Hausa measurements normally place the unit before the numeral: kilomita goma “ten kilometers,” kilo biyu “two kilograms,” and lita uku “three liters.” When the measured substance is named, speakers can say ruwa lita uku “three liters of water” or use an expanded phrase such as lita uku na ruwa. In both patterns, the number follows the unit it counts.
The metric units on this page are ordinary in contemporary Nigerian Hausa. Short kilo is common in (informal/commercial) speech; full kilogiram is clearer in (formal/technical) contexts. Containers and traditional measures are useful too, but their practical size can vary, so they must not be silently treated as exact SI conversions.
Core units and their order
The following table gives the most useful spoken measurement frames. Hausa spelling generally adapts the international unit name, while the noun-before-number syntax remains Hausa.
| Dimension | Unit | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| weight/mass | kilogiram / kilo | kilo biyu | two kilograms |
| weight/mass | giram | giram ɗari biyar | five hundred grams |
| distance | kilomita | kilomita goma | ten kilometers |
| length | mita | mita uku | three meters |
| length | santimita | santimita ashirin | twenty centimeters |
| capacity | lita | lita biyar | five liters |
| capacity | mililita | mililita ɗari biyu | two hundred milliliters |
Nauyin akwatin kilo takwas ne.
The box weighs eight kilograms.
Asibitin yana da nisan kilomita goma sha biyu daga nan.
The hospital is twelve kilometers from here.
Tankin yana ɗaukar lita dubu biyu na ruwa.
The tank holds two thousand liters of water.
English puts the numeral before the unit; Hausa does the reverse. The unit is a noun, and the cardinal follows it just as it follows other counted nouns.
Asking about weight, distance, and capacity
General nawa follows a measurement noun in questions. The dimension word makes the question precise:
- Nauyinsa nawa ne? — What is its weight?
- Nisan wurin kilomita nawa ne? — How many kilometers away is the place?
- Tankin yana ɗaukar lita nawa? — How many liters does the tank hold?
A: Buhun yana da nauyin kilo nawa? B: Kilo hamsin.
A: How many kilograms does the sack weigh? B: Fifty kilograms.
A: Daga nan zuwa kasuwar kilomita nawa ne? B: Kimanin kilomita shida.
A: How many kilometers is it from here to the market? B: About six kilometers.
A: Wannan jarkar tana ɗaukar lita nawa? B: Lita ashirin da biyar.
A: How many liters does this jerrycan hold? B: Twenty-five liters.
The answers retain the unit. A bare number is possible when the unit is completely obvious, but repeating it prevents dangerous misunderstandings in medicine, fuel, transport, and trade.
Naming the measured substance
Two useful patterns occur in everyday speech:
- substance + unit + numeral: ruwa lita biyu “two liters of water”
- unit + numeral + na + substance: lita biyu na ruwa “two liters of water”
The first is compact and common in shopping. The second explicitly relates the measured amount to its contents and can be clearer in a longer sentence.
Ka kawo ruwa lita biyu domin tafiyar.
Bring two liters of water for the journey.
Muna buƙatar kilo biyar na shinkafa da lita ɗaya na mai.
We need five kilograms of rice and one liter of oil.
Likita ya ce a ba yaron mililita biyar na maganin.
The doctor said to give the child five milliliters of the medicine.
In the medicine example, the full unit is essential. Biyar alone would not say whether the intended dose was milliliters, spoonfuls, or tablets.
Linked containers and full noun phrases
Containers create countable portions of a mass. The container is the head noun and takes its Hausa linker before the substance: kwalbar ruwa “bottle of water,” litar mai “liter of oil,” buhun shinkafa “sack of rice.”
| Head | Linked phrase | Gender/linker |
|---|---|---|
| kwalba “bottle” | kwalbar ruwa | feminine -r |
| lita “liter” | litar mai | feminine -r |
| buhu “sack” | buhun shinkafa | masculine -n |
| kofi “cup” | kofin madara | masculine -n |
Na sayi kwalbar man girki mai lita ɗaya.
I bought a one-liter bottle of cooking oil.
Ma'aikatan sun sauke buhun shinkafa guda goma daga motar.
The workers unloaded ten sacks of rice from the vehicle.
Ka ba ta kofin madara guda ɗaya, ba dukan kwalbar ba.
Give her one cup of milk, not the whole bottle.
This is where gender-sensitive form matters. Feminine kwalba/lita link with -r; masculine buhu/kofi link with -n. The number itself does not agree for gender.
Whole numbers and fractions
A fractional remainder follows the whole quantity with da rabi “and a half” or another explicit fraction.
Tafiyar kilomita bakwai da rabi ce.
The journey is seven and a half kilometers.
An zuba lita uku da rabi na man fetur a tankin motar.
Three and a half liters of petrol were put in the car's tank.
Nauyin kayan kilo ashirin da kwata ne.
The goods weigh twenty and a quarter kilograms.
The neutral order remains unit → whole number → fractional addition. For more productive fraction syntax, see Fractions and Halves.
Distance is a relation, not just a bare number
Use daga ... zuwa ... to state endpoints and nisan ... to turn distance into a noun phrase. A distance without endpoints may be enough when the route is already known.
Daga Kano zuwa Kaduna kusan kilomita ɗari biyu da talatin ne ta hanya.
From Kano to Kaduna it is about 230 kilometers by road.
Nisan gidansu daga makaranta kilomita biyu ne kawai.
The distance from their home to the school is only two kilometers.
Mun yi tafiyar mita ɗari biyar da ƙafa kafin muka samu mota.
We walked five hundred meters before finding a vehicle.
English can say “the school is two kilometers” only in certain elliptical contexts. Hausa also benefits from an overt relational frame: nisan ... daga ... or daga ... zuwa ....
Exact metric units versus ordinary market measures
Hausa uses ordinary containers and traditional measures such as mudu, kwano, buhu, and ƙwarya. They are culturally and commercially important, but their real volume or weight can depend on the commodity, container, and local market practice (regional/commercial). Do not give a universal metric conversion unless the seller, standard, or regulation defines one.
Na sayi mudu biyu na wake a kasuwar unguwa.
I bought two mudu measures of beans at the neighborhood market. (regional/commercial measure)
Kwanon tumatir naira ɗari takwas ne, amma ba a auna shi da kilo ba.
A bowl of tomatoes costs eight hundred naira, but it was not weighed by the kilogram.
Domin takardar kaya, an sake auna buhun a kilogiram.
For the consignment document, the sack was weighed again in kilograms.
The contrast is not “incorrect traditional” versus “correct modern.” It is approximate or locally conventional commerce versus standardized measurement. State which system is relevant.
A measurement, price, date, and time exchange
A: Ina son shinkafa kilo goma. Nawa ne? B: Naira dubu ashirin da biyu. A: Yaushe zan karɓa? B: Ranar 6 ga watan Satumba da ƙarfe goma na safe.
A: I want ten kilograms of rice. How much is it? B: Twenty-two thousand naira. A: When will I collect it? B: On 6 September at ten in the morning.
Here kilo goma measures mass, naira dubu ashirin da biyu states value, and the final sentence uses date and clock frames. The number does not have one context-free spoken order.
Practice
mai lita huɗu
four liters of oil
nisan kilomita goma sha biyar
a distance of fifteen kilometers
kwalbar ruwa mai mililita ɗari biyar
a 500-milliliter bottle of water
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English number-before-unit order
❌ biyar kilomita
Incorrect neutral Hausa measurement order.
✅ kilomita biyar
Five kilometers.
2. Choosing the linker from the substance
❌ kwalban ruwa
Incorrect — feminine kwalba takes the -r linker.
✅ kwalbar ruwa
A bottle of water.
3. Omitting the unit where precision matters
❌ A ba yaron magani biyar.
Unsafe and incomplete — five what units?
✅ A ba yaron mililita biyar na magani.
Give the child five milliliters of medicine.
4. Treating every sack as an exact metric quantity
❌ Buhu ɗaya kullum kilo hamsin ne.
Incorrect generalization — sack sizes and contents vary.
✅ Auna buhun nan; ana buƙatar nauyinsa a kilo.
Weigh this sack; its weight in kilograms is needed.
5. Treating a distance numeral like a digit string
❌ kilomita biyu uku sifili
Incorrect ordinary reading of 230 km.
✅ kilomita ɗari biyu da talatin
Two hundred and thirty kilometers.
Key Takeaways
- Put the unit before the number: lita uku, kilo biyu, kilomita goma.
- Name contents compactly as ruwa lita biyu or explicitly as lita biyu na ruwa.
- Container linkers follow the container's gender: kwalbar ruwa, buhun shinkafa.
- Keep the unit in safety-critical and technical measurements.
- Distinguish standardized metric values from locally variable containers and market measures.
- Use relational frames such as daga ... zuwa ... and nisan ... daga ... for distance.
Related Topics
- Cardinals inside Noun PhrasesA1 — Place Hausa cardinal numbers after the noun and its identifying material but before later adjectives and relative clauses.
- Fractions and HalvesA2 — Express halves, quarters, general fractions, mixed measurements, and parts of known wholes with rabi and kashi.
- Prices and Currency AmountsA2 — Build Hausa prices with naira and kobo, ask nawa, distinguish value from counted notes, and handle change and written amounts.
- Mass Nouns and Count ReadingsA2 — Understand how Hausa talks about substances and abstract quantities, then shifts to portions, kinds, tasks, or suggestions when counting is needed.
- 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.
- Quantifiers with Mass NounsA2 — Quantify Hausa substances and activities with da yawa, kaɗan, duka, isasshe, and babu, then add units only when exact counting is needed.