena ba shi san i ba kom i but my younger brother did not

know anythi ng

Da

Da da , both and, nei ther nor in negat i ve

sentences , whether or, in condi t i onal sentences .

Da connects words as wel l as sentences

Rago da akw ia The ram and the she-

goatBa naku ne da zaku san zamanu It i s not for you to know the timesNi tafi ga sari ki da u i che masa I shal l go to the chi ef and I shal l

say to himDa kaka zaka yaki babu fadawa it A nd how wi l l you go to war wi th

no ofl’i cers

Ta che mu b iu da ni da barao S he sa i d both of us both I and thethi ef

Da n i da shi mu duka muna tafi a Both I and he were walki ng on

chi ki -n -kaya the thornsI na so mu yi gana da n i da kai I wan t to have some conversat i on

wi th youDa ya sha bam i , da ya sha barasa , Whether he dr i nks p alm w i ne orduka da ia ne he dr i nks sp i r i t , i t i s al l the same

Da may be om i tted in narrat i on

M utum ya tashi , ya dauka sanda , The man arose, he took a s t i ck, heya gudu ,

a tafo ga wur i n enda ran , he came to the p lace wheremachiji s i ke, ya kashe shi the snake was , he ki l led i t

Ina chi , i na sha I eat and dr i nk


Angaya mani wannan labari , ko I was told thi s n ews , whether i t i sgaski a ne, koko tasuni a che

,tru e, or whether i t i s a tal e, I

oho don’t know I

Suna che ko na mutu They asked if I was deadAmma ban ji ba ko da i a ya mutu, Bu ty I have not heard if anybodyko, wan i ya halb i ki bi a di ed or whether any one shot an

arrow

Ko=ev en , i nde e d (an i nt ens i v e )Na gani ko sari ki I have i ndeed s een the chi efBa mu samu ba ko aluransu dai a We di d not find even one of thei r

n eedl esKo n i dakai na i na tafi a da kafa E

vfen I myself was travel l i ng on

ootDa babu rairai ko kadan There was no sand there, not even

a l i ttl eBature ba shi tsoro mutua ko Thewhi te man does not fear death,anakasheshi ba i kula ba even if he i s to be ki ll ed he does

not careKo (15. babu daki nan Former ly there was no hous e at

al l here

Ko da here i s di st i n ct from koda , a l though

K0 may be used at the end of a sentence as an

interrogat i ve part i cle

M utum ya tafi , ko D id the man go

Here “ ko i s elli pt i c for " ko ba hakka ba, or i s i t

not so.

“ K0 may also be used in the middl e of thesentence , even spl i tt ing the verb

A ko nuna maka talauchi S hal l p overty be shown you

Koka

Na san i sariki -n -Kano koka I know the chi ef of Kano as wel lsari ki -n -S okot o as the chi ef of S okoto

Kua

Usual ly found w i th da , and. Compare use of kuma .

Gobe ubanka shi zo kua Tomorrow myfatherwi l l also comeAudu ya yi sata kua Audu has also stol enI na sonsa da shi kua shi na sona I l ike him and he al so l i kes meKo kua mu ya

-n Afri ca muna Even we Afri cans also eat raw

chi -n -nama dai nye mea tNi zan i tafi a ga kasua da kai kua I shal l go to the market and youzaka tafi a. ga kasua also wi ll go to the market

CONJUNCTIONS 205

Kuma ( conjunct i on ) . S ee also under adv erbs

Audu ya yi sata , M ahma ya yi Audu has s tolen , M ahma has alsosata kuma stol en

M a

Encl i t i c to the word i t refers to

Ni ma i na tafi a en n ema duki a I too am goi ng i n search for r i chesSu ma ba su da yaya They too had no chi ldren

Bamda . S ee und er Prepos i t i onBamda All ah ba n i tsoro -n -kom i Excep t God I fear nothi ng

Don . S ee a lso und er Prepos i t i on

Ya yi kuka don mun buga sh i He howl ed because we beat himKi ra shi don en b i ya sh i Cal l him so that I may pay himDon ba ka i i ba Becaus e you do not unders tandNa sani Hausa kwarai don n i I know Hausa correctly because Ida -n -Tuntume ne am a native of Tu ntume

Suna zo b i sa dawaki don su They are comi ng on horses tokamaku catch you

Yao na tafi ga makaranta don en I wen t to school to-day to see whatgani ab i nda zasu goda ga yan they were goi ng to show to themakaranta school chi ldren

Ya bani duka don wannan na ya They gave me al l therefore I wasmurna glad

Don kada su gani wuta da dere Les t they should see the fi re byn ight

En , i dan , kadan , etc .

En ya y i kari a abugeshi If he l i es he wi l l be beatenA samu en anjima kadan They wi l l be got if you wai t a l i ttl eYa kamata mu tum zashi tafi a shi It behaves a man who i s go i ng a

nema gu zuri en shi na yi hankali journey to lay i n p rov i s i ons if hei s w i s e

En ba ka da kurd i ba ka da gaskia If you have no money you have notru th, i .e. ,

on ly a r i ch man i s

l i s tened toIdan kana son sarota em ba ka If you wan t the ki ngdom I wi l l

gi ve i t youKadan ban che ba karia

IfI amyuat tel l i ng a l i e

Kaila?wanga mutum ya y i gudu f thi s man runs he wi l l fa l l down

8 i adi

Kadan amarna ba zamu tafi a ba If i t ra i ns we w i l l not goKadan na ta fi garesa shi fada If I go to him he wi l l tel l me theman i gaskia tru th

Kan na sakchi If I set you freeKari na

'

muku rana ,kada ku yi If I make day for you , do not

are (prov . ) make n i ght for me


If unders tood from context

Akoi laya , kana sa ta ga w uya , There i s a charm, ( if) you hang i tkana y i sata babu ma igan i on your n eck, you can s teal and

no one wi l l see you

En= i n order to , that

Ya tambaye en su Ful an i no Hewen t to ask if they were Fu lan i sTa tah gari en dauka kashi a S he went to the town to take herp ay

Inda da

Inda ba haka ba, da na gaya It i t were not so I should havemaka told you

Gama

Ban so tafi ba gama ban ganshi I do n ot wan t to go for I have notba tukuna s een him yet

Kada= because not . Compare don

Kada ka tafi Do not go

Kada su tafi Let them not go

Gu du maza kada shi wucheka Run qu i ckly l es t he p ass youNa tambaye eu domi mutane I asked him why the men shouldkada su tafi not go

Ya aiko man i wata budurua kada He s en t to me a certa i n gi rl ( toen tah bar ya

-n -makaranta eu say ) that I should not go un ti lfi ta the school chi ldren came out

Koda

Koda shi ke yaro shi na da kari fi A l though he i s a boy he i s verykwa t ai s trong

Koda ya mutu shi yi rai Even if he d i es he shall l iveKoenna ka tafi Allah shi nana Wherever you go God i s there wi thtari da kai koda dere koda rana you whether by n i ght or by day

S abada

Thi s preposi t ion i s used wi th a noun or wi th wannan ,

and the phrase may be translated by such a con junct i onas because

Ni kua i na yi-n -kuka sabada I too cr i ed becaus e I was ti red.

gaj ia Li t on accoun t of fat i gu e

Or haka may be used

Ba n i ba ta kurdi sabada haka ta I did not give her money so she

tafi went

Af, ApAha

A i

A rr (K ) , i rr (S )Ara

A she

A sha , hashaAya

GasaHakikaHabba , hubbaKai

Ka i t o , kai choKo

LabadaM adi l la

Sanu

CHAPTER I !

INTERJECTIONS

oh

exclamat i on of astoni shment . I t i s i n a di fi erentt on e from aa= no, whi ch has a low , fal li ng t on e

oh an exc lamat i on of re col l e ct i onexc lamat i on of sat i sfact i onah

be offgo on

tru lyan exclamat i on of pai n or gri efup I or i t does not matterexpressi on of di sgust , surpri setru eexp ressi on of aston i shment or i nd ignat i onhi I you I

alasexclamat i on of surp risetru eexclamat i on of j oy , al so use d as a reply salutat i on

,

or on re c e i v i ng an a cc eptabl e gi fti t does not concern me. (S ee exampl e under con

junct i on ko

softly , als o a salutat i on. An express i on of sym

pathyal l r i ght . Use d on re c e i v i ng an order and s ign ify ingac c eptanc e . Also as an i nformal express i on ofthanks

take i tu s e d i n dri v i ng she ep and donkeysalas . An express i on of sympathyexclamat i on of doubt , hes i tat i on0. Arabi cyes , all r i ght

209

Kai wadanan yaraAya mu tafi

Ya s i di Ya ku mutane men

Ah bad s ervan tYou boy I

You

You boysUp I let us go I0 s ir / You , 0

Take thi s sp ear

CHAPTER !

SYNTAX

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSTRUCTI ON OF

SENTENCES

THE SUBJECT

The subject may be composed as follows

i . pronoun ,personal .

noun or other substan ti ve+ personal pronoun(never noun alone) .

demons trat i ve noun personal pronoun ; or,noun demonstrat i ve personal pronoun .

i v . noun + possessi ve pronoun + personal pronoun .

v . noun + adj ect ive or numeral personal pronoun .

vi . two nouns in apposi t i on personal pronoun .

v i i . two nouns , one in geni t ive ease personal pronoun .

infi n i t ive personal pronoun .

ix . relat ive sentence + personal pronoun .

From thi s li st i t can be seen that , whatever the natureof the subject , i ts predi cate must be preceded by a personalpronoun . The onl y cases in whi ch i ts omi ssi on i s permi ssible are in poetry and proverbs .

Examp les

i Ya tafi He wen ti i M utum ya tafi The man wenti i i . Wannan mutum ya tafi

M utume nan ya tafi

210

Thi s man wen t


i i i . (a) Wi th mai

Gari mai nesa The town i s far

Wi th the pron oun c ompounded wi th na

Shi na baya He i s behi nd

Wi th da wi th (the subst i tute for haveA iki da wuya The work i s hard

These predi cates may be expanded in vari ous waysattributes

A i ki ya kare duka The work i s al l fin i shedYa ji sara i He unders tands p erfec tly

M i j i -n - ta shi n e ma i sa ida -n -zi naria Her husband i s a sel l er of gold

Yaro ba shi da kari fi The boy i s not s trong

The Comp ound Predi cate

A compound predi cate consis ts Of two or more simplepredi cates belonging to the same sub ject . The personalpronoun has to be repeated wi th each

Yaro ya gudu ya fad i chi ki -n The boy ran and fel l i n to the holeram1

Sp ecial Notes on the Predicate

By idi omat i c usage the number of the p redi cate doesnot agree wi th that of the subj ect .

A singul ar noun wil l take a plural predi cate when the

former has a collect ive sens e

Kasua duka sun hauka The whol e market wen t mad drunkDoki nsa dubu i sb iri n da b iar Hi s caval ry was menM u tum duka ya gudu They have al l run awayWani mutane yatafi gar i n Bauchi S ome men wen t to the Bauchitari tari country—a great many

SYNTAX 213

Al so two subjects may have a S ingular predi cate

Kowa ya ri naka yaro da baba Every one desp i ses you , boy andkafi ri da M usulmi duk ya grown -up , heathen and M usu l

zageka man , al l revi l e youBan ji ba ban gan i ba ta rabaka I did not hear I did not see

da zaure -n - tara (prov erb ) keep s you out of the hal l offin es , 1.e. , p roves an al i bi

In connect i on wi th these the fol lowing sentences may be

Ya tafi gari baba ya yi a i ki da su He wen t to a big town he madewar on i t ( them )

Bature ya kashe masu mutum Thewhi te man ki l l ed of them manytari da doki men and hors es

Verbs of saying , thinking. seeing , etc ., generally introduce di rect speech and are not foll owed by any con

Na sani ka ba ui ab i nda ni ke so I know ( that ) you wi l l give me

what I wan tI na tamaha shi na da rai haryanzu I thi nk he i s s t i l l al iveDa muka zamna na ji sunay so n When we hal ted I heard that theytafi a yaki wan ted to go to war

Da muna gani suna gudu A s we looked they ran ofi

There are a few instances in whi ch the predi cate precedesthe sub ject . The verbs are

"akwoi

,

” “za

,

” “je,

” “ ya ”

(see under the Verb)

Akwoi mutano dayawa a ohiki -n There are many p eop l e i n the

gi da houseAho i Allah There i s a GodAkwoi su There areZamu gi da We wi ll go homeGobe zaka Kano Tomorrow you wi ll go to KanoJeku Be off 3Yaka Come I


THE OBJECT

The Ob ject i s of two kindsi . Di rect .

i i . Indi rect .

The nature of the Object is the same as that of thesubject .

D irect Object

The followin g are examples of the di rect obj ecting the clas si fi cat i on Of the subject

i . M utum ya buge shi The man beat himNa ba wan i I gave ( i t) ( to ) anotherM utum ya buga yaro Theman beat the boy

i i i . M utum ya buga wannanyaro The man beat thi s boy

M utum ya buga yaro nani v . M utum ya buga yaronsa The man beat hi s boyv . M utum ya buga yaro mugu The man beat the bad boy

M utum ya buga yara uku The man beat three boysv i . M utum ya buga yaro dansa The man beat the boy hi s son

v i i . M utum ya buga da -n -uwan sa The man beat the son of hi s

mother, i .e. , hi s brotherv i i i . M utum ya tah dauka -n -kaya The man has gone to take hi s loadi x . M utum ya buga wanda ya The man beat him who carr i ed the

dauki kaya loadDon ba ka samu ba ya fi Because you cannot fi nd betterwannan than thi s

Examp le of Comp ound D irect ObjectM utum ya buga yaro da yari n ia The man beat the bad boy and

miagu gi rl

In Hausa a di rect Object in the form of an Ob ject i vephrase i s used where in English a subordinate sentencei s found

Al l ah shi sake taramu da lafi a M ay God gran t we meet i n heal th,l i t . , M ay God bri ng abou t our

meeti ng i n heal thYa gan i anashi ga gi da -n -M uham He saw them en ter the hous e ofmadu da bame M ohammed wi th p alm wi ne

Norm—If anashi ga i s treated as the equ ival ent of suna shiga

the verbal asp ect becomes more p romi nen t than the substan tival .


Some verbs take da wi th the indi rect Object

Na gaj i da sukna b i sa rakumi I was ti red of r i di ng on the camelTa tuna da miji nta S he remembered her husbandTa mutu da yungwa S he d i ed of hungerNi ban y irda ba da shi I do not bel i eve i n him

NATURE OF SENTENCES

Sentences are

1. Affi rmat ive .

2. Negat ive .

3 . Interrogat ive .

The affi rmat i ve sentence i s a simple statement in anymood or tense . The negat ive sentence i s formed from the

affi rmat ive sentence by the addi t i on of ba ba”

before and after the verb . (S ee under adverb .)

Afi irmative Negat ive

Yaro nan shi ke karam i Yaro nan ba shi ke karami baYaro nan shi na karam i Yaro nan ba shi karam i baYaro nan shi na da wayo Yaro nan ba shi da wayo

Engl i sh—Thi s boy i s smal l Thi s boy i s cunn i ng, etc.

In sentences contain ing a command , i f direct the sub j ectpronoun may be omi tted in the singular, but not in theplural

Invert ed subjects are found in Yaka, come ;“ Jeka

,

go ;“ Jeku ,

”

go (pl . )

OtherExamp les

Ta che mata , ki kunchesu S he sa i d to her loose themBan sani ba ; fada mani en ji I do not know, tel l me about i t,

li t . , so that I may understand

SYNTAX 217

I nterrogative S entences

Interrogat ive sentences are formed in three ways

1. Change of tone in an affi rmat i ve sentence .

2. Wi th interrogat ive pronoun s .

3 . Wi th interrogat i ve adverbs,such as kO

,for

indi rect quest ions especi al ly ; ba l”not? “ Fa

then ? “ De indeed ?1

Ni no I s i t IKai ka ke yi mani magana haka Do you sp eak so to me 3’Ka gani ab in -nan Have you s een thi s thi ng .

9

Ako1 rua chi ki -n -ri j i a I s there water i n the wel l 49

2

Wanene ka ke ki ra b i ri Whom are you cal l i ng a monkeyM i zaka y i da shi What wi l l you do wi th him

3 A dverbs

Kurdi nsa nawa How much i s i tEnna ubanka Where i s your fatherYaushe zaka komo ‘

1 When wi l l you come back

Ko

Ya tambaye shi ko shi 1 0 kc bashi 20 ba

Ta che ko daganan rua M adi nashi ke

Na tafo ko nan no rua M ad i na

KO ui ne

KO ba haka ba

Ba

Did you not hearI s i t not I

Fa 1?

Shi fa 7 What about himAnsa kowa aiki nsa , shi yaro nan Every one has been gi ven hi s work,fa 7 but what abou t thi s boy

Amba kanena rabonsa , ui de M

yyounger brother has been given

Ba zaaban i ha ? i s port ion , what abou t meS hal l I not be given any

He asked him if he was comi ng ornot

S he sai d, i s thi s the water ofM adi na here itI came to see whether thi s i s thewater 0 M ad i na

Or i s i t 1?

Or i s i t not so (Oft en us edaft er another qu esti on when anegat ive answer is poss i ble)


Comp ound S entences

Compound sentences are of two kinds—eO -ordin ate and

subordinate .

Co-ordi nate

Kuri chi a ta zaka, tana yi -n-kuka ,tana chewa ga mache—yi kunnuki ki sha

Sumka tafi ga baki -n-ri j i a , ya chemasu

Amma mu ba mu i yawa mu yi

a i kiBa n i ne zan y i shi ba I s i t not for me to do i t

S ubordi nate

Subordi nate sentence fi rst

Kadan ka bani kurd i -n -nan ui If you give me the money I shal lbaka tagia gi ve you the cap

Kadan na tafi , kadan ka rufe When I have gone , when you havekofa , kadan wani ya zaka , kada shu t the door, if any one comes ,ka bude do not op en

Subordi nate sentence last

Ra i ra i ya shiga ga i danumu don The sand goes i n to our eyeshi ska ta busa da kari fi becaus e the wi nd bl ew s trong

The dove came, shewas cry i ng out,she was sayi ng to the womanmake your gruel , dr i nk i tThey wen t to the mou th of the wel l ,(and) he sai d to them

Bu t we, we cannot work


3 . Da i yal i suna lafi aLafi a lau , muna lafi a

l . Enna labar i ‘

l

2. Sai lafi a

l . M araba , maraba (Arab i c )2. Sanu , sanu madi l la

l . M araba da zua

2. Sanul . Enna zamnan gari2.

1.

Sai alb eriM arhab i , marhabi (Arab i c )

Sanu , madi ll aA lbarkaAl barka deM ad i l lsA lhumdi l l i lahi (Arab i c )Salaam alaikum (Arab i c )A lai kum sa laamBerka (for albarka )Berka da zua

Agai sheka ,

I ngoya ( i ngweya)

Sa i gobeSai wata ranaSai anjimaAllah shi dade da ranka

GafaraGafara daiKaka ka ji da sainyiLafi a, sai nyi da godi aKaka ka kara ji da j iki ? Na

ji sauki (K and Z )Allah shi kara maka sauki ,Am i n

Na i i dama . Na samu sauki(Zar)

A l lah shi anfana-shi (or -ta)A ll ah shi keauta

Ka gai she shi da y i niGai m i ni da ubankaSai ka komo

And are al l the fami ly we l l ?Qu i te wel l , we are al l wel lWhat i s the n ewsIt i s good. The i nvari able formal reply

Us ed aft er l ong abs en c eThank youWelcomeS oftly , i .e thank youHow i s your s tay i n the townI t i s goi ng wel l, p rosp erousSalutat i on on returni ng from aj ourneyI am wel l , thank youWelcomeThank you for your welcome

Prai se be to GodPeace be w i th youWi th you be p eaceHow do you doWel comeYou are salu ted . How do you doR ep ly salutat i on to an importantp erson

Good-bye ti l l to-morrowGood-bye t i l l another dayGood-bye for a short t imeM a God give you long l ife (to ac '

ci )I beg your p ardon

How do you feel thi s cold weatherQu i te wel l i n sp i te of the coldHow are you feel i ng I amfeel i ng better

M ay God i ncreas e your heal th,Amen

I feel better or am wel l agai n

M ay God p rosp er i t (on b i rth ofa chi ld )

S ay good-n i ght to himS alu te your father for meGood-bye t i l l you come aga i n

COMMON IDIOM ATIC EXPRESSI ONS 221

NAMES or SEAS ONS , MONTHS , DAYS , AND HOURS

Funturu , or Lokachi n dari

Damara

M onths

These are the Arabi c months , wi th the names more orless corrupt

M oharamSafarRab in lauwalBabi u lahi rJimada lul aJimada luhuraRajabJaaban

Ramadan , ramalan , or wata -n Thefas t mon thazumi

Shauwal , wata -n -karama -msal la M on th of the l i ttl e p rayer

Zulhaji , wata -n -baba -n -sal la M on th of the bi g p rayer

The corresponding months in the Juli an. calendar varyfrom year to year .

Days of the

Ran’lahadi

Ran’lat i n i

Ran'talata

Ran’laraba

Ran’al hami s

Ran’aljimua , aljima

Ran'assab i t

S easons

Cold season , the s eason of the

Harmattan December and

JanuaryHot s eason— M archHottes t p art of the hot s eason ;tornado season Ap ri l and

M ayWet s eason— June to Augus tHot s eason after ra i n—S ep tember,Oc tober

Harves t s eason October, November


HoursJiji fiK i ran sal la nafariA suba

Gari ya wayeSasafe

SafeHants iWalahaRanaRana t sakaZowall

A zuhur

Laasar

M aguri ba

M ars cheLi shaFadua-r-ranaD ereTsaka -n -dereKwana

Verbs . etc . , used idiomatica llyChe

Akache da shi I t was ca l l ed aYa che da su He sa i d to them

Chi ka

Chika b i nd iga Load a gunWots ika ya chi ka The l etter i s fi n i shedChika m i n i alkawel i Fu lfil you r p romi s e to

Chi gari Conq uer the coun tryChi kasua To marketAnachi n kasua M arket i s on

Kasua ta chi

Fataki sun chi ri ba The merchan ts made a p rofi tNa chi I take i t ( i n gambli ng) or I wi nKn chi gaba kadan Go a l i tt le i n fron tChi sarota S ucceed to the soverei gn tyChi lafi a To get i n to safety enjoy p eaceChi amana M i sapprop ri ate a trus t. L i t . , Eat

a p l edgeS wear on the KoranA dorn ones elf

the DayF i rs t s i gn of dawnCal l to thefirs t p rayerDawnDawnVery early morn i ngM orn i ng (generall y )A bou t 8 a.m.

Abou t 10 a.m.

Day t ime general lyM i dday, noonTi me soon after mi ddayAbou t 2p .m.

A bou t 5 p .m.

Even i ngEven i ngAbou t 7 p .m. , jus t after sunsetS uns etN i ghtM i dnightS leep . A day of 24 hours


K owa ya nomi hatsi (ya ) ka i Every onewho sows corn ( i .e. goodbaba n gari (poet . deeds ) reaches the great c i ty

(heaven )Gobe da safe na kai ka wurinda To-morrow I wi ll take you to thesuna b i suna yawo p lac e

i

vhi ch they went to to takea wal

Kai does not n ecessari l y mean to actuall y carry )Enna rana ta ka i kana mu kai Where wi l l the sun be when we

Kano Y Zata kai chan reachKano It wi l l be thereS uka isk

pngi lb i , ya kawo They came to a water course i n the

ma s o 11 daj i bush, i t had water i n i t

Kara

I na kara da i aBan kara ba zakua

Ba ya kara ba chewaA i ki nsu zaakarasu

Sun che jirigi-n kasan ba shi kara

tafowa daga IkuAl lahu shi kara maka alberka

Zaki ya y i kuka so~daia, ba shi

kara ba, ya mutuBa shi kara gani nsaBa ya kara tashi ba harBa ta kara koma garesa

NO 'rE.—The noun form of the verb i s requ i red after kara .

M a i da

M a ma i da kansa He p rofess esYa ma i da kamna gareta He l i ked himYa mayesda magana He answeredS uka mayar (= mayas ) da mag They rep l i ed and sai d to them

ana , suka che masuKa mayes Bri ng ( i t) backI na mayesda wan e I became l i ke so-and-so

Ya me i she shi He transformed himYungwa ta ke mai da yaro tsofo Hunger turns a boy i n to an

man

Take the a irEnjoy the shadeGet i n to troubl eSmoke tobacco

I add oneI shal l not come agai nHe sa i d no moreThei r work shall be i ncreas edThey sa i d the trai n shall not comeaga i n from Lagos

M ay God i ncreas e hi s bless i ng on

ou

T e l i on cr i ed once, he di d not doso agai n , he di edHe saw him no moreHe did not get up aga i n un t i lS he di d not return to him aga i n

COM M ON IDIOM ATIC EXPRESSIONS 225

Ya sa masu wuta He set fi re to themNa sa ka di lal i na I make you my agen tNi sashi ta fi chiki n j i ri gi , koda I wi l l make him get i n to the boat

shi yerda ko ba yerda ba whether he i s wi l l i ng or notShi ya sa na tashi He made me get upSa kasa Put i t downYa sashi chiki n sanfo He p laced i t i n the basketNa sa wando baki I wore black trous ersSariki ya sa akadaura doki surd i The chi ef made them saddle the

hors eNOTE. S a has a causat i ve force whi ch may be trans lated i n

Engl i sh make or do . Yi i s not u s ed i n thi s sense.

S amuHai nya ta sa‘mu There i s a roadNa samu lafi a I am betterHar su samu amsa Un ti l they rep lyNa sam-

esa shi na karatu wot i kanka Ifound himwr i ti ngyour l etter

S aura

Th i s i s a noun mean ing remainder,

” rest .

Ya yi saura kadan There i s a l i ttl e leftI, saura igia biu adamre Yes , i t s t i l l wan ts two rop es to ti e

themDa matanes saura shi daia A nd of hi s wives there was on ly

l eft one to hi mBa sauran kwanaki dayawa nan I n not many days’ t imegaba ba

Vari ous uses of Yi,do

,make .

Some of i ts uses are very idiomat ic . One vari at ion Of

form i s found— namely , y1wu .

Indep enden tI did i tHe did i t or i t wi l l do , i t i ssat i sfac tory

S una fada da j una 7 S un a y i Are they fight i ng amongs t themselves They are

Ku y i ta yi Go on wi th what you are do i ngM u yi ta y i We wi l l get to workKu y i ta tafi a Go on

Kaka zaka y i How w i l l you manageKamada shi ke yi How i t i s doneRana ta y i It i s dayl ight


Wi th D i rec t Objec t

Na yi shi I have don e i tM un y i shi da kasa We made i t of earthKana yi magana Hausa Do you sp eak HausaM un yi abuta da n i da Shi He and I have become fr i endsHar ya yi sa i ny i Un ti l i t gets cool

Y i joined wi th nouns often translatablesingle verb in Engli sh

,as

Yi maganaY i zancheY i a i kiYi munafi ki

Yi god ia ,Y i tafi a

Y i gi rima

Yi alberiY i sata

All of these phrases take indirect Objects wi th preposit i ons . The indi rect object i s placed between “

yi”

and

the noun i t i s attached to i f the preposi ti on in quest i oni s “ ma

,

”to, but after if the preposi t i on i s “ da

,

”wi th .

Wi thou t Indi rect Objec t

Zuchi ana ya y i fari M y heart rejoi cedZua mutua Ahmadu ya y i sari ki On the death of Ahmadu he

became ki ngYa yi gi rime He has grown upYa yi arz iki It i s fortuna teYa y i keao It i s good tha t i s al l ri ghtYa yi nany i It i s heavyYaro ya yi kama -n -uwansa The boy i s l i ke hi s motherYa yi karatu w onga wochika He wrote thi s l et ter ( doub l e obj e ct )

Wi th Ind i rec t Object

M a

Ya y i mani munafi ki He cheated (betrayed , dece ived )me

Na yi masa al heri I treated him ki ndlyYa y i man i al kawal i He made me a p romi s eS un y i masa sata They s tol e from himS ari ki ya y i masa kali ye The ki ng gave him an orderYa yi mani gudumawa He came to my help


Examp le of the Form y iwuTa’ala da ya y iwota The exal ted one who made i t

Yi takes what seems to be the suffi x “ da (seederi ved verbs

,class 5) in the sharpened form “

ta . I f

thi s etymology be correct, i t i s not in accordance wi th the

common phonet i c ru les of the language .

Kn y i ta y i Go on wi th what you are do i ngKn y i ta tafi a M archKu yi ta tuba Rep en tYi ta a iki A ccomp l i sh the workKu yi ta kanku Do that whi ch app ertai ns to you

or do as you l i ke

In Sokoto , Zanfara , and Katsina wo i s commonlyused for “

yi ,"

as“wo takarda

,

”send a letter ;

“wo

yak1, wage war.

Examp les of Circumlocuti on

S ariki ya rassu The chi ef i s deadbut, Doki ya mutu The hors e i s deadAboki na ba shi da lafi a M y fr i end i s i l lWaz iri n S okot o ba ya gan i yanzu The v i zi er of S okoto i s bl i ndAboki na ba shi da kafa M y fr i end i s lamebut, Guragu ne In sp eaki ng of a hors e b e i ng lameKaka i yal i nka How i s your fami ly ( i nst ead of

aski ng aft er a man’s wi fe )

BIBLIOGRAPHY

S CHOEN,J . F.

Vocabul ary of the Hausa Language and GrammarGrammar of the Hausa LanguageDi ct i onary of the Hausa Language

x to Dict i onary of the Hausa LanguageHausa

ROB1NSON , C.

Hausa Language, l st ed i t i on2nd ed it i on

Hausa Di ct i onary, l st ed i t i on (I . 1899 and I I .

2ud ed i t i on ( 1906) (Hausa-Engl i sh on ly)Spec imen ofHausa Li terature

M ILLER ,W . R. Hausa Notes

M rscamon,A . Lehrbuch der hausan i schen Sprache

EDGAR, F. Li tafi na tatsun iyoyi na Hausa

HARR1S,H. Hausa S tor ies

CHARLTON,L. A Hausa Read ing Book

Printed at

The Edinburgh Press

9 and 1 1 Young S treet.

A Grammar of the Hausa Language

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