Hausa wannan points to one nearby or currently salient person or thing, while waɗannan points to more than one. Before a noun, the full demonstrative comes first: wannan littafi “this book,” wannan mota “this car,” and waɗannan littattafai “these books.”
English changes this to these for number. Hausa does the same, but its singular near form wannan serves both masculine and feminine nouns. Gender still appears elsewhere in the clause. All ordinary patterns below are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa).
The core near paradigm
| Reference | Demonstrative | Noun phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | wannan | wannan littafi | this book |
| feminine singular | wannan | wannan mota | this car |
| plural | waɗannan | waɗannan littattafai | these books |
Wannan kamus yana da amfani ga ɗalibai.
This dictionary is useful to students.
Wannan mota tana buƙatar gyara.
This car needs repairs.
Waɗannan littattafai na ɗakin karatu ne.
These books belong to the library.
The demonstrative wannan is unchanged in the first two sentences. Masculine littafi triggers yana, while feminine mota triggers tana. Plural littattafai takes waɗannan and plural suna.
Full demonstrative before a bare noun
The basic order is:
wannan/waɗannan + bare noun
The following noun does not take its joined definite or linked ending in this simple frame. Compare wannan gida, not wannan gidan, and waɗannan motoci, not waɗannan motocin.
Wannan gida yana kusa da makaranta.
This house is near the school.
Wannan yarinya tana jiran mahaifiyarta.
This girl is waiting for her mother.
Waɗannan yara suna wasa a tsakar gida.
These children are playing in the courtyard.
The whole demonstrative phrase is identifiable even though the noun is morphologically bare. Hausa does not build it as English does with an article. There is no hidden equivalent of the between wannan and gida; wannan gida is already a complete definite expression.
The post-nominal near alternative
Hausa also has a short post-nominal pattern. Here nan follows the noun, and the noun must appear in its linked form:
| Gender/number | Pre-nominal full form | Post-nominal linked form |
|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | wannan gida | gidan nan |
| feminine singular | wannan mota | motar nan |
| plural | waɗannan motoci | motocin nan |
Gidan nan ya fi wancan tsada.
This house is more expensive than that one.
Motar nan ta tsaya tun safe.
This car has been parked here since morning.
Motocin nan sun riga sun cika.
These cars are already full.
In this second pattern, nan itself is invariant. Masculine gida takes -n, feminine mota takes -r, and plural motoci takes -n. These boundaries explain the grammar, but ordinary boko joins them: gidan, motar, motocin.
The two frames must not be blended. Wannan littafi uses a full demonstrative before a bare noun. Littafin nan uses a linked noun before the short demonstrative. The dedicated page on demonstrative position develops this contrast.
Wannan and waɗannan without an overt noun
The full forms can also stand alone when the intended kind of object or person is obvious. In that use they mean “this one” and “these.” They are not the same construction as littafin nan, where nan follows an overt linked noun.
Wannan ya fi sauƙi, amma ya fi tsada.
This one is easier, but it is more expensive.
Wannan ta yi kyau sosai.
This one is very nice.
Waɗannan sun isa; ba ma buƙatar ƙari.
These are enough; we do not need any more.
Standalone wannan still refers to a singular. The following ya in the first example and ta in the second reveal whether the understood referent is masculine or feminine. Waɗannan selects plural sun.
Near in space and near in the conversation
Near demonstratives most obviously point to something physically close. They can also pick out something prominent in the current conversation, a document on screen, or the matter now under discussion.
Ka sa hannu a wannan wuri.
Sign in this place.
Wannan batu yana da muhimmanci ga kowa.
This issue is important to everyone.
Hausa speech makes finer distinctions than ordinary English this. Tone can distinguish something near the speaker from something associated with or near the listener, and can support anaphoric readings. Standard boko normally writes all of those tonal contrasts simply as wannan, waɗannan, or nan. The spelling therefore does not encode every deictic nuance; context and spoken tone complete the meaning.
No tone or vowel-length marks belong in ordinary target sentences. Marked pronunciation forms should be used only in a dedicated, verified pronunciation display.
Reference and quantity in a short exchange
A: Wane littafi kake nema? B: Wannan da ke kan tebur.
A: Which book are you looking for? B: This one on the table.
A: Littattafai nawa kake so? B: Waɗannan biyu kawai.
A: How many books do you want? B: Just these two.
The question establishes the missing noun, so wannan and waɗannan can stand alone in the answers. Biyu makes the plural quantity explicit in the second exchange. This is discourse recovery, not arbitrary noun deletion.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English demonstrative order with the short form.
❌ littafi wannan
Incorrect as the basic noun phrase — full wannan precedes the noun.
✅ wannan littafi
This book.
2. Putting nan after an unlinked noun.
❌ littafi nan
Incorrect — the post-nominal construction requires the linked noun.
✅ littafin nan
This book or the contextually salient book.
3. Using singular wannan with a plural noun.
❌ wannan littattafai
Incorrect — littattafai is plural.
✅ waɗannan littattafai
These books.
4. Adding the joined form after a full pre-nominal demonstrative.
❌ wannan littafin
Incorrect in the basic demonstrative frame — do not combine the two patterns.
✅ wannan littafi
This book.
5. Letting the shared form wannan erase noun gender.
❌ Wannan mota yana da tsada.
Incorrect — mota is feminine, so the clause agreement must be feminine.
✅ Wannan mota tana da tsada.
This car is expensive.
Key Takeaways
- Use wannan for one near or salient referent, masculine or feminine; use waɗannan for plural reference.
- A full demonstrative precedes a bare noun: wannan mota, waɗannan motoci.
- The alternative order uses a linked noun plus invariant nan: motar nan, motocin nan.
- Wannan and waɗannan can stand alone when the missing noun is recoverable from context.
Related Topics
- Far Demonstratives: wancan and waɗancanA1 — Use wancan, waccan, and waɗancan for distant or discourse-remote masculine, feminine, and plural referents.
- Demonstrative Position after the Linked NounA1 — Build Hausa post-nominal demonstratives with a linked noun plus nan or can, and keep them distinct from full pre-nominal and standalone forms.
- Standalone Demonstrative PronounsA1 — Use Hausa demonstratives without an expressed noun while preserving gender, number, distance, and the discourse contrast between the intended referents.
- Demonstrative Reference in ConversationA1 — Track Hausa referents through pointing, shared attention, prior mention, and speaker perspective without reducing the system to English this and that.
- Linking before DemonstrativesA2 — Form Hausa post-nominal demonstratives with a linked noun before nan or can, and contrast them with full demonstratives before a bare noun.
- Definite versus Demonstrative ReferenceA2 — Distinguish a recoverable Hausa referent in the definite n/r form from the more explicitly pointing meanings of demonstrative noun phrases.