 VERBAL
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Verbal Nouns: General
Remarks
Verbal nouns are words based on verbs
but which can be used as nouns. Verbal nouns can be used like
any other noun, say, as a subject or object of a sentence. Hausa
also requires a verbal noun as the form of the verb in the continuative.
The examples below illustrate some uses of verbal nouns with the
verbal noun tafiya 'traveling', which comes from the verb
tafi 'go, leave'.
| Subject
of sentence: |
Tafiya tana bud'e
ido. |
'Traveling
opens the eyes.' |
| Object
of a verb: |
Na sha tafiya. |
"I traveled
a lot.", literally, 'I drank traveling.' |
| Verb in
continuative: |
Suna tafiya
bana. |
'They are
traveling this year.' |
Verbal nouns are two main types:
- -wa verbal nouns,
which add an ending -wa to the base verb. If one were
to simply count all the verbs of Hausa, the vast majority of
those verbs would take -wa verbal nouns. However, many
of the more frequently used verbs of Hausa do not use
-waverbal nouns. (See a list of some verbs
with -wa verbal nouns.)
-
- non-wa verbal
nouns, which change the
final vowel and/or tone of the base verb, or, in some cases,
are identical to the base verb. Many of the more frequently used
verbs of Hausa require non-wa verbal nouns, and
many verbs that have -wa verbal nouns have a second (in
some cases, even a 3rd) verbal noun which is of a non-wa
type. (See a list of some verbs
with non-wa verbal nouns.)
-wa Verbal
Nouns
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Formation of -wa
Verbal Nouns
Form a -wa verbal noun in the
following way:
- Add -wa to the base verb.
-
- If the last syllable of the verb has
High tone, change the tone to Falling. (There is one exception:
if the verb ends in -u, e.g. taru 'gather', the tone remains
High.)
-
- See a list of representative verbs with -wa
verbal nouns
Classes of verbs taking
of -wa Verbal Nouns
With fewer than 10 exceptions, all verbs
with the following characteristics can use -wa verbal nouns:
- Verbs which begin with High tone and
end in -a or -e
-
- The monosyllabic verbs sa 'put
on, cause', ce 'say', and kai 'carry'
-
- Verbs which have all high tones and
end in -ar ("Causative" verbs)
-
- Verbs which have all high tones and
end in -o (verbs indicating "action toward the speaker")
-
- Verbs which begin in low tone and
end in -u ("intransitive" or "passive"
verbs)
In the Verbal Grade System, these are Grades 1, 4,
5, 6, and 7 respectively.
See a list of representative verbs with -wa
verbal nouns