Hausa tun looks backward to an early starting point: tun jiya “since yesterday/already yesterday,” tun daga Kano “right from Kano,” tun da muka zo “since we arrived.” It does not by itself tell you whether the situation continued, ended long ago, or merely began there. The main clause’s TAM and the surrounding time expression supply that interpretation.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Tun is common in conversation and formal prose. Ordinary boko does not mark tone or vowel length. This page generally writes temporal tun da transparently as two words, but one-word tunda is also common in modern writing and is not limited to causal use.
Tun plus a time expression
Put tun before a noun phrase or adverbial that names the anchor.
Muna nan tun safiya.
We have been here since morning.
Ban gan shi ba tun jiya.
I have not seen him since yesterday.
Ta fara wannan aikin tun shekarar bara.
She began this work as far back as last year.
The main clause determines the relation to that anchor. Continuative muna nan presents a state extending from morning to now. Negative completive ban gan shi ba says that no seeing event has occurred in the interval. Completive ta fara locates a finished beginning surprisingly early.
This last use motivates translations such as already or as early as, but the core meaning is still an early anchor:
Amina ta gama aikin tun ƙarfe uku.
Amina had already finished the work by three o’clock / finished it as early as three.
Sun bar garin tun ranar Lahadi.
They left the town as early as Sunday.
English already often focuses only on completion. Hausa tun highlights how early the relevant time is. For neutral “already” with no starting-point emphasis, riga is often more exact: ta riga ta gama “she has already finished.”
Tun daga makes the source boundary explicit
Tun daga foregrounds the place, time, or stage at which a range begins. It pairs naturally with har for the other endpoint.
An yi cunkoso tun daga kasuwa har gadar.
There was traffic congestion from the market all the way to the bridge.
Za a rufe hanyar tun daga ƙarfe takwas na safe har ƙarfe biyu na rana.
The road will be closed from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon.
Ta san iyalinmu tun daga yarinta.
She has known our family since childhood.
Bare daga also marks a source. Adding tun makes the remoteness or full span salient.
Motar ta taso daga Zariya.
The vehicle set out from Zaria. (neutral source)
Ruwan sama ya biyo mu tun daga Zariya.
The rain followed us all the way from Zaria. (extended starting point)
Tun da introduces a clausal anchor
When the starting point is an event, tun da + clause means “since/from the time that.” A completed anchoring event normally appears in a completive form.
Tun da muka koma Kano, muna ganin juna kowane mako.
Since we moved back to Kano, we have seen each other every week.
Tun da Aisha ta fara aikin nan, ofishin yana buɗewa da wuri.
Since Aisha started this job, the office has been opening early. (different subjects)
Ban sake jin muryarsa ba tun da ya tafi.
I have not heard his voice again since he left.
In the same-subject example below, both clauses still carry their own subject–TAM marking:
Tun da na kamu da mura, ba na jin ƙamshin abinci sosai.
Since I caught a cold, I have not been smelling food very well. (same subject)
The anchor has first-person completive na kamu. The continuing main state has negative continuative ba na ji. English since I caught ... I have not ... cannot be copied as one shared verb frame.
When a state itself is the background anchor, an appropriate state/continuative form follows:
Na san Musa tun da muke yara.
I have known Musa since we were children.
Tana kula da shagon tun da mahaifinta ba ya jin daɗi.
She has been looking after the shop since her father has been unwell.
The connector does not force a completive. A punctual arrival is naturally bounded; “being children” or “being unwell” is a state. TAM follows that difference.
Clause order changes the information packaging
The tun da clause can follow the main clause when the current situation is the news and the anchor completes it:
Muna amfani da wannan rijiya tun da muka gina gidan.
We have used this well since we built the house.
It can come first when the time span frames what follows:
Tun da aka gyara hanyar, motocin haya suna zuwa ƙauyen kullum.
Since the road was repaired, commercial vehicles have been coming to the village every day.
A comma normally follows a substantial fronted clause in careful writing. Speech uses a boundary after the anchor. Neither pause permits the main clause’s subject–TAM marker to disappear.
Tun da aka kawo wutar lantarki, yaran suna karatu da dare.
Since electricity was brought, the children study at night.
Here impersonal aka kawo belongs to the anchor; plural yaran suna begins a different-subject main clause.
Duration is not the same as a starting point
Tun identifies when a span begins. Expressions with shekara biyu or tsawon shekara biyu measure how long it lasts. Hausa can use both, but they answer different questions.
Mun zauna a nan tun 2024.
We have lived here since 2024. (starting point)
Mun zauna a nan shekara biyu.
We lived/have lived here for two years. (duration)
Mun zauna a nan shekara biyu, tun 2024.
We have lived here for two years, since 2024. (duration plus anchor)
Do not translate English for two years with tun shekara biyu when two years is a quantity rather than a named starting time.
Temporal and causal readings of tun da / tunda
Both tun da and tunda occur in modern writing for clauses translated with “since.” The reading is temporal when the subordinate event anchors the beginning of a span, and causal when it supplies a reason. Spelling alone does not reliably encode that contrast. When a purely causal reading must be unmistakable, saboda “because” is clearer.
Tun da Musa ya dawo, yana aiki daga gida.
Since Musa returned, he has been working from home. (temporal anchor)
Tunda Musa ba ya nan, mu ɗage taron.
Since Musa is not here, let us postpone the meeting. (reason)
Saboda Musa ba ya nan, za mu ɗage taron.
Because Musa is not here, we will postpone the meeting. (explicit cause)
The first says when the work-from-home period began. The second and third say why postponement is sensible. Their different spacing illustrates common choices here, but spacing is not itself a dependable diagnostic; context supplies the contrast.
Tun tuni intensifies remoteness
Tun tuni means “long ago/for a long time already” (neutral; especially common in conversation). It is an intensified time adverb, not a clause linker.
Ai sun gama aikin tun tuni.
They finished the work long ago, you know. (informal emphasis)
Na san wannan labarin tun tuni.
I have known this story for a long time already.
Do not drop a required clausal subject marker after tun da merely because tun tuni can stand as an adverbial phrase.
Common Mistakes
1. Using a duration as though it were a starting date
❌ Muna zaune a nan tun shekara uku.
Incorrect for the intended duration ‘for three years’; shekara uku measures a span.
✅ Muna zaune a nan shekara uku ke nan.
We have been living here for three years now.
2. Dropping the subordinate clause’s subject–TAM marker
❌ Ban gan ta ba tun da koma Abuja.
Incorrect—the return clause has no subject–TAM marker.
✅ Ban gan ta ba tun da ta koma Abuja.
I have not seen her since she returned to Abuja.
3. Dropping the main clause marker after a fronted anchor
❌ Tun da muka zo, aiki a nan.
Incorrect for ‘we have been working here’; the main finite clause is incomplete.
✅ Tun da muka zo garin, muna aiki a nan.
Since we came to the town, we have been working here.
4. Using tun when neutral already is intended
❌ Ta gama tun, amma babu wani lokaci da aka ambata.
Incomplete and unnatural for neutral ‘she has already finished’; tun invites an early anchor.
✅ Ta riga ta gama kafin muka iso.
She had already finished before we arrived.
5. Using an ambiguous since-clause when a plainly causal linker is clearer
❌ Tun da an rufe banki, ba za mu iya cire kuɗi ba.
Possible with a temporal or causal reading, but ambiguous if the intended relation is purely ‘because the bank is closed.’
✅ Saboda an rufe banki, ba za mu iya cire kuɗi ba.
Because the bank is closed, we cannot withdraw money.
Key Takeaways
- Tun + time sets an early temporal anchor: tun safe, tun jiya, tun shekarar bara.
- Tun daga explicitly marks the beginning of a spatial, temporal, or developmental range.
- Tun da + clause means “since the time that”; each clause keeps its own subject–TAM marking.
- The anchor clause uses the TAM appropriate to its event or state; the main clause independently shows continuation, non-occurrence, or completion.
- Tun can suggest “already/as early as,” but neutral “already” is often riga, while tun tuni means “long ago/already for a long time.”
- Distinguish temporal and causal readings by asking whether the clause gives a starting time or a reason; do not rely on tun da/tunda spelling alone.
Related Topics
- har: Until and Up ToA2 — Use har for spatial and temporal endpoints and for result boundaries, with the clause form that matches whether the endpoint is projected or attained.
- saboda: Cause and ReasonA2 — Use saboda to attach a factual cause or reason, and distinguish that reading from purpose clauses and result connectors.
- Already, Still, and YetA2 — Choose tuni, har yanzu, and tukuna by tracking whether a change has happened or an earlier situation continues.
- Time Adverbs and Clause PositionA2 — Place Hausa time words and phrases where they can anchor, schedule, or contrast an event without changing its aspect.
- Completive Meaning with Stative VerbsA2 — See why Hausa completive forms can express present knowledge, ability, perception, and comparison with stative predicates.