English uses “be + adjective” for both durable properties and temporary conditions: “She is tall,” “she is tired,” “the door is open,” and “the food is cold.” Hausa does not force all four meanings into one adjective pattern. A temporary state may be expressed by a completed verb, an experiential phrase, an a state phrase, or a quality-noun construction.
The central question is therefore not merely “Which Hausa adjective means this?” Ask how Hausa conceptualizes the condition: as a reached result, an experience currently felt, a maintained configuration, or possession of a quality. Unless marked otherwise, the patterns are neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa in (informal) speech and (formal) prose.
For the result construction specifically, see Predicative Quality with yi.
Completed forms can express a present result
Hausa completed aspect often reports an event whose resulting state matters now. Ta gaji can mean that she became tired and, by implication, is tired now. The form agrees with the subject.
| Subject | Completed form | Natural English |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | ya gaji | he is/has become tired |
| feminine singular | ta gaji | she is/has become tired |
| plural | sun gaji | they are/have become tired |
Bala ya gaji bayan doguwar tafiya.
Bala is tired after the long journey.
Aisha ta gaji; bari ta huta.
Aisha is tired; let her rest.
Yaran sun gaji da jira.
The children are tired of waiting.
Kofin ya karye da ya faɗi.
The cup broke when it fell.
Kwalbar ta karye, don haka kada ka taka gilashin.
The bottle has broken, so don't step on the glass.
Completed aspect does not automatically mean remote past. It presents a bounded change as achieved. Context tells whether English should use “became,” “has become,” or a present-state adjective such as “is tired/broken.”
Maintained configurations with a ... yake/take/suke
A common way to describe an object’s current configuration is subject + a + state expression + yake/take/suke. The final form agrees: yake for masculine singular, take for feminine singular, and suke for plural.
Shagon a buɗe yake har ƙarfe tara.
The shop is open until nine o'clock.
Ƙofar a buɗe take; za ka iya shiga.
The door is open; you can go in.
Tagogin a buɗe suke saboda zafi.
The windows are open because of the heat.
Ofishin a rufe yake yau.
The office is closed today.
Ƙofar a kulle take da dare.
The door is locked at night.
The element a locates the subject in a state or configuration. This is structurally different from a true adjective followed by ne/ce. English calls “open,” “closed,” and “locked” adjectives in these translations, but Hausa packages them as state expressions.
Word order can be focused in more advanced discourse, but the pattern above is a reliable neutral model at A2. Do not omit yake/take/suke merely because English has an overt subject.
Experiential temporary states
Hunger, cold, fear, and similar experiences are often expressed through a verb plus a noun. With jin “feeling,” the continuative subject marker identifies the experiencer.
Yaron yana jin yunwa; bai ci abinci ba tun safe.
The boy is hungry; he has not eaten since morning.
Yarinyar tana jin sanyi, don haka ta sa riga.
The girl feels cold, so she put on a gown.
Yaran suna jin tsoro saboda tsawar.
The children are afraid because of the thunder.
The nouns yunwa “hunger,” sanyi “cold,” and tsoro “fear” do not acquire masculine, feminine, or plural endings. Agreement appears on yana/tana/suna. Compare English, where “hungry,” “cold,” and “afraid” all look like adjectives after be.
A health condition commonly uses a negative da expression:
Musa ba shi da lafiya yau.
Musa is not well today.
Maryam ba ta da lafiya, saboda haka ba za ta zo ba.
Maryam is unwell, so she will not come.
Yaran ba su da lafiya tun jiya.
The children have been unwell since yesterday.
This idiom literally denies possession of well-being. Trying to create a Hausa adjective matching English “sick” misses the ordinary structure.
Change with yi plus a quality noun
Environmental and physical changes frequently use completed yi plus a quality noun. The marker agrees, while the quality noun remains invariant.
Ruwan ya yi sanyi; ka sake ɗumama shi.
The water has gone cold; warm it again.
Miyar ta yi kauri sosai bayan ta huce.
The soup became very thick after it cooled.
Igiyoyin sun yi laushi da aka jiƙa su.
The ropes became soft when they were soaked.
Ya yi duhu kafin motarmu ta iso.
It became dark before our car arrived.
Completed yi highlights the transition or result. If a quality is simply being attributed, a da predicate may be better: Miyar tana da kauri “The soup is thick.” For a true adjective, use adjective agreement plus ne/ce: Gidan sabo ne “The house is new.”
Attributive description versus a temporary predicate
An attributive adjective identifies a kind of entity inside a noun phrase; a state predicate says what condition an identified entity is in now. The two need not use the same Hausa lexical item.
Sabon shagon yana kusa da kasuwa.
The new shop is near the market.
Shagon a rufe yake yau saboda gyara.
The shop is closed today for repairs.
Farar rigar tana cikin akwatin.
The white gown is in the box.
Rigar ta jike a ruwan sama.
The gown got wet in the rain.
Sabon and farar are linked attributive adjectives, agreeing with their nouns. A rufe yake and ta jike are clauses that describe temporary or resulting conditions. Hausa does not require one “adjective slot” to cover all these meanings.
State, change, and time expressions
Time adverbs help make the intended reading clear. Yau “today” and yanzu “now” favor a current state; bayan... “after...” supplies the event that caused a result.
Yanzu ƙofar a buɗe take, amma da dare a kulle take.
The door is open now, but at night it is locked.
Bayan ruwan sama, hanyar ta yi muni sosai.
After the rain, the road became very bad.
A yau yaran sun gaji, amma gobe za su huta.
Today the children are tired, but tomorrow they will rest.
The contrast between a property and a state is partly a matter of viewpoint. A shop can be permanently new yet temporarily closed. Hausa makes that contrast through different predicates rather than through two forms of one general copula.
A natural choice in context
Kada mu shiga yanzu: ofishin a rufe yake, kuma ma’aikatan sun gaji.
Let's not go in now: the office is closed, and the staff are tired.
The office’s configuration uses a rufe yake. The workers’ resulting condition uses completed sun gaji. Both translate with English “be + adjective,” but their Hausa structures are independent.
Practice
- The female speaker is tired: Na gaji when speaking; with an overt third-person noun, Aisha ta gaji.
- The windows are open: Tagogin a buɗe suke.
- The children are hungry: Yaran suna jin yunwa.
- The soup has become thick: Miyar ta yi kauri.
Common Mistakes
1. Using ne/ce after every English adjective
❌ Aisha gajiya ce.
Incorrect for 'Aisha is tired'; this turns gajiya into a nominal label.
✅ Aisha ta gaji yau; bari ta huta.
Aisha is tired today; let her rest.
2. Ignoring agreement in a state phrase
❌ Ƙofar a buɗe yake.
Incorrect — feminine ƙofa requires take.
✅ Ƙofar a buɗe take.
The door is open.
3. Giving the experience noun plural marking
❌ Yaran suna jin yunwoyi.
Incorrect — the ordinary state uses invariant yunwa.
✅ Yaran suna jin yunwa.
The children are hungry.
4. Missing the change-of-state viewpoint
❌ Bayan awa biyu, ruwan yana da sanyi.
Grammatical as a description, but it misses the intended result 'the water has gone cold.'
✅ Bayan awa biyu, ruwan ya yi sanyi.
After two hours, the water had gone cold.
Key Takeaways
- Completed forms can describe a present state as the result of a completed change.
- Use a ... yake/take/suke for many maintained configurations such as open, closed, and locked.
- Experiences commonly use verbal frames such as yana/tana/suna jin plus a noun.
- Ya/ta/sun yi plus a quality noun presents a development or result.
- English “be + adjective” does not predict which Hausa construction a temporary state requires.
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.
- Predicative Quality with ne and ceA2 — How agreeing Hausa adjectives form present-time quality predicates with clause-final ne and ce.
- Predicative Quality with yana da and tana daA2 — How Hausa describes properties through continuative agreement plus da and a quality noun.
- Predicative Quality with yiA2 — Use agreeing forms of yi with quality nouns to describe a change, resulting condition, or assessed outcome.
- Quality Nouns as PredicatesA2 — Choose possessive, resultative, or nominal predicate frames when Hausa expresses an English adjective with a noun.
- Negative Property PredicationA2 — Negate Hausa properties with the frame required by a true adjective, a quality noun, or a resulting-state construction.