SENTENCES
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EXPRESSING "BE" |
Hausa has no verb 'be'. It uses several
different types of constructions to express concepts for which
English uses the single verb 'be'.
Identification |
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'I am a student', 'that is a book' |
BASIC IDENTIFICATIONAL SENTENCES: NE and CE
Hausa sentences that express identification of a person or thing use a word ce if the person or thing being identified is feminine singular and a word ne if the person or thing being identified is masculine singular or is plural (regardless of gender of the singular). In a simple statement, ne or ce is at the end of the sentence. (Although one might translate ne or ce as 'is', 'are', and so on, these words are NOT verbs).
| Masculine nouns | Bala d'alibi
ne. Wannan rago ne. Wancan littafi ne. |
'Bala is
a student.' 'This is a ram.' 'That is a book.' |
| Feminine nouns | Zainab d'aliba
ce. Wannan tinkiya ce. Waccan jarida ce. |
'Zainab is
a student.' 'This is a ewe.' 'That is a newspaper.' |
| Plural nouns | Bala da Zainab
d'alibai ne. Wad'annan raguna ne. Wad'annan tumaki ne. Wad'ancan littattafai ne. Wad'ancan jaridu ne. |
'Bala and
Zainab are students.' 'These are rams.' 'These are sheep.' 'Those are books.' 'Those are newspapers.' |
TONES OF NE AND CE
Ne and ce always have tone opposite the preceding syllable, i.e. High tone after Low and Low tone after High. (The grave accent, ` , above a vowel shows that the syllable has Low tone.)
IDENTIFICATIONAL SENTENCES WITH PRONOUN SUBJECT
If the subject of an identificational sentence is a pronoun, the independent pronoun is used. See the full paradigm of the independent pronouns.
Ni d'alibi ne.
Ni d'aliba ce.'I am a (male) student.'
'I am a (female) student.'Mu d'alibai ne. 'We are students.' Kai shugaba ne. 'You (m) are the leader.' Ku malamai ne. 'You (pl) are teachers.' Ke malama ce. 'You (f) are a teacher.' Shi sarki ne. 'He is the chief.' Su sarakuna ne. 'They are chiefs.' Ita sarauniya ce. 'She is the queen.'
IT'S ...': IDENTIFICATIONAL SENTENCES WITH NO EXPRESSED SUBJECT
A noun or pronoun can be used alone with ne or ce to mean 'its ...' or 'they're ...'.
Bala ne.
Rago ne.
Littafi ne.
Ni ne.
Kai ne.
Shi ne.Zainab ce.
Tinkiya ce.
Jarida ce.
Ni ce.
Ke ce.
Ita ce.Zainab da Bala ne.
Tumaki ne.
Littattafai ne.
Mu ne.
Ku ne.
Su ne.'It's Bala.'
'It's a ram.'
'It's a book.'
'It's me.' (male speaking)
'It's you.' (speaking to a male)
'It's him.'It's Zainab.
'It's a ewe.'
'It's a newspaper.'
'It's me.' (female speaking)
'It's you.' (speaking to a female)
'It's her.''It's Zainab and Bala.'
'They're sheep.'
'They're books.'
'It's us.'
'It's you.' (speaking to a group)
'It's them.'
'WHAT IS IT?', 'WHO IS IT?': IDENTIFICATIONAL QUESTIONS
Basic identificational questions have the following forms:
If the name of the person or thing asked about is expressed, it usually follows the expressions above unless it is a pronoun, in which case it usually precedes:
Mene ne wannan?
Mene ne "turmi"?Wane ne wancan?
Wane ne Sir Alhaji Ahmadu Bello?
Shi wane ne?Wace ce waccan?
Wace ce Sarauniya Daurama?
Ita wace ce?Su wane ne wad'ancan mutane?
Ku su wane ne?'What is this?'
'What is a "turmi"?'Who is that?' (referring to a male human)
'Who was Sir Alhaji Ahmadu Bello?'
'Who is he?''Who is that?' (referring to a female human)
'Who was Queen Daurama?'
'Who is she?''Who are those people?'
'Who are you?' (speaking to a group)
In everyday speech, one often hears contracted forms Me ye? 'What is it? and Wa ye? 'Who is it?' Parallel to Wace ce? 'Who is it?', which can be used when one knows that the referent is female, one occasionally hears Mece ce? 'What is it (feminine)?' when it is known that the thing in question is of feminine gender.
NEGATIVE IDENTIFICATIONAL SENTENCES
To express the notion of "not be", ba with long vowel and low tone precedes the negated part and ba with high tone and short vowel follows it. Ne or ce follow the second ba. The ba...ba can surround just a noun or pronoun to mean 'it's not ...', 'he's not ...', 'she's not ...'.
Bala ba malami ba ne.
Wannan ba rago ba ne.
Ni ba d'alibi ba ne.
Ba Bala ba ne.
Ba shi ba ne.Zainab ba malama ba ce.
Wannan ba tinkiya ba ce.
Ke ba d'aliba ba ce.
Ba Zainab ba ce.
Ba ita ba ce.Bala da Zainab ba d'alibai ba ne.
Wad'ancan ba tumaki ba ne.
Su ba malamai ba ne.
Ba littattafai ba ne.
Ba mu ba ne.'Bala is not a teacher.'
'This is not a ram.'
'I am not a student.'
'It's not Bala.'
'It's not him.''Zainab is not a teacher.'
'This is not a ewe.'
'You (f) are not a student.'
'It's not Zainab.'
'It's not her.''Bala and Zainab are not students.'
'These are not sheep.'
'They are not teachers.'
'They're not books.'
'It's not us.'
EMPHASIZING WORDS IN IDENTIFICATIONAL SENTENCES
In order to put emphasis on the subject of an identificational sentence, ne or ce follows the subject. This turn of phrase is particularly common in sentences of the following type, where the person thing to be identified is either seen or known in advance. The person or thing is first referred to by a demonstrative 'this' or 'that', then the identificational sentence has a pronoun subject with ne or ce following:
Wannan, ita ce akwiya.
Wannan, shi ne bunsuru.
Wad'annan, su ne shanu.'This one, IT is a goat.' = 'THIS ONE is a goat.'
'This one, IT is a billy-goat.' = 'THIS ONE is a billy-goat.'
'These, THEY are cows.' = 'THESE are cows.'
NAMES AS PREDICATE: 'my name is Zainab'; 'what is your name?'
In English, sentences like 'my teacher is John' and 'my name is John' have identical form. In Hausa, they are different. Whereas the first would be a normal identificational sentence ending in ne or ce (malamina John ne), the latter, with "name" as the subject and a proper name as predicate, never ends in ne or ce--one simply says '... name' + the proper name.
Sunana D'anladi.
Sunansa Musa.Sunana Zainab.
Sunanta Hadiza.'My name is D'anladi.'
'His name is Musa.''My name is Zainab.'
'Her name is Hadiza.'
Likewise, in English, questions like 'what is your job?' and 'what is your name?' have identical form. In Hausa, the first would be a regular identificational question asking 'what is ...?' (mene ne aikinka?). The latter is most commonly expressed using yaya?, literally 'how?'
Yaya sunanka?
Yaya sunanki?Yaya sunansa?
'What's your name?' (speaking to a male)
'What's your name?' (speaking to a female)'What's his name?'
(Some speakers do use mene ne? in name questions, i.e. Mene ne sunanka? 'What's your name?'. Others use wa(ne ne)? 'who?', i.e. Wa sunanka? 'What is your name?')
A QUANTITY AS PREDICATE: 'there are two of us'; 'he has two wives'; 'my arm is 24 inches long'
In a number of expressions where English uses a number to modify a noun or pronoun, Hausa uses a construction where the number is in the predicate of an identificational sentence. These sentences are something like stilted or archaic constructions such 'we are two' (= 'there are two of us'), 'his wives are two' (= 'he has two wives').
Q: Ku nawa ne?
A: Me biyu ne.D'alibai hamsin ne.
'How many of you are there?' ('You are how many?')
'There are two of us.' ('We are two.')'There are fifty students.' ('The students are fifty.')
If the subject includes a possessive, ne or ce is absent.
Q: Matanka nawa?
A: Matana biyu.Q: How many wives do you have? (Your wives are how many?)
A: I have two wives. (My wives are two.)Q: Shekarunsa nawa?
A: Shekarunsa sha biyu.Q: How old is he? (His years are how many?)
A: He is 12 years old. (His years are twelve.)Tsawon hannuka inci ashirin da hud'u. Your arm is 24 inches long. (The length of your arm is 24 inches.)
