COMPARISON

• Menu for sentences expressing "be"
• Menu for sentences expressing qualities

• Comparatives: 'you are taller than me'
• 'Less than' comparative: 'I am less tall than you'
• Equatives: 'I am as tall as you'
• "Excessives": 'the tea is too hot'

In English, sentences involving comparison use the verb 'be' with a word or phrase in the predicate specifying the type of comparison:

• Greater than some standard: 'he is taller than me', 'he is more patient than me'
• Not as great as some standard: 'he is less tall than me'
• Equal to some standared: 'he is as tall as me'
• Exceeding some (desired) standard: 'the tea is too hot (for me to drink)'

In Hausa, the specification of the type of comparison is in the verb rather than the expression involving the quality.

COMPARATIVES: 'you are taller than me'

• Back to top

Comparatives use the verb fi 'exceed, surpass'. Sentences with fi have the following form:

Subject + subject pronoun + fi (+ person/thing being compared) (+ quality for comparison)

Fi is a stative verb and hence is normally in the completive. (See a list of quality words that could appear in comparative constructions.) Either the person/thing being compared and/or the quality of comparison may be omitted, with context determining the specific comparison one has in mind.

Ka fi ni tsawo. Rak'umi ya fi jaki k'arfi. Haka ya fi kyau. Wannan ya fi wancan. Wannan ya fi.

'You are taller than me.' ("You exceed me [in] height.") 'A camel is stronger than a donkey.' ("A camel exceeds a donkey [in] strength.") 'That's better.' ("Thus exceeds [in] goodness.") 'This is [better] than that.' ("This one exceeds that one.") 'That's [better].' ('This one exceeds.')

'LESS THAN' COMPARATIVES: 'I am less tall than you'

• Back to top

Comparatives expressing 'less' can use either the verb kai 'be equal to' in the negative or the verb kasa 'be less than' (which, in other contexts, means 'fail, be unable'). Sentence structure and use of tense marking is the same as for fi 'exceed, surpass'.

Na kasa ka tsawo. = Ban kai ka tsawo ba. Bakwai ya kasa takwas. = Bakwai bai kai takwas ba.

'I am less tall than you.' ("I am less than you [in] height.') = 'I am not equal to you [in] height.' 'Seven is less than eight.' = 'Seven is not as much as eight.'

EQUATIVES: 'I am as tall as you'

• Back to top

Comparatives expressing equality use the verb kai 'be equal to' (which, in other contexts, means 'reach, get as far as'). Sentence structure and use of tense marking is the same as for fi 'exceed, surpass'.

Na kai ka tsawo. Daura ta kai Katsina nisa.

'I am as tall as you.' ("I reach you [in] height.") 'Daura is as far as Katsina.' ("Daura reaches Katsina [in] distance.')

"EXCESSIVES": 'the tea is too hot'

• Back to top

Hausa expresses the notion of "too" in the sense of "excessively" with the verb yi 'do'. There are two possible ways to use yi this way. (See remarks on fi 'exceed, surpass' for comments on verb tense and a list of quality words.)

(1) Quality + yi + yawa 'abundance:

Zafin shayi ya yi yawa. Duhun kai ya yi yawa a nan.

'The tea is too hot.' ("The heat of the tea does abundance.") 'There is too much ignorance here.' ("Darkness of head does abundance here.")

(2) Subject + yi (+affected person/thing) + quality:

Shayi ya yi zafi. Wannan riga ta yi mini tsada.

'The tea is too hot.' ("The tea does heat.") 'This robe is too expensive for me.' ("This robe does to me expensiveness.")

Yi does not really mean 'be too much'. The notion of "excessiveness" comes from context and the knowledge of desirability of particular properties. Yi + quality word is often more or less equivalent to the 'have' construction with a quality word, e.g.

Wannan riga ta yi kyau. Wannan riga tana da kyau.

'This robe is beautiful.' ("This robe does beauty.") 'This robe is beautiful.' ("This robe has beauty.')