Twenty Common Hausa Verbs and How They Behave

A small set of verbs carries much of daily Hausa. Here are twenty, with examples you can adapt by changing the pronoun and tense marker.

The list

Verb	Meaning	Verb-noun (for "-ing")
je	go (to a place)	tafiya
zo	come	zuwa
ci	eat	cin
sha	drink	sha
gani	see	gani
ji	hear, feel	ji
yi	do, make	yi
so	like, love, want	so
sani	know	sani
ba	give	bayarwa
ɗauka	take, pick up	ɗauka
saya	buy	saye
sayar	sell	sayarwa
karanta	read, study	karatu
rubuta	write	rubutu
zauna	sit, live	zama
yi aiki	work	aiki
jira	wait	jira
taimaka	help	taimako
yi magana	speak	magana

Examples in three tenses

ci (eat):

• Na ci abinci. — I ate.
• Ina cin abinci. — I'm eating.
• Zan ci abinci. — I'll eat.

karanta (read):

• Ya karanta littafi. — He read a book.
• Yana karanta littafi. — He's reading a book.
• Zai karanta littafi. — He'll read a book.

saya (buy):

• Na saya doya. — I bought yams.
• Ina saye a kasuwa. — I'm shopping at the market.
• Zan saya shinkafa. — I'll buy rice.

Verbs with "aiki" and "magana"

Many actions use yi (to do) plus a noun: yi aiki (to work), yi magana (to speak), yi wasa (to play), yi wanka (to bathe).

• Ina aiki a Kano. — I work in Kano.
• Suna magana. — They're talking.

Verbs of movement

• je (go) is used with a place: Na je kasuwa. — I went to the market.
• zo (come) is used toward the speaker: Ka zo nan. — Come here.
• tafi (leave, go away): Ya tafi. — He's gone.
• dawo (return, come back): Zan dawo gobe. — I'll come back tomorrow.
• shiga (enter): Ka shiga. — Come in.
• fita (go out): Ya fita.

Verbs of stance and living

• zauna (sit, stay, live): Ina zaune a Kaduna. — I live in Kaduna.
• tashi (get up): Na tashi da wuri. — I got up early.
• kwana (spend the night): Na kwana lafiya. — I spent the night well.

Verbs of saying and knowing

• faɗa / ce (say, tell): Ya ce zai zo. — He said he'll come.
• tambaya (ask a question)
• amsa (answer)
• sani (know): Na san shi. — I know him.
• gane (understand, recognise): Na gane. — I understand.

Verb-nouns

The continuous form uses a verb-noun, whose shape varies from verb to verb. Learn the verb-noun together with the verb, as dictionaries and courses list them, and check the table above for common ones.

Object pronouns

Hausa attaches pronouns to verbs to show the object: Na gan shi. — I saw him. Ya ba ni. — He gave me. Na gode maka. — I thank you (to a man). Na gode miki. — I thank you (to a woman).

Learning strategy

1. Learn the verb and its verb-noun together.
2. Practise with the three tense markers.
3. Group verbs by theme.
4. Use them in short sentences about your day.

Common mistakes

• Using the plain verb after ina instead of the verb-noun.
• Forgetting the pronoun marker.
• Confusing je and zo (going and coming).

Look up Hausa verbs with English Hausa Dictionary →