Hausa Prepositions: A, Cikin, Kan, Daga, Zuwa and Da

Hausa uses short words and noun-based phrases where English uses prepositions. A small set covers most of daily life.

The essentials

Hausa	Meaning	Example
a	in, at	a gida — at home; a Kano — in Kano
cikin / a cikin	inside, in	a cikin gida — inside the house
kan / a kan	on	a kan tebur — on the table
daga	from	daga Kano — from Kano
zuwa	to, towards	zuwa kasuwa — to the market
da	with, and	da mota — by car; ni da kai — you and I
ga	to, for; here is	ga shi — here he is
don / domin	for, in order to	don Allah — please (for God's sake)
wurin / wajen	at, to (a place or person)	wurin malami — at the teacher's
kusa da	near	kusa da gida — near the house
nesa da	far from	nesa da gari — far from town
gaban	in front of	gaban gida — in front of the house
bayan	behind, after	bayan gida — behind the house
tsakanin	between	tsakanin Kano da Kaduna — between Kano and Kaduna
kafin	before	kafin gobe — before tomorrow
har	until, up to	har yamma — until evening

Examples in sentences

• Ina zaune a Kano. — I live in Kano.
• Na zo daga Sokoto. — I've come from Sokoto.
• Zan tafi kasuwa. — I'm going to the market.
• Littafi yana kan tebur. — The book is on the table.
• Yana zaune tare da iyalinsa. — He lives with his family.
• Na zo da mota. — I came by car.
• Mun tafi wurin likita. — We went to the doctor.
• Kasuwa tana kusa da tasha. — The market is near the station.

"With" and "and": da

Da is very frequent and means "with", "and" (joining nouns) and "by means of":

• Audu da Musa — Audu and Musa
• Ina rubutu da alƙalami. — I'm writing with a pen.
• Na tafi da abokina. — I went with my friend.

Note: to join verbs or clauses, Hausa uses kuma (and also) or other words.

"To" a person: ga and wurin

• Ga malami. — Here is the teacher.
• Na tafi wurin abokina. — I went to my friend's place.

The word ga also means "here is/are": Ga ruwa. — Here's water. Ga ni. — Here I am.

Noun-based prepositions

Many words that work like prepositions are nouns, and take the linker -n or -r:

• gaban gida (front of the house)
• bayan makaranta (after school)
• cikin gari (inside the town)

Time expressions

• da safe — in the morning
• a ranar Litinin — on Monday
• bayan aiki — after work
• kafin Sallah — before Sallah

Useful phrases

• Ina tasha? — Where's the station?
• Ka bi wannan hanya. — Follow this road. (to a man)
• Kai tsaye. — Straight ahead.
• Tsaya a nan. — Stop here.

Learning tips

1. Learn the ten main words in the table.
2. Learn noun-based forms as fixed phrases.
3. Practise place descriptions.
4. Use da often.

Common mistakes

• Using da to join sentences.
• Translating English prepositions word for word.

Look up Hausa words with English Hausa Dictionary →