Possession in Hausa: Gidan Audu, Kasuwar Kano and Littafina

Hausa expresses possession with short endings that attach to the noun. Once you learn the pattern, you can say who owns what.

"Of": the linkers -n and -r

To link two nouns ("the house of Audu"), Hausa changes the ending of the first noun (the thing owned) and puts the owner after it:

• Masculine or plural nouns take -n: gida + -n → gidan Audu (Audu's house)
• Feminine nouns take -r: kasuwa + -r → kasuwar Kano (Kano's market)

More examples:

• littafin malami — the teacher's book (littafi, m.)
• motar mai gida — the landlord's car (mota, f.)
• sunan yaro — the boy's name
• ƙasar Najeriya — the country of Nigeria (Nigeria's land)
• ɗakin karatu — the library (room of reading)
• ruwan sama — rain (water of the sky)

Notice that nouns ending in -a change, as kasuwa becomes kasuwar, and other endings shift too.

My, your, his: the possessive endings

Hausa has possessive endings attached to the noun:

Owner	With masculine/plural noun	With feminine noun
my	-na	-ta
your (m.)	-nka	-rka
your (f.)	-nki	-rki
his	-nsa	-rsa
her	-nta	-rta
our	-mu	-mu
your (pl.)	-nku	-rku
their	-nsu	-rsu

The two columns depend on the gender of the noun owned (not the owner).

Examples:

• littafina — my book (littafi, m.)
• motata — my car (mota, f.)
• gidanka — your (m.) house
• kasuwarka — your (m.) market
• sunansa — his name
• sunanta — her name
• gidanmu — our house
• motarsu — their car

"Have": ina da

Possession also uses da (with): Ina da littafi. — I have a book. Yana da mota. — He has a car. Ba ni da kuɗi. — I have no money.

Belonging: nawa / naka

Independent forms help you say "mine" and "yours":

• na (masculine/plural) and ta (feminine) mean "of": Wannan na Audu ne. — This is Audu's.
• nawa — mine (masculine), tawa — mine (feminine)
• naka, taka — yours (m.)
• naki, taki — yours (f.)
• nasa, tasa — his
• nata, tata — hers
• namu, tamu — ours

Example: Wannan littafi nawa ne. — This book is mine.

Family and relationships

Possessive endings are used with family words too: ɗana (my son) and ƴata (my daughter).

Asking "whose?"

Na wane ne wannan? — Whose is this? (masculine) Ta wace ce wannan? — Whose is this? (feminine).

Learning tips

1. Learn the linkers -n and -r.
2. Learn the possessive set.
3. Identify the gender of the noun.
4. Practise with family and belongings.

Common mistakes

• Matching the linker to the owner's gender instead of the thing owned.
• Forgetting to change the noun's ending.

Look up Hausa nouns and gender with English Hausa Dictionary →