The literal verb ci means “eat,” but some of the most frequent Hausa predicates extend it far beyond food: ci gaba “continue,” ci nasara “win,” ci jarrabawa “pass an examination,” ci amana “betray trust,” and ci mutunci “disrespect or humiliate.” These are established Hausa combinations, not evidence that ci translates every English use of eat, take, or win.
All unlabelled expressions are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). As with other monosyllabic verbs, ordinary boko leaves out lexical tone and vowel length. Learn each verb–noun pairing together and observe what may follow it.
Literal ci: food as a direct object
With food, ci is an ordinary transitive verb. Its object can be generic, definite, modified, or understood from context.
—Me za ku ci? —Za mu ci tuwo da miyar kuka.
—What will you eat? —We’ll eat tuwo with baobab-leaf soup. (dialogue; plural/respectful addressee)
Amina ta ci rabin abincin, ta ajiye wa ɗanta sauran.
Amina ate half the food and saved the rest for her child.
Ka wanke hannunka kafin ka ci mangwaron nan.
Wash your hand before you eat this mango. (to one man)
Yaran suna ci a ɗakin girki; kada a dame su yanzu.
The children are eating in the kitchen; do not disturb them now.
In the last sentence the object is omitted because “food/a meal” is understood. This ordinary object omission is productive. It does not mean that an idiomatic object can always be removed with its special meaning intact.
Ci gaba: continuation and forward progression
Ci gaba is the most broadly useful extension. As a predicate it means “continue, proceed, make progress.” When another activity follows, the stable frame is ci gaba da + verbal noun/noun phrase.
Bayan an gyara tayar, muka ci gaba da tafiya.
After the tire was repaired, we continued traveling.
Ko da ana ruwa, ma’aikatan sun ci gaba da aikin.
Even though it was raining, the workers continued with the work.
—Za mu dakata yanzu? —A’a, mu ci gaba har mu gama wannan sashe.
—Shall we stop now? —No, let’s continue until we finish this section. (dialogue)
Idan muka samu ƙarin kuɗi, aikin zai ci gaba a wata mai zuwa.
If we obtain more money, the project will continue next month.
The noun gaba literally evokes “front/ahead.” In ci gaba, however, learners should not calculate the meaning as “eat front.” The unit has conventionalized into progression. Da introduces what continues: ci gaba da karatu, ci gaba da aiki, ci gaba da tattaunawa.
Shugabar ta ce mu ci gaba da tattaunawar bayan sallar azahar.
The chair said we should continue the discussion after the noon prayer.
Dropping da before an overt following activity is a tempting but impossible substitution in the neutral frame: not ci gaba karatu, but ci gaba da karatu. When nothing follows, ci gaba itself is complete.
Ci nasara, samu nasara, and yi nasara
Ci nasara means win or gain victory. It is especially natural for contests, campaigns, disputes, and efforts with an identifiable successful outcome. Hausa also has samu nasara “achieve success” and yi nasara “succeed”; these are legitimate variants with overlapping but not identical profiles.
’Yan wasan gida sun ci nasara da ci biyu da ɗaya.
The home team won by two goals to one. (sports)
Lauyan ya ci nasara a shari’ar bayan ya gabatar da sabbin hujjoji.
The lawyer won the case after presenting new evidence.
Shirin ya samu nasara saboda jama’a sun ba da haɗin kai.
The program succeeded because the public cooperated. (legitimate result-focused variant)
Ta yi nasara a jarabawar neman aikin gwamnati.
She succeeded in the civil-service recruitment examination. (legitimate general variant)
English normally uses the simple verbs win or succeed. Translating ci nasara as “eat victory” would misrepresent normal English even though the literal composition explains why the expression belongs to this family.
In sports, the trophy itself can be the conventional object: ci kofi “win a cup/trophy.” This is distinct from drinking from a cup.
Ƙungiyar mata ta ci kofin gasar karo na uku a jere.
The women’s team won the tournament trophy for the third consecutive time. (sports/news)
Ba wai sun ci wasa ɗaya kawai ba; sun ci kofin gasar.
They did not merely win one match; they won the tournament trophy.
Ci jarrabawa: passing an examination
Ci jarrabawa means pass an examination. The examination is construed as an obstacle overcome, not food consumed. In careful educational language, yi nasara a jarrabawa is a transparent alternative.
Musa ya ci jarrabawar shiga jami’a a yunƙurinsa na biyu.
Musa passed the university entrance examination on his second attempt.
Duk ɗalibar da ta yi karatu sosai tana fatan cin jarrabawar.
Every female student who studies hard hopes to pass the examination.
Hukumar ta sanar cewa kashi saba’in na ɗalibai sun yi nasara a jarrabawar.
The authority announced that seventy percent of the students passed the examination. (formal/educational variant)
The verbal noun is cin before a nominal complement: fatan cin jarrabawar “the hope of passing the examination.” Do not confuse that linker-bearing form with a separate English preposition.
Rashin cin jarrabawa ba ƙarshen neman ilimi ba ne.
Failing to pass an examination is not the end of pursuing education.
Ci amana: violating entrusted confidence
Amana is trust, a charge, or something entrusted. Ci amana means betray that trust. It is morally serious and can apply to money, confidential information, office, or a personal commitment.
Ya ci amanar abokinsa ta wajen tona sirrin da aka gaya masa.
He betrayed his friend’s trust by revealing the secret he had been told.
Duk wanda ya karkatar da kuɗin jama’a ya ci amanar al’umma.
Anyone who diverts public money has betrayed the public trust. (formal/moral judgment)
Ba zan ci amanarki ba; zan adana takardun a wurin da babu mai gani.
I will not betray your trust; I will keep the documents where no one can see them. (to one woman)
When a possessor is named, linked amanar appears: amanar abokinsa, amanar al’umma. The English paraphrase “betray X’s trust” is clearer than literal “eat X’s trust.”
Ana tuhumar jami’in da cin amana da almundahanar dukiyar ƙasa.
The official is accused of breach of trust and embezzlement of public property. (formal/legal)
The nominal phrase cin amana is common in legal and public discourse. Do not casually accuse someone of it when you only mean that they forgot a minor promise; its social force is stronger.
Ci mutunci: attacking dignity or respect
Ci mutunci means treat someone disrespectfully, insult their dignity, or humiliate them. The affected person commonly appears as a possessor: ci mutuncinsa “disrespect/humiliate him.” This expression is socially weighty and often occurs in complaints, family mediation, journalism, or legal discussion.
Ya ci mutuncinta a gaban jama’a da kalamai marasa kyau.
He humiliated her in public with offensive remarks.
Ba na yarda a ci mutuncin ma’aikaci saboda ya yi tambaya.
I do not accept a worker being demeaned merely for asking a question.
Ta kai ƙara cewa an ci mutuncinta a shafin sada zumunta.
She filed a complaint that her dignity had been attacked on social media. (formal/reporting)
A neutral description may be preferable when the act is less severe:
Ya yi mata magana ba tare da ladabi ba, amma ba ta ce ya ci mutuncinta ba.
He spoke to her impolitely, but she did not say that he had humiliated her. (degree contrast)
This context shows why English paraphrase matters. Depending on severity, ci mutunci may be insult, dishonor, demean, or humiliate. No one-word gloss captures every setting.
Ci duniya: enjoying life
Ci duniya conventionally means enjoy worldly life, often with an implication of comfort, pleasure, or taking full advantage of one’s circumstances. Tone and context can make it approving, playful, envious, or critical.
Bayan shekaru na aiki tuƙuru, ma’auratan suna cin duniya cikin kwanciyar hankali.
After years of hard work, the couple are enjoying life in peace. (approving)
Tun da ya sami kuɗin nan yake cin duniya bai damu da gobe ba.
Ever since he got that money, he has been living it up without caring about tomorrow. (critical)
The second translation “living it up” reflects the criticism better than literal “eating the world.” Do not confuse ci duniya with understand the world or travel around the world; those require different predicates.
Syntax remains active inside the collocation
Fixed partners still participate in Hausa grammar. TAM changes on the subject marker, objects take definiteness and possession, and nominalized cin can head a phrase.
Za su ci gaba da binciken har sai sun gano musabbabin gobarar.
They will continue the investigation until they discover the cause of the fire.
Bai ci nasarar da yake tsammani ba, amma bai daina ƙoƙari ba.
He did not achieve the victory he expected, but he did not stop trying.
Cin mutuncin wani a bainar jama’a ba wasa ba ne.
Humiliating someone in public is no laughing matter.
What remains restricted is lexical substitution. Ci gaba does not become ci baya to mean “go backward”; ci jarrabawa does not allow any school-related noun to inherit “pass”; and ci amana cannot be recreated with an arbitrary synonym for trust.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting da after ci gaba before another activity
❌ Za mu ci gaba tattaunawa bayan hutu.
Incorrect in the neutral continuation frame; an overt following activity requires da.
✅ Za mu ci gaba da tattaunawa bayan hutun minti goma.
We will continue the discussion after the ten-minute break.
2. Using ci for every English sense of win
❌ Na ci kuɗi daga sabon aikin.
Unnatural as a direct calque of ‘I earned money from the new job.’
✅ Na sami kuɗi daga sabon aikin da na fara.
I earned/obtained money from the new job I started.
3. Treating ci jarrabawa as literal eating
❌ Ɗalibin ya ci takardar jarrabawa, wato ya samu maki masu kyau.
Incorrect explanation—the idiom selects jarrabawa ‘examination,’ not the physical exam paper.
✅ Ɗalibin ya ci jarrabawar, wato ya sami makin wucewa.
The student passed the examination; that is, he obtained a passing mark.
4. Weakening the possessor relation in ci mutunci
❌ Ya ci mutunci ta a gaban kowa.
Incorrect—an enclitic possessor attaches to the linked noun form.
✅ Ya ci mutuncinta a gaban kowa, sai ta bar wurin.
He humiliated her in front of everyone, so she left.
5. Translating an English food idiom word for word
❌ Wannan gyaran zai ci hannu da ƙafa.
Invented calque of English ‘cost an arm and a leg’; it is not a standard Hausa ci-collocation.
✅ Wannan gyaran zai ci kuɗi sosai fiye da yadda muka zata.
This repair will cost much more money than we expected.
Key Takeaways
- Literal ci takes food; an omitted object can mean understood food in context.
- Ci gaba means continue/proceed, and an overt following activity normally takes da.
- Ci nasara, samu nasara, and yi nasara overlap, but ci nasara is especially natural for gaining victory.
- Ci jarrabawa means pass an examination; ci kofi means win a trophy.
- Ci amana and ci mutunci are serious moral and social accusations, not light conversational fillers.
- The verbal noun cin and linked noun forms remain productive, but new idioms cannot be coined by translating English food metaphors.
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