The phrase daga cikin literally evokes movement “from inside,” but after a numeral or quantifier it builds a partitive: biyu daga cikin ɗaliban “two of the students,” wasu daga cikin motocin nan “some of these cars.” A partitive does not merely state a quantity. It first establishes a whole set or amount, then selects members or material from within it.
All unlabelled uses here are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa) and are natural in conversation, news, and formal prose. The phrase is written as two words, daga cikin. Ordinary examples use standard boko letters such as ɗ and ƙ, without added tone or vowel-length marks. Compare the subset-forming role of wasu “some/others”, which can occur with or without this explicit partitive frame.
The core frame
The usual order is:
selected quantity + daga cikin + identified whole
| Selected part | Whole | Full phrase |
|---|---|---|
| ɗaya “one” | littattafan “the books” | ɗaya daga cikin littattafan |
| wasu “some” | mutanen nan “these people” | wasu daga cikin mutanen nan |
| kaɗan “a little” | ruwan “the water” | kaɗan daga cikin ruwan |
Na karanta biyu daga cikin littattafan da ka ba ni.
I read two of the books you gave me.
Wasu daga cikin mutanen nan sun riga sun tafi.
Some of these people have already left.
Ta zubar da kaɗan daga cikin ruwan domin bokitin ya yi nauyi.
She poured out a little of the water because the bucket was heavy.
English inserts of between a selector and a definite phrase. Hausa does not translate that small word by itself; the whole relational expression daga cikin presents the larger group as the source domain.
The larger set is normally recoverable
A true partitive selects from a bounded or contextually identified whole. The complement after daga cikin is therefore commonly definite, possessed, modified by a relative clause, or paired with a demonstrative.
Ɗalibai biyu sun yi tambaya.
Two students asked a question. (no previously identified class is required)
Biyu daga cikin ɗaliban sun yi tambaya.
Two of the students asked a question. (a particular class is understood)
Na zaɓi ɗaya daga cikin hotunan da muka ɗauka jiya.
I chose one of the photographs we took yesterday.
The bare quantity ɗalibai biyu introduces two students. The partitive biyu daga cikin ɗaliban presupposes a larger relevant group of students. A relative clause can identify that whole just as a definite suffix or demonstrative can.
Before the short demonstratives nan/can, the noun must take its linked form:
Za a gyara uku daga cikin motocin nan yau.
Three of these cars will be repaired today.
Wata daga cikin jakunkunan can ta faɗi daga motar.
One of those bags fell from the vehicle.
The forms are motoci-n nan and jakunkuna-n can. Daga cikin does not cancel that linker, and it does not itself function as an English-style definite article.
Agreement follows the selected member or subset
The selector before daga cikin determines how the selected part is construed. A plural numeral or wasu normally takes plural clause agreement. A single member can take masculine or feminine singular agreement according to the recovered noun.
Biyu daga cikin yaran sun dawo gida da wuri.
Two of the children returned home early.
Wasu daga cikin ma’aikatan suna aiki daga gida.
Some of the employees work from home.
Ɗaya daga cikin yaran ya manta jakarsa.
One of the boys forgot his bag.
Ɗaya daga cikin matan ta jagoranci taron.
One of the women led the meeting.
The phrase ɗaya daga cikin … does not visibly mark gender on ɗaya. Clause agreement makes the recovered member masculine in ya manta and feminine in ta jagoranci. If the noun itself is expressed as the selector, its gender is explicit:
Wani yaro daga cikin ɗaliban ya taimaka mana.
A boy from among the students helped us.
Wata yarinya daga cikin ɗaliban ta ba da amsar.
A girl from among the students gave the answer.
In these last examples, wani yaro/wata yarinya identify a member and daga cikin ɗaliban locates that member within a larger set.
Different selectors give different coverage
The construction is not tied to “some.” Numerals, indefinites, distributives, and universal expressions can all define the selected portion.
| Selector | Typical interpretation |
|---|---|
| ɗaya / biyu / uku | an exact number of members |
| wasu | an indefinite plural subset |
| kaɗan / da yawa | a small or large part/number |
| kowacce / kowa | each/every member from the domain |
Da yawa daga cikin baƙin sun iso tun da safe.
Many of the guests arrived early in the morning.
Kowacce daga cikin matan kwamitin za ta bayyana ra’ayinta.
Each of the women on the committee will state her opinion.
Kowa daga cikin ma’aikatan zai samu sabon kati.
Everyone among the employees will receive a new card.
Wasu, a low numeral, or kaɗan usually suggests that other members of the whole remain outside the selected part. That “not all” effect is strong in normal conversation but is connected to the selector and context, not encoded by daga cikin itself. Universal kowa daga cikin … can exhaust the domain.
This distinction matters when continuing the discourse:
Biyu daga cikin ɗaliban suna koyon Larabci; sauran ɗaliban suna koyon Faransanci.
Two of the students are learning Arabic; the rest of the students are learning French.
The word sauran “the rest of” explicitly names the complement left by the first selection.
Count sets and mass amounts
With count nouns, the complement denotes a set of individuals. With a mass noun, it can denote a bounded amount already present in the situation. Choose a quantity expression that naturally measures the intended substance:
An yi amfani da da yawa daga cikin man da ke cikin tankin.
A large amount of the oil in the tank was used.
Na ba shi kaɗan daga cikin abincin da muka dafa.
I gave him a little of the food we cooked.
The relative clauses da ke cikin tankin and da muka dafa create bounded, identifiable quantities. By contrast, mai da yawa “a lot of oil” simply asserts a large amount and need not select from a previously delimited supply.
Daga cikin versus literal location
The same two words retain a spatial meaning outside quantification. Context and the element before them distinguish the uses.
Ya fito daga cikin gidan da sauri.
He came out from inside the house quickly.
Mutum ɗaya daga cikin gidan ya fito da sauri.
One person from inside the house came out quickly.
Mutum ɗaya daga cikin ma’aikatan ya fito da sauri.
One of the employees came out quickly.
The first two can be spatial: the house is a location. In the third, ma’aikatan is a set and the phrase has the grammatical partitive reading “one of.” Do not force every occurrence of daga cikin into one English phrase.
A short exchange that establishes the whole
A: Motocin kamfanin goma ne, ko? B: Eh. Uku daga cikin motocin suna Kano, biyu suna Kaduna, sauran kuma suna Abuja. A: Wacce ta lalace? B: Ɗaya daga cikin motocin Kano ce ta lalace.
A: The company has ten cars, right? B: Yes. Three of the cars are in Kano, two are in Kaduna, and the rest are in Abuja. A: Which one broke down? B: One of the Kano cars broke down.
The first question fixes a ten-car whole. Later partitives divide that whole, and feminine ce ta in the last answer recovers mota.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English “of” with da alone.
❌ biyu da ɗaliban
Incorrect for ‘two of the students.’
✅ biyu daga cikin ɗaliban
Two of the students.
2. Putting the whole before the selected number.
❌ ɗaliban daga cikin biyu
Incorrect for the intended neutral partitive order.
✅ biyu daga cikin ɗaliban
Two of the students.
3. Omitting the linker before a demonstrative.
❌ wasu daga cikin mutane nan
Incorrect — mutane must be linked before nan.
✅ wasu daga cikin mutanen nan
Some of these people.
4. Using singular agreement for a selected plural subset.
❌ Biyu daga cikin yaran ya dawo.
Incorrect — biyu selects two children.
✅ Biyu daga cikin yaran sun dawo.
Two of the children returned.
5. Losing the gender of one selected member.
❌ Ɗaya daga cikin matan ya jagoranci taron.
Incorrect — the selected member is a woman.
✅ Ɗaya daga cikin matan ce ta jagoranci taron.
One of the women was the person who led the meeting.
Key Takeaways
- Build the partitive as selector + daga cikin + identified whole.
- The complement is commonly definite, demonstrated, possessed, or otherwise recoverable.
- Plural selectors take plural agreement; a single recovered member keeps the gender of its Hausa noun.
- A non-total selector often implies a remainder, but daga cikin itself does not mean “not all.”
- The phrase can select both members of a count set and a portion of a bounded mass.
- Keep demonstrative linkers: motocin nan, mutanen nan, jakunkunan can.
Related Topics
- Wasu: Some and OthersA2 — Use wasu before plural nouns and on its own to introduce an indefinite subset or contrast some members with others.
- Yawancin: Most ofA2 — Use the linked quantifying noun yawancin before a group or amount to refer to its greater part.
- Noun Ellipsis after QuantifiersB1 — Omit a recoverable Hausa noun after numerals and quantifying words while preserving its gender, number, scope, and discourse reference.
- Kowa and Kowace: EveryoneB1 — Distinguish independent kowa ‘everyone’ from feminine distributive kowace ‘each/every one’ and keep their agreement and reference straight.
- 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.
- The Genitive Linker -nA2 — Use the joined Hausa linker -n after masculine, plural, and eligible non-a-final heads to connect a noun with its possessor or classifier.