When short nan or can follows a Hausa noun, the noun appears in its linked -n/-r form: gidan nan “this/that house,” motar nan “this/that car,” motocin can “those cars over there.” The demonstrative itself does not change for gender or number in this pattern; the linked head shows those features.
This is one of two ordinary demonstrative orders in (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Hausa can also put a full demonstrative before a bare noun: wannan gida, wannan mota, waɗannan motoci. The two orders overlap in meaning but have different internal grammar.
The post-nominal pattern
The structure is linked noun + nan/can. Use -n with masculine singular and plural heads, and -r with the appropriate -a-final feminine singular heads.
| Head | Features | Near/salient | Distant |
|---|---|---|---|
| gida “house” | masculine singular | gidan nan | gidan can |
| mota “car” | feminine singular | motar nan | motar can |
| motoci “cars” | plural | motocin nan | motocin can |
| malamai “teachers” | plural | malaman nan | malaman can |
| mace “woman” | feminine non-a-final | macen nan | macen can |
Gidan nan yana da fili, amma gidan can ya fi kusa da kasuwa.
This house is spacious, but that house over there is closer to the market.
Motar nan tana tsaye a gaban ƙofa tun safe.
This car has been parked in front of the gate since morning.
Motocin can sun zo daga Kaduna.
Those cars over there came from Kaduna.
Malaman nan suna jiran shugaban makaranta.
These teachers are waiting for the headteacher.
Plural formation remains lexical: mota → motoci, malami → malamai. Only after choosing the correct plural can you build motocin nan or malaman nan. The linker does not pluralize a noun.
The pre-nominal alternative
Full demonstratives precede the noun. In the basic pattern, the following noun is plain rather than the linked form:
| Reference | Masculine singular | Feminine singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near | wannan gida | wannan mota | waɗannan motoci |
| Far | wancan gida | waccan mota | waɗancan motoci |
Near singular wannan is used with both genders in this basic construction. The far singular series distinguishes masculine wancan from feminine waccan. Plural waɗannan/waɗancan works regardless of the singular noun's gender.
Wannan gida yana da ɗakuna huɗu.
This house has four rooms.
Waccan mota ta Amina ce.
That car belongs to Amina.
Waɗannan motoci sun yi tsada sosai.
These cars were very expensive.
Compare the two valid structures:
Wannan littafi yana da amfani sosai.
This book is very useful.
Littafin nan yana da amfani sosai.
This book is very useful.
Do not create a hybrid by moving only one word. Wannan littafi contains a full pre-nominal demonstrative and a plain noun. Littafin nan contains a linked noun followed by a short demonstrative. More elaborate noun phrases can combine demonstrative material with relatives and other modifiers, but the two simple frames should be mastered first.
What nan and can contribute
As a practical A2 contrast, nan picks out a near or immediately salient referent, while can indicates a more distant one. This is why can is often naturally translated “over there.”
Ka kawo mini kujerar nan; ka bar kujerar can.
Bring me this chair; leave that chair over there.
Kada ku shiga ɗakin can; ana taro a ciki.
Do not enter that room over there; a meeting is taking place inside.
The full spoken deictic system is finer than that simple translation. Hausa has tone-based distinctions within the NAN and CAN series: reference can be speaker-near, hearer-near or anaphorically salient, distant, or especially remote. Ordinary boko writes neither lexical tone nor these contrastive tone patterns, so gidan nan need not always correspond rigidly to English “this house.” Context and spoken tone can make “that house near you” or “that house we are discussing” more natural.
That ambiguity is real, not a reason to invent tone marks in ordinary target sentences. Tone-marked pronunciation displays belong on the dedicated demonstrative and prosody pages.
Why the linker is required
Short post-nominal demonstratives are dependents inside the noun phrase. The head must therefore appear in the linked form, just as it does before some other post-nominal dependents. The linker is not a separate demonstrative and does not mean “the.” It marks the syntactic connection between head and demonstrative.
Macen nan ita ce ta kira ka jiya.
This woman is the one who called you yesterday.
Feminine mace does not end in -a, so its short form is macen, not macer. The following feminine ita and ta confirm that the noun has not become masculine. Linker choice reflects both grammatical class and phonological shape.
Ƙwallon nan ta faɗa bayan bango.
This ball fell behind the wall.
Feminine ƙwallo similarly uses ƙwallon, while clause agreement stays feminine ta. By contrast, -a-final feminine mota gives motar nan.
Linked surface forms are not always simple letter addition
The analytical boundary in gida + -n + nan is useful, but normal spelling has gidan nan. The final long vowel of the noun shortens before the consonantal linker, a change hidden by ordinary boko. Some plurals change visibly: malamai + -n → malaman, so “these teachers” is malaman nan, not malamain nan.
Littattafan nan na ɗakin karatu ne.
These books belong to the library.
Plural littattafai has the linked form littattafan. The same form can appear before a possessor or a demonstrative; what follows identifies the function. The detailed sound rules are covered under phonological adjustment at linker boundaries.
Demonstrative phrases are identifiable, but not English article phrases
A demonstrative itself tells the listener which referent to select, so gidan nan is definite in interpretation. It is still misleading to analyze gidan as “the house” and nan as an optional extra “this.” Together they form one demonstrative noun phrase.
Watch how reference can become progressively more explicit:
Na ga wata mota a gaban shago. Motar ba ta da lambar rajista. Motar nan ce nake nufi.
I saw a car in front of the shop. The car had no registration number. This is the car I mean.
Wata mota introduces an indefinite car, motar retrieves it, and motar nan explicitly selects it. Gender, definiteness, and demonstrative linking all use information stored in the noun's small paradigm mota–motoci–motar.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting nan after an unlinked noun.
❌ gida nan
Incorrect in the standard post-nominal demonstrative frame.
✅ gidan nan
This or that contextually salient house.
2. Using -n with an a-final feminine singular head.
❌ motan nan
Incorrect — feminine singular mota takes -r.
✅ motar nan
This car.
3. Keeping feminine singular -r in the plural.
❌ motocir can
Incorrect — plural motoci uses the -n series.
✅ motocin can
Those cars over there.
4. Using the masculine far demonstrative with a feminine noun.
❌ wancan mota
Incorrect in the standard far pre-nominal paradigm — mota is feminine singular.
✅ waccan mota
That car.
5. Mechanically retaining a plural diphthong before the linker.
❌ malamain nan
Incorrect — the linked plural of malamai is malaman.
✅ malaman nan
These teachers.
Key Takeaways
- Post-nominal nan/can requires a linked head: gidan nan, motar nan, motocin can.
- The short demonstrative is invariant; the head's gender and number choose -n/-r.
- Full demonstratives precede a plain noun in the basic frame: wannan gida, waccan mota, waɗannan motoci.
- Ordinary boko hides tone distinctions that make the spoken deictic system more precise than a simple “this/that” translation.
- Demonstrative phrases are definite in interpretation, but the linker is not a second English-style article.
Related Topics
- 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.
- Definite Suffixes -n and -r: OverviewA2 — How Hausa uses joined -n and -r forms for recoverable reference and noun linking, with the crucial gender, number, and sound-pattern asymmetries.
- Near Demonstratives: wannan and waɗannanA1 — Use wannan with a nearby singular referent and waɗannan with nearby plurals, both before nouns and as standalone demonstratives.
- 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.
- Omitting -n/-r before Demonstratives and RelativesB1 — Repair bare Hausa head nouns before post-nominal demonstratives and restrictive da-relatives while keeping definite and genitive uses distinct.