Saying No and Not in Hausa: Ba ... Ba, Babu and Ban

Hausa negatives often wrap the sentence in two small words, ba at the start and ba at the end. It's a neat pattern, and easy to use once you spot it.

The basic idea: ba ... ba

The first ba goes before the verb phrase and the second ba goes at the end:

• Ba na zuwa ba. — I'm not coming.
• Ba ya cin nama ba. — He doesn't eat meat.
• Ba zan tafi ba. — I won't go.

Note that the pronoun forms change in some tenses when a negative is used, as the tables below show.

Negative of the completive: "I didn't"

For finished actions, the negative uses special forms of the pronoun:

Person	Negative marker
I	ban
you (m.)	ba ka
you (f.)	ba ki
he	bai
she	ba ta
we	ba mu
you (pl.)	ba ku
they	ba su

Examples:

• Ban ci abinci ba. — I didn't eat.
• Bai zo ba. — He didn't come.
• Ba ta tafi ba. — She didn't go.
• Ban sani ba. — I don't know.
• Ban gane ba. — I didn't understand.

Negative of the continuous

The continuous negative uses ba + the pronoun and the verb-noun:

• Ba na cin abinci. — I'm not eating.
• Ba su zuwa. — They're not coming.

Negative of the future

• Ba zan zo ba. — I won't come.
• Ba za ka tafi ba. — You won't go.
• Ba za mu ci ba. — We won't eat.

Negative with nouns and "to be"

To say "this is not X", use ba ... ba ne / ba ce:

• Wannan ba littafi ba ne. — This isn't a book.
• Ita ba malama ba ce. — She isn't a teacher.
• Ni ba mai kuɗi ba ne. — I'm not rich.

Babu: there is no / I have no

Babu means "there is no" or "without":

• Babu ruwa. — There's no water.
• Babu matsala. — No problem.
• Babu komai. — There's nothing.
• Babu wanda ya zo. — Nobody came.

The opposite of babu is akwai (there is): Akwai ruwa. — There's water.

To say "I don't have":

• Ba ni da kuɗi. — I have no money.
• Ba shi da mota. — He doesn't have a car.

Negative words

• ba komai — nothing, it's nothing (also "you're welcome")
• babu kowa — nobody
• ba sosai — not very
• ba haka ba — not so
• a'a — no

Useful phrases

• A'a, na gode. — No, thank you.
• Ba laifi. — No problem, no offence.
• Ba komai. — It's nothing, you're welcome.
• Ban san shi ba. — I don't know him.
• Ban ji ba. — I didn't hear.

Politeness

A plain a'a is fine among friends, but softening a refusal with na gode (thank you) is polite.

Learning tips

1. Learn the ba ... ba frame.
2. Memorise ban and bai.
3. Learn babu and akwai as a pair.
4. Practise negatives by contradicting simple sentences.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the second ba.
• Using the positive pronoun markers with ba in the completive.
• Mixing babu and ba.

Look up Hausa words with English Hausa Dictionary →