Sentences

with Qualities as Predicates

General remarks on Qualities as Predicates in Hausa

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In English, nearly any quality can be attributed to a noun in a sentence of the form 'she is ...' with an adjective in place of the dots, e.g. 'she is tall ~ beautiful ~ smart ~ devout ~hungry ~ lazy ~ tired', etc. Hausa sentences translatable as English 'she is ...' take a number of forms depending on the quality. Only a minority of such sentences involve adjectives. Here are the main ways Hausa expresses qualities as predicates.

Adjectives as predicates of 'be' (ne/ce) sentences: Hausa does have a small number of true, "simple" (= "non-derived") adjectives. These mostly express size, age, or color. Sentences with true adjectives have the form "subject + adjective + ne/ce".

Ni dogo ne.
Jaka ja ce.

'I am tall.'
'The bag is red.'

Nouns of quality in 'have' sentences: The majority of "quality words" in Hausa are nouns. Hausa uses these nouns in 'have' sentences, literally saying, "She has beauty," rather than saying, "She is beautiful."

Tana da kyau.
Wuk'a tana da kaifi.

'She is beautiful.'
'The knife is sharp.'

= 'She has beauty.'
= 'The knife has sharpness.'

Nouns referring to a person with certain characteristics: Hausa expresses ethnicity or nationality and some inherent physical characteristics using nouns referring to a person of that type. These nouns appear as the the predicate of ne/ce identificational sentences.

Ni Bahaushe ne.
Ita Bafilatana ce.
Audu makaho ne.
Kai rago ne.
Kande wawa ce.

'I am Hausa.'
'She is Fulani.'
'Audu is blind.'
'You are lazy.'
'Kande is foolish.'

= 'I am a Hausa person.'
= 'She is a Fulani person.'
= 'Audu is a blind man.'
= 'You are a lazy person.'
= 'Kande is a fool.'

Go to discussion of identificational sentences.

Nouns expressing physical or emotional sensations: Physical and emotional sensations are expressed with nouns following the verb ji 'feel'.

Ina jin tsoro.
Kina jin sanyi?
Muna jin yunwa.
Audu ya ji kunya.

'I am afraid.'
'Are you cold?'
'We are hungry.'
'Audu was ashamed.'

= 'I feel fear.'
= 'Do you feel coldness?'
= 'We feel hunger.'
= 'Audu felt shame.'

Verbs or "action nouns" expressing physical or emotional conditions: Some physical or emotional states are expressed with verbs or with "action nouns" following the verb yi 'do' (which can be omitted in the continuative).

Na gaji.
Kofi ya cika.
Riga ta bushe.
Mun yi murna.
Kande ta yi bak'in ciki.
Yara suna barci.

'I am tired.'
'The cup is full.'
'The shirt is dry.'
'We were happy.'
'Kande was unhappy.'
'The children are asleep.'

= 'I tired.'
= 'The cup filled.'
= 'The shirt dried.'
= 'We did happiness.'
= 'Kande did unhappiness.'
= 'The children are (doing) sleep.'

Adjectives as predicate

'the bag is red', 'I am tall'

Basic pattern of sentence with adjectival predicate: 'the bag is red'
Pronoun subjects: 'I am tall'
Negative: 'I am not short'

BASIC PATTERN: 'the bag is red'

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Sentences with an adjective as predicate follow the same patterns as identificational sentences with a noun as predicate, the only difference being that adjectives must agree in gender or plurality with the subject. (See the discussion of identificational sentences in a separate window.) Sentences with adjectives as predicate have the following characteristics:

The order is subject - adjective.
The sentence ends in ce if the subject is feminine singular or ne if the subject is masculine singular or any plural.
The adjective must agree in gender or plurality with the subject. (See a list of the most common simple (= "non-derived") adjectives and their forms.)

Masculine subject Rago fari ne.
Bala dogo ne.
Kofi ja ne.
Nama dafaffe ne. 'The ram is white.'
'Bala is tall.'
'The cup is red.'
'The meat is boiled.'

Feminine subject Tinkiya fara ce.
Zainab doguwa ce.
Jaka ja ce.
Gyad'a dafaffiya ce. 'The ewe is white.'
'Zainab is tall.'
'The bag is red.'
'The peanuts are boiled.'

Plural subject Tumaki farare ne.
Wad'annan d'alibai dogwaye ne.
Jakunkuna jajaye ne.
Kayan ciki dafaffu ne. 'The sheep are white.'
'These students are tall.'
'The bags are red.'
'The innards are boiled.'

PRONOUN SUBJECTS: 'I am tall'

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A pronoun subject of an adjectival sentence is expressed by the independent pronoun.

Ni dogo ne.
Kai dogo ne.
Shi gagararre ne.

Ni doguwa ce.
Ke doguwa ce.
Ita gagararriya ce.

Mu dogwaye ne.
Ku dogwaye ne.
Su gagararru ne.

'I am tall.' (male speaking)
'You (m) are tall.'
'He is rebellious.'

'I am tall.' (female speaking)
'You (f) are tall.'
'She is rebellious.'

'We are tall.'
'You (pl) are tall.'
'They are rebellious.'

NEGATIVE ADJECTIVAL SENTENCES: 'I am not short'

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A negative adjectival sentences has ba with low tone and long vowel before the adjective and ba with short vowel and high tone after it.

Sa ba fari ba ne.
Kofi ba ja ba ne.
Bala ba gajere ba ne.
Ni ba gajere ba ne.
Shi ba gagararre ba ne.

Saniya ba fara ba ce.
Jaka ba ja ba ce.
Zainab ba gajere ba ce.
Ni ba gajeriya ba ce.
Ita ba gagararriya ba ce.

Shanu ba farare ba ne.
Jakunkuna ba jajaye ba ne.
Mu ba gajeru ba ne.
Su ba gagararru ba ne.

'The bull is not white.'
'The cup is not red.'
'Bala is not short.'
'I am not short.' (male speaking)
'He is not rebellious.'

'The cow is not white.'
'The bag is not red.'
'Zainab is not short.'
'I am not short.' (female speaking)
'She is not rebellious.'

'The cows are not white.'
'The bags are not red.'
'We are not short.'
'They are not rebellious.'

Masculine subject	Rago fari ne. Bala dogo ne. Kofi ja ne. Nama dafaffe ne.	'The ram is white.' 'Bala is tall.' 'The cup is red.' 'The meat is boiled.'
Feminine subject	Tinkiya fara ce. Zainab doguwa ce. Jaka ja ce. Gyad'a dafaffiya ce.	'The ewe is white.' 'Zainab is tall.' 'The bag is red.' 'The peanuts are boiled.'
Plural subject	Tumaki farare ne. Wad'annan d'alibai dogwaye ne. Jakunkuna jajaye ne. Kayan ciki dafaffu ne.	'The sheep are white.' 'These students are tall.' 'The bags are red.' 'The innards are boiled.'