Hausa normally states a person's exact age as a quantity of shekara “year”: tana da shekara ashirin “she is twenty years old.” The language does not use an age adjective equivalent to English twenty-year-old. It puts the person into a possessive or measuring frame and places the numeral after the unit.
The most useful everyday pattern is subject marker + da + shekara + numeral. Questions also commonly use shekara nawa “how many years?” with gare “at/with.” These are neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa in ordinary (informal) speech and careful (formal) use. The singular unit shekara before a numeral is the preferred counting form taught here; plural shekaru is also an accepted variant in age statements and is required when the years themselves are treated as a plural set.
The basic age frame
Use ina/kana/kina/yana/tana/muna/kuna/suna da shekara + number. The continuative subject marker agrees with the person whose age is stated; shekara and the number do not change for that person's gender.
| Person | Age statement | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| speaker | ina da shekara ashirin | I am twenty |
| male addressee | kana da shekara talatin | you are thirty |
| female addressee | kina da shekara talatin | you are thirty |
| male referent | yana da shekara goma | he is ten |
| female referent | tana da shekara goma | she is ten |
| plural referent | suna da shekara goma | they are ten |
Yaronmu yana da shekara goma.
Our boy is ten years old.
Amina tana da shekara ashirin da huɗu.
Amina is twenty-four years old.
Ina da shekara talatin da ɗaya, amma ɗan'uwana yana da shekara ashirin da takwas.
I am thirty-one, but my brother is twenty-eight.
English makes old the predicate. Hausa instead says that someone “has” a measured number of years. In this construction da is the same possessive element found in expressions such as ina da mota “I have a car”; there is no separate word corresponding to English old.
Asking someone's age
A common age question is Shekara nawa gare ka? “How old are you?” Here shekara nawa is literally “how many years,” and the person is introduced through the gare series. In careful boko, writing the pronoun separately—gare ka, gare ki, gare shi, gare ta—makes the internal structure transparent; joined spellings are also encountered in teaching materials.
| Person asked about | Question |
|---|---|
| you, male | Shekara nawa gare ka? |
| you, female | Shekara nawa gare ki? |
| him | Shekara nawa gare shi? |
| her | Shekara nawa gare ta? |
| them | Shekara nawa gare su? |
A: Shekara nawa gare ki? B: Ina da shekara goma sha tara.
A: How old are you? B: I am nineteen years old.
A: Shekara nawa gare shi? B: Yana da shekara bakwai.
A: How old is he? B: He is seven years old.
The question can also be framed with possessed shekaru: Shekarunka nawa? to a man and Shekarunki nawa? to a woman. This asks, literally, “Your years are how many?” It is a conventional age question, not a request to count calendar years owned like objects.
A: Shekarunki nawa? B: Shekaruna arba'in da biyu.
A: How old are you? B: I am forty-two.
Gender matters in the addressee and subject forms: gare ka/kana address a man, while gare ki/kina address a woman. English you hides that distinction.
Shekara stays singular in the counting frame
In ordinary age and duration measurement, Hausa commonly retains singular shekara before a numeral. This resembles naira hamsin “fifty naira” and wata biyu “two months”: the noun names a conventional unit and the number follows it.
| Age | Spoken Hausa |
|---|---|
| 1 | shekara ɗaya |
| 2 | shekara biyu |
| 5 | shekara biyar |
| 11 | shekara goma sha ɗaya |
| 25 | shekara ashirin da biyar |
| 70 | shekara saba'in |
Jaririn yana da shekara ɗaya yau.
The baby is one year old today.
Kakarmu tana da shekara saba'in da shida.
Our grandmother is seventy-six years old.
Plural shekaru is perfectly real. It is an accepted alternative in age statements, and it is especially natural when the years themselves are viewed as a plural set or when a possessed form names someone's age: shekarunsa “his years/his age,” shekarunta “her years/her age.” Do not infer that every number above one mechanically requires it.
Shekarunta goma sha bakwai ne, amma tana da ƙwarewa sosai.
She is seventeen, but she is very capable.
Saboda shekarunsa, ba a ba shi lasisin tuƙi ba.
Because of his age, he was not given a driving licence.
Age inside a full noun phrase
To describe rather than predicate an age, mai shekara + number follows a singular person noun. Mai introduces a person characterized by having that quantity.
Wata yarinya mai shekara goma sha biyu ta lashe gasar karatu.
A twelve-year-old girl won the reading competition.
Likitan ya duba yaro mai shekara biyar da ke fama da zazzaɓi.
The doctor examined a five-year-old boy who had a fever.
The natural Hausa order is person + mai + shekara + numeral. English compresses the same information before the noun—a five-year-old boy—and hyphenates it. Hausa builds a following descriptive phrase instead.
For a feminine head, the relative subject marker later in the clause remains feminine: yarinya ... da take. The invariant mai itself does not become a special feminine form here.
Na yi magana da wata mace mai shekara hamsin wadda take kula da ofishin.
I spoke with a fifty-year-old woman who manages the office.
Reaching an age and age limits
The verb kai “reach” presents age as a threshold. Use ya/ta kai shekara + number for “he/she has reached the age of ….” With a future marker it states a coming birthday or eligibility point.
Ta kai shekara goma sha takwas, don haka za ta iya cika fom ɗin da kanta.
She has reached eighteen, so she can complete the form herself.
Zai kai shekara sittin a watan Maris mai zuwa.
He will turn sixty next March.
For an explicit minimum or range, keep the unit with the boundaries: daga shekara goma sha takwas zuwa shekara ashirin da biyar. This structure is developed further under Approximate Numbers and Ranges.
Ana karɓar masu nema daga shekara goma sha takwas zuwa shekara talatin.
Applicants from eighteen to thirty years old are accepted.
Age in a date, price, and time exchange
A: Shekara nawa gare yaron? B: Yana da shekara shida. A: Nawa ne kuɗin tikitinsa? B: Naira dubu biyu ne. A: Wace rana za mu je? B: Ranar 14 ga watan Yuni, da ƙarfe tara na safe.
A: How old is the boy? B: He is six. A: How much is his ticket? B: It is two thousand naira. A: What day shall we go? B: On 14 June, at nine in the morning.
The exchange uses four different numerical frames: shekara shida for age, naira dubu biyu for price, 14 ga watan Yuni for a date, and ƙarfe tara for clock time. Reading the digits is not enough; each quantity requires its own unit and word order.
Practice
Convert the English prompt into the Hausa measurement frame.
tana da shekara ashirin da uku
she is twenty-three years old
yaro mai shekara takwas
an eight-year-old boy
zai kai shekara arba'in gobe
he will turn forty tomorrow
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English adjective order
❌ ashirin shekara tsohon yaro
Incorrect — this copies English ‘twenty-year-old boy’ order.
✅ yaro mai shekara ashirin
A twenty-year-old boy.
2. Putting the number before the unit
❌ Tana da goma sha biyar shekara.
Incorrect — the numeral follows the measurement noun.
✅ Tana da shekara goma sha biyar.
She is fifteen years old.
3. Assuming the plural is the only possible form above one
⚠️ Yana da shekaru tara.
This is possible, but do not assume that English plural ‘years’ makes shekaru obligatory in Hausa.
✅ Yana da shekara tara.
He is nine years old.
4. Ignoring the addressee's gender
❌ Shekara nawa gare ka, Aisha?
Incorrect in the intended standard agreement — gare ka addresses a man.
✅ Shekara nawa gare ki, Aisha?
How old are you, Aisha?
5. Using the clock or date frame for age
❌ Amina ƙarfe ashirin ne.
Incorrect — ƙarfe introduces clock time, not age.
✅ Amina tana da shekara ashirin.
Amina is twenty years old.
Key Takeaways
- State age with subject marker + da + shekara + numeral.
- Ask with shekara nawa and a person form such as gare ka/gare ki.
- Conventional age counting normally uses singular shekara, even above one.
- Possessed shekarunsa/shekarunta can mean “his/her years” and conventionally “his/her age.”
- An attributive age follows its noun: yarinya mai shekara goma sha biyu.
- Kai shekara ... presents an age as a threshold reached.
Now practice Hausa
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
- Cardinals inside Noun PhrasesA1 — Place Hausa cardinal numbers after the noun and its identifying material but before later adjectives and relative clauses.
- Building Complex Cardinal NumbersA1 — Assemble Hausa cardinal numbers from the largest place downward, using sha for 11–19 and da between additive sections.
- Years and DecadesA2 — Read calendar years, distinguish year labels from durations, and locate events within decades using shekara and shekaru.
- Size and Age DescriptionsA1 — How Hausa distinguishes size, height, age, and exact age through agreeing adjectives, nouns, and verbal constructions.
- Possessive Pronouns after Masculine and Plural NounsB1 — Build joined Hausa possessives such as gidanka, littafinta, motocinmu, and takardunsu with the n-series selected by masculine and plural heads.
- Possessive Predication with yana daB2 — Express having, availability to a possessor, and possessed qualities with an agreeing continuative form plus da.