In Hausa, a cardinal number normally follows the noun it counts: yara uku “three children,” literally “children three.” Inside a longer noun phrase, the numeral also has a preferred position: identifying material such as a possessive or short demonstrative comes before it, while a following adjective or relative clause comes after it.
All unlabelled patterns on this page are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Cardinal forms do not change for masculine, feminine, or plural nouns. Noun form and clause agreement still matter even though the numeral itself is invariant.
The core order is noun + cardinal
The first habit to establish is the opposite of English order.
| Meaning | Hausa noun phrase | Literal order |
|---|---|---|
| one boy | yaro ɗaya | boy one |
| one girl | yarinya ɗaya | girl one |
| two children | yara biyu | children two |
| five books | littattafai biyar | books five |
| thirty houses | gidaje talatin | houses thirty |
Yaro ɗaya yana jira a bakin ƙofa.
One boy is waiting at the doorway.
Yarinya ɗaya tana karanta jarida a ciki.
One girl is reading a newspaper inside.
Yara biyu suna taimaka wa mahaifiyarsu.
Two children are helping their mother.
The numeral ɗaya remains unchanged. The surrounding grammar reveals the difference: masculine yaro — yana, feminine yarinya — tana, and plural yara — suna.
Above one: animate nouns and inanimate nouns
Animate count nouns generally use a plural noun above one in neutral Kano/Nigerian Standard Hausa: mutane uku, mata biyu, dawakai biyar. Inanimate count nouns allow more variation. A plural is ordinary, but a singular counting form is also common with many nouns.
Mata uku sun buɗe sabon shago.
Three women opened a new shop.
Dawakai biyar suna cikin filin.
Five horses are in the field.
An ajiye kujera goma a ƙaramin ɗakin.
Ten chairs were placed in the small room.
Kujeru goma suna zagaye da teburin.
Ten chairs are arranged around the table.
Both kujera goma and kujeru goma can count ten chairs. The singular pattern is a counting construction; it does not mean that ten has become grammatically singular. When the chairs function as a clause subject, plural agreement is the normal semantic choice.
Demonstratives and possessors precede the cardinal
A short demonstrative follows a linked form of the noun, and the numeral follows that demonstrative. A possessor likewise forms a unit with the head noun before the cardinal.
| Structure | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| linked noun + nan + NUM | motocin nan biyu | these two cars |
| linked noun + can + NUM | jakunkunan can uku | those three bags over there |
| linked noun + possessor + NUM | littattafan Amina huɗu | Amina’s four books |
Motocin nan biyu suna buƙatar gyara.
These two cars need repairs.
Ka ɗauko jakunkunan can uku.
Bring those three bags over there.
Littattafan Amina huɗu suna kan kantar littattafai.
Amina’s four books are on the bookcase.
The -n in motocin, jakunkunan, littattafan belongs to the linked noun. Do not move the number between that noun and its demonstrative or possessor. English says these two cars, placing the demonstrative before the numeral and both before the noun; Hausa organizes the same information from the noun outward.
Numerals precede later adjectives and relative clauses
When a postnominal adjective or relative clause is included, the unmarked order is:
noun + identifying material + numeral + adjective/relative clause
Mun sayi motoci biyu sababbi domin kamfanin.
We bought two new cars for the company.
Ta zaɓi riguna uku farare domin bikin.
She chose three white gowns for the celebration.
Na sadu da ɗalibai biyu da suka dawo daga Kano.
I met two students who had returned from Kano.
In ɗalibai biyu da suka dawo, the relative clause identifies which two students are relevant. Putting the number after the whole relative clause makes processing harder and is not the neutral order taught here.
The adjective must still take the appropriate number form: plural sababbi and farare describe plural motoci/riguna. The cardinal does not carry that agreement for them.
Definite sets and cardinal scope
A definite or demonstrative expression identifies a set before the cardinal gives its size. Compare a newly introduced indefinite group with an identified group:
Baƙi uku sun iso da safe.
Three guests arrived in the morning.
Baƙin nan uku sun iso da safe.
These three guests arrived in the morning.
The first phrase introduces three guests. The second points to or resumes three known guests. Hausa has not inserted an English-style free article before the number; definiteness is expressed through the noun's linked/definite form, the demonstrative, and the discourse.
Conventional units often keep a singular unit noun
Money, time spans, ages, and purchased units frequently use a grammatically singular unit before the numeral. These are conventional measuring frames rather than ordinary plural descriptions.
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| naira hamsin | fifty naira |
| shekara ashirin | twenty years |
| wata biyu | two months |
| buhu goma | ten sacks as a purchased unit |
Ta yi shekara ashirin tana koyarwa a makarantar.
She spent twenty years teaching at the school.
Za mu zauna wata biyu kafin mu koma gida.
We will stay for two months before returning home.
Na biya naira hamsin don ruwan.
I paid fifty naira for the water.
English forces years and months into plural morphology. Hausa conventional measurement syntax does not simply copy that requirement. Learn the whole expression instead of mechanically pluralizing every translated unit.
Guda fits inside the same noun phrase
The optional unit counter guda comes between the counted expression and the numeral. Material that belongs to the noun phrase still remains before it.
Za mu sayar da kekunan nan guda biyu gobe.
We will sell these two bicycles tomorrow.
Akwatin kayan aiki guda ɗaya ya rage a cikin motar.
One toolbox remains in the vehicle.
The structures are kekunan nan + guda + biyu and akwatin kayan aiki + guda + ɗaya. For a fuller explanation of individuation and noun ellipsis, see Counting Nouns with guda.
A date-and-time exchange
A: Kwana nawa za ku yi a Abuja? B: Kwana uku. Za mu isa da ƙarfe takwas na safe ranar Litinin. A: Mutane nawa za su zo? B: Mutane huɗu.
A: How many days will you spend in Abuja? B: Three days. We will arrive at eight in the morning on Monday. A: How many people are coming? B: Four people.
The exchange contrasts a conventional time-span unit kwana uku with the ordinary animate plural mutane huɗu. In both, the answer preserves noun-before-number order.
Practice: assemble the full noun phrase
Put the bracketed material in neutral Hausa order.
- motoci + nan + uku → motocin nan uku “these three cars”
- littattafai + Musa + biyar → littattafan Musa biyar “Musa’s five books”
- riguna + biyu + farare → riguna biyu farare “two white gowns”
- ɗalibai + shida + da suka ci jarrabawa → ɗalibai shida da suka ci jarrabawa “six students who passed the examination”
Each answer begins with the head noun. The numeral follows any immediately identifying demonstrative or possessor and precedes later descriptive material.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English number-before-noun order.
❌ biyu yara suna wasa
Incorrect neutral Hausa order.
✅ Yara biyu suna wasa.
Two children are playing.
2. Ignoring the linked form before nan.
❌ motoci nan biyu
Incorrect — nan requires the linked noun form.
✅ Za mu ɗauki motocin nan biyu.
We will take these two cars.
3. Putting the numeral before the demonstrative.
❌ motocin biyu nan
Incorrect for the neutral meaning ‘these two cars.’
✅ motocin nan biyu
These two cars.
4. Giving one a gendered cardinal form.
❌ yarinya ta ɗaya
Incorrect as a cardinal phrase — ta ɗaya is ordinal ‘first’ with a feminine head.
✅ yarinya ɗaya
One girl.
5. Forcing an English plural into a conventional unit expression.
❌ shekaru ashirin
Not the conventional unit form intended for ‘twenty years’ in this measurement frame.
✅ shekara ashirin
Twenty years.
Key Takeaways
- Put cardinals after the counted noun: yara uku.
- The numeral is invariant, but noun form and clause agreement still express gender and number.
- In neutral order, demonstratives and possessors precede the numeral; later adjectives and relative clauses follow it.
- Animate nouns normally use plural forms above one; inanimate counting allows more singular/plural variation.
- Learn conventional money, time, and purchased-unit phrases as complete frames.
Related Topics
- Cardinal Numbers Zero to TenA1 — Count from sifili to goma and place Hausa cardinal numbers naturally after nouns in quantities, prices, times, and digit strings.
- Counting Nouns with gudaA1 — Use the unit counter guda between a counted expression and its numeral, and distinguish its unit meaning from the ordinary cardinal ɗaya ‘one’.
- Basic Ordinals with na and taA1 — Form Hausa ordinals with na for masculine or plural heads and ta for feminine heads, including the special forms for ‘first’.
- 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.
- Collective Nouns and Unit ExpressionsA2 — Learn how Hausa distinguishes a group from its members and counts quantities through units such as guda, buhu, and kwalba.