For the small class of true Hausa adjectives, the basic descriptive statement has the shape subject + agreeing adjective + ne/ce. Thus Gidan babba ne means “the house is big,” while Motar babba ce means “the car is big.” The adjective agrees with the subject, and the clause-final copula agrees independently: ce for feminine singular, ne for masculine singular and every plural.
English uses one verb be before an unchanged adjective. Hausa puts ne/ce after the predicate and has no ordinary subject–TAM marker in this construction. Unless marked otherwise, the patterns below are neutral in both (informal) Nigerian Standard speech and (formal) prose.
The core agreement pattern
The predicate adjective appears in its free form—without the attributive linker -n or -r.
| Subject class | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | subject + masculine adjective + ne | Gidan babba ne. |
| feminine singular | subject + feminine adjective + ce | Motar babba ce. |
| plural | subject + plural adjective + ne | Gidajen manya ne. |
Littafin sabo ne, amma murfinsa ya ɗan yage.
The book is new, but its cover is slightly torn.
Jaridar sabuwa ce; ta iso da safe.
The newspaper is new; it arrived this morning.
Littattafan sababbi ne, ba na bara ba.
The books are new, not last year's ones.
Ƙofar baƙa ce, bangon kuma fari ne.
The door is black, while the wall is white.
The forms sabo/sabuwa/sababbi and fari/fara/farare show why agreement cannot be assigned only to the copula. A plural subject needs both plural adjective morphology and ne. A feminine subject needs both the feminine adjective form where it is distinct and ce.
ne and ce are copulas, not ordinary verbs
It is useful to translate ne/ce as “is/are,” but they do not behave like Hausa verbs. They do not take the regular subject–TAM markers, they have a gender contrast that verbs lack, and in the neutral pattern they stand at the end of the clause.
Bala dogo ne.
Bala is tall.
Zainab doguwa ce.
Zainab is tall.
Bala da Zainab dogaye ne.
Bala and Zainab are tall.
Do not insert yana/tana before the adjective. Those forms belong to continuative verbal, locative, existential, and da constructions. If the property is expressed by a true adjective such as dogo, use the adjectival copular construction. If it is expressed by a quality noun such as tsawo “height,” then yana da tsawo is possible with a different internal structure.
This difference is hidden by the English translation:
| Hausa | Grammar | Natural English |
|---|---|---|
| Bala dogo ne. | true adjective + copula | Bala is tall. |
| Bala yana da tsawo. | “has height” with a quality noun | Bala is tall. |
The two sentences can converge in meaning, but learners should not combine their pieces into a hybrid.
Pronoun subjects are independent pronouns
When the subject is a pronoun, use the independent series: ni, kai, ke, shi, ita, mu, ku, su. A first-person speaker chooses an adjective and copula according to their own gender in the singular.
Ni dogo ne, amma ƙanena ya fi ni tsawo.
I am tall (male speaker), but my younger brother is taller than me.
Ni doguwa ce, kuma ’yar’uwata ma doguwa ce.
I am tall (female speaker), and my sister is tall too.
Ke gajeriya ce, amma kina tafiya da sauri.
You are short (addressing one female), but you walk quickly.
Su ƙanana ne tukuna; kada a bar su su tafi su kaɗai.
They are still small; don't let them go alone.
The independent pronoun is necessary because ne/ce does not contain the subject agreement carried by a verbal subject–TAM marker. Compare Ita doguwa ce “she is tall” with verbal Tana tafiya “she is walking.”
Attributive and predicative shapes
An adjective before a noun takes a linker, but a predicate adjective does not. This is a structural difference, not optional spelling.
Doguwar hanyar tana bi ta cikin daji.
The long road passes through the forest.
Hanyar doguwa ce, don haka mu tashi da wuri.
The road is long, so let's leave early.
Na sayi sabon littafi jiya.
I bought a new book yesterday.
Littafin sabo ne, amma na riga na karanta shi.
The book is new, but I have already read it.
In doguwar hanya, -r links the adjective to a feminine noun. In Hanyar doguwa ce, the adjective is a predicate and therefore remains doguwa. Likewise, attributive sabon loses its linker in predicate sabo ne. The general positional contrast appears on Adjectives before and after Nouns.
What the construction says about time
The simple ne/ce pattern presents a property as valid in the discourse situation. It does not itself carry the full tense–aspect–mood contrasts of a verb. Time can be supplied by context or an adverb, but a change of state is often better expressed by a verb.
Yanzu ɗakin tsaftatacce ne bayan mun share shi.
Now the room is clean after we swept it.
A da yaron gajere ne; yanzu ya yi tsawo.
The boy used to be short; now he has grown tall.
The second sentence contrasts a formerly applicable property with a change expressed through yi tsawo “become tall/grow.” English freely changes is to was; Hausa may instead use time phrases, context, or a more explicitly eventive construction. This is why ne/ce should not be treated as a fully conjugating verb “to be.”
Negating the property
The standard negative surrounds the rejected predicate with ba ... ba, while ne/ce remains after the second ba. A later page treats the possible scopes in detail; at this stage, learn the frame.
Gidan ba babba ba ne, amma ya isa iyalinmu.
The house is not big, but it is enough for our family.
Motar ba sabuwa ba ce; an saye ta shekaru biyar da suka wuce.
The car is not new; it was bought five years ago.
Waɗannan takalman ba baƙaƙe ba ne; farare ne.
These shoes are not black; they are white.
Notice again that feminine mota selects ce even under negation, while plural takalma selects ne. Negation does not erase subject agreement.
Choosing this construction rather than yana da
Use adjective + ne/ce when the property word is a true adjective with agreement forms: babba, dogo, fari, sabo, and many derived adjectives. Use yana/tana/suna da when the Hausa property word is a noun: kyau “beauty,” ƙarfi “strength,” kaifi “sharpness,” or wayo “cleverness.”
The intended standard meaning “the knife is sharp” is therefore Wuƙar tana da kaifi, literally “the knife is with sharpness,” not a hybrid made from kaifi plus ne. This explanation is (academic/pedagogical); in ordinary conversation, simply use the natural tana da sentence.
Agreement follows the subject, not the English translation
The choice of ne or ce is controlled by the grammatical class of the Hausa subject phrase. It is not controlled by whether the person being described is male or female unless that biological distinction is actually reflected in the subject noun, and it is not controlled by the shape of the predicate.
Mace doguwa ce.
The woman is tall.
Mutum dogo ne.
The person/man is tall.
Mata dogaye ne.
The women are tall.
Plural mata refers to women, but Hausa plural agreement selects dogaye ne, not feminine singular doguwa ce. Likewise, an inanimate noun has grammatical gender: feminine hanya gives Hanyar doguwa ce, while masculine layi gives Layin dogo ne. Learning a noun's definite form and its agreeing words is therefore more reliable than guessing from meaning or spelling.
This is particularly important with a compound or coordinated subject. Once the subject denotes more than one entity, plural agreement normally takes over.
Gida da mota sababbi ne, amma har yanzu muna biyan bashinsu.
The house and the car are new, but we are still paying their debt.
Here one masculine noun and one feminine noun form a plural coordination. The adjective is plural sababbi and the copula is plural ne.
Practice
Complete each description by matching both the adjective and the copula.
- riga
- white: Rigar fara ce.
- gida
- big: Gidan babba ne.
- motoci
- new: Motocin sababbi ne.
- female speaker + short: Ni gajeriya ce.
A ganina, ɗakin farko ya fi dacewa, ko da yake ƙarami ne.
In my view, the first room is more suitable, although it is small.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting the copula before the adjective
❌ Gidan ne babba.
Incorrect as the neutral statement 'The house is big'; this order instead suggests focus on 'the house.'
✅ Gidan babba ne.
The house is big.
2. Choosing ce because the speaker is female
❌ Ni doguwa ne.
Incorrect for a female speaker — both adjective and copula must agree with the speaker.
✅ Ni doguwa ce.
I am tall (female speaker).
3. Keeping a singular adjective with a plural subject
❌ Yaran ƙarami ne.
Incorrect — plural yara requires plural adjective ƙanana.
✅ Yaran ƙanana ne.
The children are small.
4. Carrying the attributive linker into the predicate
❌ Motar sabuwar ce.
Incorrect in a plain quality predicate — sabuwar is the linked form used before a noun.
✅ Motar nan sabuwa ce.
This car is new.
Key Takeaways
- The neutral pattern is subject + agreeing adjective + clause-final ne/ce.
- Use ce only for feminine singular; use ne for masculine singular and all plurals.
- The adjective also agrees: dogo/doguwa/dogaye.
- Predicate adjectives do not carry the attributive linker -n/-r.
- Use an independent pronoun as a pronominal subject, and do not add yana/tana before a true adjective.
Now practice Hausa
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
- Core Attributive AdjectivesA1 — Build Hausa noun phrases with the small core of agreeing adjectives, their gender and number forms, and the required pre-nominal linker.
- 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.
- Predicative Quality with yana da and tana daA2 — How Hausa describes properties through continuative agreement plus da and a quality noun.
- Negative Property PredicationA2 — Negate Hausa properties with the frame required by a true adjective, a quality noun, or a resulting-state construction.