Hausa lokacin da and sa’ad da introduce the time at which another situation holds: Na kira ta lokacin da na isa “I called her when I arrived.” These expressions contain a time noun followed by da, and the following clause occupies a relative environment. That structure explains why clearly distinct plural forms are suka/suke, not ordinary statement sun/suna.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Lokacin da is common across everyday and formal registers. Sa’ad da is also standard and often sounds somewhat more careful or literary (formal/literary), though speakers use both. Standard boko writes sa’ad da with an apostrophe and as two words.
The basic when-clause
A when-clause identifies an occasion; the main clause says what happened, happens, or will happen on that occasion. Either clause can come first.
Na kira ta lokacin da na isa Kano.
I called her when I arrived in Kano. (same subject)
Mun rufe tagogin lokacin da iska ta ƙaru.
We closed the windows when the wind grew stronger. (different subjects)
Yaran sun yi shiru sa’ad da malamar ta shiga.
The children became quiet when the teacher entered.
The first sentence repeats first-person marking: main-clause na kira and temporal-clause na isa. English can say I called her when arriving, but Hausa ordinarily uses a finite clause with an overt subject–TAM marker.
When the temporal clause comes first, a comma is useful in careful writing; in speech, a pause often closes the time frame.
Lokacin da muka isa tashar, sai motar ta tashi.
When we reached the station, the bus then departed.
Sa’ad da aka buɗe ƙofar, sai jama’a suka shiga a hankali.
When the door was opened, the crowd then entered calmly. (careful style)
Sai is frequent after a fronted time clause in narrative because it presents the next event. It is not obligatory in every sentence, and it does not belong inside lokacin da or sa’ad da.
Why the temporal clause uses relative TAM
The temporal expression treats the following situation as the occasion being identified. Hausa therefore uses its relative completive or relative continuative series inside that clause. The contrast is clearest in plural forms; the larger system is explained under Plain and Relative TAM Forms.
| Meaning | Plain statement | Inside lokacin da / sa’ad da |
|---|---|---|
| they completed | sun | suka |
| we completed | mun | muka |
| you (f.) completed | kin | kika |
| they are/were doing | suna | suke |
| we are/were doing | muna | muke |
| you (f.) are/were doing | kina | kike |
Ba ma gida lokacin da baƙin suka iso.
We were not at home when the visitors arrived. (relative completive suka)
Ta kira ni lokacin da nake tuƙi.
She called me while I was driving. (relative continuative nake)
Na gan su sa’ad da suke fitowa daga asibiti.
I saw them when they were coming out of the hospital. (relative continuative suke)
Some singular forms look identical in ordinary boko: na, ka, ya, ta can conceal distinctions of tone or length that normal writing does not mark. Do not infer from lokacin da ta shiga that the construction takes the plain series. The unambiguous plurals muka/suka and continuatives muke/suke reveal the relative pattern.
Completed and ongoing occasions
Choose completive marking when the temporal clause presents a bounded occurrence, and relative continuative marking when it presents an ongoing background.
Na ji ƙarar lokacin da gilashin ya faɗi.
I heard the sound when the glass fell. (bounded event)
Na ji ƙarar lokacin da yara suke wasa a tsakar gida.
I heard the noise while the children were playing in the courtyard. (ongoing background)
Lokacin da muke aiki da dare, muna shan shayi da yawa.
When we work at night, we drink a lot of tea. (habitual situation)
The connector itself does not mean “past.” Context and TAM locate the occasion. A future clause can remain future when it genuinely presents a projected occasion:
Gobe, lokacin da muka fara rajista, zan sanar da ku.
Tomorrow, when we begin registration, I will notify you.
The relative completive muka fara here identifies a future boundary because gobe and zan sanar locate the whole sequence in the future. Do not mechanically copy English will into the when-clause; let the Hausa temporal construction and larger context establish the time.
Lokacin da versus sa’ad da
Their central grammar is the same: each means “at the time when” and licenses relative TAM. The usual difference is stylistic weight, not a different timeline.
Lokacin da muka dawo, muka tarar da wutar ta dawo.
When we returned, we found that the electricity had come back. (neutral narrative)
Sa’ad da muka dawo, muka tarar da wutar ta dawo.
When we returned, we found that the electricity had come back. (more careful or literary wording)
Do not invent a rule that lokacin da is only present and sa’ad da only past. Both can frame completed, ongoing, habitual, or projected situations. The choice often reflects style and rhythm.
When versus while
Lokacin da/sa’ad da identifies an occasion broadly. Yayin da foregrounds duration or sets two situations alongside each other, and it can also mean “whereas.”
Wutar ta ɗauke lokacin da na buɗe shagon.
The electricity went out when I opened the shop. (occasion)
Wutar ta ɗauke yayin da nake buɗe shagon.
The electricity went out while I was opening the shop. (action in progress)
The first locates the outage at the opening event. The second explicitly makes the opening an ongoing background. English when can translate either idea, so choose from the Hausa temporal profile, not the nearest dictionary entry.
Subject reference remains explicit
The temporal clause can share its subject with the main clause or introduce a new one. In both cases it requires its own marker.
Bello ya kira ni lokacin da ya isa ofis.
Bello called me when he reached the office. (same subject)
Bello ya kira ni lokacin da manajarsa ta isa ofis.
Bello called me when his manager reached the office. (different subjects)
The second ya in the first example belongs to the temporal clause; it is not optional merely because Bello is already named. In the second sentence, feminine ta agrees with manajarsa.
Common Mistakes
1. Using plain completive plural after lokacin da
❌ Na kira su lokacin da sun isa gida.
Incorrect—the temporal relative environment requires suka, not plain sun.
✅ Na kira su lokacin da suka isa gida lafiya.
I called them when they arrived home safely.
2. Using plain continuative after sa’ad da
❌ Na gan ta sa’ad da tana shiga banki.
Incorrect in the standard temporal-relative pattern—use take.
✅ Na gan ta sa’ad da take shiga banki.
I saw her when she was entering the bank. (careful style)
3. Dropping the second subject–TAM marker
❌ Na kira Musa lokacin da isa Kano.
Incorrect—the event ‘he arrived’ lacks its subject–TAM marker.
✅ Na kira Musa lokacin da ya isa Kano.
I called Musa when he arrived in Kano.
4. Writing sa’ad da as one word
❌ Sa’adda muka isa, ofishin ya rufe.
Incorrect standard word division—sa’ad da is two words.
✅ Sa’ad da muka isa, sai muka tarar an rufe ofishin.
When we arrived, we found that the office had been closed. (careful style)
5. Using the subordinator as the question word “when”
❌ Lokacin da za ka dawo?
Incorrect as the ordinary standalone question ‘When will you return?’—lokacin da introduces a dependent time clause.
✅ Yaushe za ka dawo daga Kaduna?
When will you return from Kaduna? (addressing one male)
6. Inserting kuma between the time frame and its main event
❌ Lokacin da muka isa kuma sai motar ta tashi.
Incorrect for the intended ‘When we arrived, the bus departed’; kuma needlessly coordinates across the dependent-clause boundary.
✅ Lokacin da muka isa, sai motar ta tashi.
When we arrived, the bus departed.
Key Takeaways
- Lokacin da and sa’ad da mean “at the time when”; write sa’ad da as two words.
- Their clause is a relative environment: use muka/suka for completed plural events and muke/suke for ongoing ones.
- Singular spellings can hide the relative contrast, so use the unambiguous plural forms as a diagnostic.
- The main clause and the when-clause each retain their own subject–TAM marker.
- A bounded occasion favors relative completive; an ongoing background favors relative continuative.
- Yayin da is often better when duration or explicit contrast is central.
Related Topics
- yayin da: While and WhereasA2 — Use yayin da for overlapping situations and explicit contrasts, with relative TAM and complete subject marking inside its clause.
- kafin: BeforeA2 — Place one event before a later landmark with kafin, distinguishing noun complements from finite clauses with subjunctive subject marking.
- bayan: AfterA2 — Sequence events with bayan, contrasting plain bayan plus completive marking with bayan da plus relative TAM.
- Relative Completive in Temporal ClausesB2 — Use relative-completive forms to locate completed events in Hausa when-clauses while distinguishing simple da, explicit time heads, and ongoing background.
- Plain and Relative TAM FormsA1 — Choose plain Hausa completive and continuative forms for neutral clauses, and relative forms for focus, constituent questions, and relative clauses.
- Time Adverbs and Clause PositionA2 — Place Hausa time words and phrases where they can anchor, schedule, or contrast an event without changing its aspect.