Hausa has a genuine adjective class, but it is much smaller than the English one. Core members express properties such as size, length, age, newness, and color. They agree with the noun in masculine singular, feminine singular, or plural, and their most frequent attributive pattern places the adjective before the noun with a linker.
All unlabelled forms are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). The paradigms must be learned lexically: knowing the masculine form does not always let you predict the feminine and plural mechanically.
For the wider division between adjectives and quality nouns, begin with how Hausa expresses properties. This page concentrates on the words that really do inflect as adjectives.
The basic pre-nominal pattern
The ordinary pattern is:
agreeing adjective + linker + noun
The linker is written on the adjective: -n with a masculine singular or plural form and -r with a feminine singular form. It connects the description to its head noun.
Babban gida yana ƙarshen titin.
A big house is at the end of the street.
Babbar mota ta tsaya a gaban shagon.
A big car stopped in front of the shop.
Manyan gidaje suna wajen gari.
The big houses are outside town.
The adjective babba has the same free form for masculine and feminine singular, but the linked forms reveal agreement: babban versus babbar. Its plural is suppletive manya, hence manyan. This is exactly why “just add -n” is not a complete account.
Four useful paradigms
| Meaning | Masculine | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| big | babba / babban | babba / babbar | manya / manyan |
| small | ƙarami / ƙaramin | ƙarama / ƙaramar | ƙanana / ƙananan |
| tall, long | dogo / dogon | doguwa / doguwar | dogaye / dogayen |
| new | sabo / sabon | sabuwa / sabuwar | sababbi / sababbin |
Forms before the slash are free forms; those after it are linked forms used before nouns. Notice four different plural relationships: babba → manya, ƙarami → ƙanana, dogo → dogaye, and sabo → sababbi. Hausa adjective plurals are not made with one regular suffix.
Masculine, feminine, and plural in real descriptions
Ƙaramin shago yana kusa da tashar.
A small shop is near the station.
Ƙaramar yarinya ta manta jakarta.
A little girl forgot her bag.
Ƙananan yara biyu suna buga ƙwallo a tsakar gida.
Two small children are playing football in the courtyard.
Dogon yaro ya taimaka mini ɗaukar akwatin.
A tall boy helped me carry the box.
Doguwar bishiya tana ba mu inuwa.
A tall tree gives us shade.
Dogayen layuka sun cika harabar bankin.
Long lines filled the bank compound.
The noun controls the form. Shago is masculine, yarinya and bishiya are feminine, and yara/layuka are plural. Natural sex matters only where it aligns with the noun's grammatical gender; an inanimate feminine noun such as bishiya still selects doguwa.
Color adjectives belong to the core, too
Color words provide clear agreement sets:
| Meaning | Masculine | Feminine | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| white | fari | fara | farare |
| black | baƙi | baƙa | baƙaƙe |
| red | ja | ja | jajaye |
Farar saniya tana wajen rijiya.
A white cow is by the well.
Na ɗauki baƙin wando, ba shuɗin ba.
I took the black trousers, not the blue ones.
Jajayen motoci sun yi layi a gaban bankin.
Red cars lined up in front of the bank.
Here farar, baƙin, and jajayen combine the agreeing adjective with its linker. The plural of “red” is not simply ja plus -n: the adjective first becomes jajaye, then takes -n.
Attributive is not the same as predicative
Compare an adjective inside a noun phrase with a complete claim about a known referent:
Na karanta sabon littafi jiya.
I read a new book yesterday.
Littafin sabo ne; an buga shi bana.
The book is new; it was published this year.
Ta sayi sabuwar waya a kasuwa.
She bought a new phone at the market.
Wayar sabuwa ce, amma batirinta ba shi da kyau.
The phone is new, but its battery is not good.
Pre-nominal sabon/sabuwar is attributive. In the predicate, the free adjective follows the noun and takes final ne for masculine or ce for feminine. The construction sabon littafi ne instead classifies something as “a new book”: “it is a new book.” These meanings overlap in some contexts but the information structure differs.
Core adjectives versus mai phrases
Do not force every English modifier into the adjective pattern. Compare dogo, a core adjective, with ƙarfi, a quality noun:
Dogon jaki yana gaban garken.
A tall donkey is in front of the herd.
Jaki mai ƙarfi ya ɗauki buhunan.
A strong donkey carried the sacks.
There is no ordinary agreeing series ƙarfi/ƙarfa/ƙarfe meaning “strong.” Hausa uses mai ƙarfi for singular heads and masu ƙarfi for plural heads.
Shanu masu ƙarfi ne suka ja keken.
It was strong cattle that pulled the cart.
This contrast is a word-class distinction, not a choice between two freely interchangeable adjective orders.
Post-nominal attributive order
The same core adjective can follow its noun without a linker, often when the quality is contrasted or selected:
Ina so ka kawo mini littafi sabo, ba tsoho ba.
I want you to bring me a NEW book, not an old one.
Ta nuna mini motoci manya da ƙanana.
She showed me big and small cars.
Agreement remains: littafi sabo, not feminine sabuwa; plural motoci manya/ƙanana, not singular babba/ƙarami. Only the linker disappears.
Practice: build the whole phrase
Sabon ɗalibi yana zaune kusa da Ali.
The new male student is sitting near Ali.
Sabuwar ɗaliba tana zaune kusa da Aisha.
The new female student is sitting near Aisha.
Sababbin ɗalibai sun zo da wuri.
The new students arrived early.
Each sentence requires two decisions: choose the correct adjective stem and then attach the appropriate linker. The noun's grammatical features control both.
Common Mistakes
1. Adding a linker to the masculine dictionary form without changing the stem.
❌ Babban gidaje suna wajen gari.
Incorrect — gidaje is plural and ‘big’ has the plural stem manya.
✅ Manyan gidaje suna can wajen gari.
Big houses are over there outside town.
2. Using masculine agreement with a feminine noun.
❌ Na sayi sabon waya.
Incorrect — waya is feminine.
✅ Na sayi sabuwar waya.
I bought a new phone.
3. Omitting the linker before a noun.
❌ Dogo yaro yana jira.
Incorrect in the ordinary pre-nominal attributive pattern.
✅ Dogon yaro yana jira.
A tall boy is waiting.
4. Inventing adjective agreement on a quality noun.
❌ Ƙarfar saniya ta ja keken.
Incorrect — ƙarfin is not an agreeing adjective meaning ‘strong.’
✅ Saniya mai ƙarfi ta ja keken.
A strong cow pulled the cart.
5. Keeping singular agreement after a plural noun.
❌ Na ga yara dogo a filin.
Incorrect — the post-nominal adjective still agrees in number.
✅ Na ga yara dogaye a filin.
I saw tall children on the field.
Key Takeaways
- Core adjectives form masculine, feminine, and plural agreement sets.
- The common pre-nominal pattern adds -n to masculine/plural forms and -r to feminine forms.
- Learn irregular paradigms whole: babba—babba—manya, sabo—sabuwa—sababbi.
- Post-nominal adjectives keep agreement but take no linker.
- Quality nouns such as ƙarfi require another construction, normally mai/masu.
Related Topics
- How Hausa Expresses PropertiesA1 — Choose among true adjectives, mai or masu phrases, quality nouns, and verbal expressions when describing people and things in Hausa.
- Masculine and Feminine Adjective FormsA1 — Match Hausa singular adjectives to masculine and feminine nouns in linked attributive phrases and in predicates with ne and ce.
- Plural Adjective FormsA1 — Use Hausa plural adjective stems with plural nouns before the noun, after it, and in property predicates.
- Adjectives before and after NounsA1 — Distinguish the common linked adjective-before-noun pattern from post-nominal contrast, quality-noun phrases, and adjectival predicates.
- Color Words in Noun PhrasesA1 — How Hausa color words agree with nouns and appear in pre-nominal, post-nominal, and predicative descriptions.
- Gender Agreement beyond the NounA1 — Learn how a Hausa noun's gender controls copulas, demonstratives, definite forms, and genitive linkers across the noun phrase.