Welcome to the 8th lesson about Hausa grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.
We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Hausa and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Hausa and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Hausa.
| Prepositions - Hausa |
|---|
| and da |
| above bisa |
| under a ƙarƙashin |
| before kafin |
| after bayan |
| in front of a gaban |
| behind bayan |
| far from nesa daga |
| near kusa da |
| in ciki |
| inside ciki |
| outside waje |
| with da |
| without ba tare da |
| about a |
| between tsakanin |
| but amma |
| for don |
| from daga |
| to ga |
The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.
| Prepositions + Rules - Hausa |
|---|
| I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] na ci ba tare da wuƙa ba |
| she lives near the church [verb + preposition] tana zaune kusa da ikilisiya |
| he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] ya fi ta tsawo |
| he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] ya zo da dan karensa |
| can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] zaka iya zuwa tare da ni? |
Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.
| Negation + Rules - Hausa |
|---|
| I understand you [affirmative form] na fahimce ka/ki/ku |
| I don't understand you [negation + verb] ban fahimce ka/ki/ku ba |
| this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] wannan kalima ba daidai bace |
| don't leave me [imperative negation] kada ka/ki/ku bar ni |
| no problem [negation + noun] ba illa |
| Negative Sentences - Hausa |
|---|
| I don't speak French [negation + present tense] ba na jin faransanci |
| she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ba ta ziyarci jamus ba |
| he cannot see us [negative modal verb] ba zai iya ganinmu ba |
| can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] ta iya wasar chess? |
| we will not come late [negation + future tense] ba za mu zo a makare ba |
Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:
| English - Hausa |
|---|
| how? yaya? |
| what? me? |
| who? wa? |
| why? me ya sa? |
| where? ina? |
More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:
| Questions + Rules - Hausa |
|---|
| where do you live? [interrogative + verb] ina ka ke zaune? |
| does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] tana jin harshen china? |
| how much is this? [interrogative preposition] nawa ne wannan? |
| can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] me kake bukata ne? |
| what is your name? [interrogative preposition] yaya sunanka? |
It's time to learn the adverbs in Hausa. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:
| Adverbs - Hausa |
|---|
| now yanzu |
| yesterday jiya |
| today yau |
| tonight da daren nan |
| tomorrow gobe |
| soon bada jimawa ba |
| quickly da sauri |
| slowly sannu |
| together tare |
| very kwarai |
| almost kusan |
| always koda yaushe |
| usually bisa al'ada |
| sometimes wani lokaci |
| rarely ba saban ba |
| never har abada |
The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.
| Adverbs + Rules - Hausa |
|---|
| do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] ka fahimce ni yanzu? |
| I need help immediately [noun + adverb] ina bukatar taimako yanzu-yanzu |
| she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] ita haziƙa ce |
| I will always love you [verb + adverb] ba zan taba daina sonka/ki/ku ba |
| can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] za mu koyi harshen jamusanci tare? |
We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Hausa. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:
| Personal Pronouns - Hausa |
|---|
| I ni |
| you kai, ke, ku |
| he shi |
| she ita |
| we mu |
| they su |
| Object Pronouns - Hausa |
|---|
| me ni |
| you kai, ke, ku |
| him shi |
| her ita |
| us mu |
| them su |
| Possessive Pronouns - Hausa |
|---|
| my nawa |
| your naka/naki/naku |
| his nashi |
| her nata |
| our namu |
| their nasu |
I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.
| Personal Pronouns - Hausa |
|---|
| I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] ni abokinka.ki/ku ne |
| you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] kana magana da sauri |
| he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] yana da karnukka ukku |
| she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] ta iya magana da harshen jamus |
| we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] ba za mu makaraba ba |
| they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] sun sayo madara da burodi |
The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:
| Object Pronouns - Hausa |
|---|
| can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] za ka faɗa mini sunanka? |
| I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] zan ba ka kuɗi |
| she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] ta rubuta masa wasiƙa |
| they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] sun ziyarce ta jiya |
| can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] zata iya taimaka mana? |
| he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] ya ba su abinci |
| Possessive Pronouns - Hausa |
|---|
| my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] sunnana maya |
| your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] ɗan'uwanka yana zaune a nan |
| her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] uwarta ne yi mana girki |
| his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] yana sha'awar karatun littafai |
| our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] mafarkinmu shine mu ziyarci paris |
| their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] gidansu ba ya da nisa |
One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.
| Demonstrative Pronouns - Hausa |
|---|
| this is my house wannan shi ne gidana |
| that restaurant is far gidan abincin nan yana da nisa |
| these apples are delicious waɗannan afel suna da dadi |
| those stars are shiny taurarin nan suna da haske |
I hope you learned a lot about the Hausa grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!
Inspirational Quote: First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do. Epictetus |