shi and ita: Third Person Singular | Hausa Grammar

Shi and ita are the masculine and feminine singular independent pronouns. With people, they usually correspond to “he/him” and “she/her.” They can also resume grammatically masculine and feminine things, because Hausa gender belongs to nouns and agreement, not only to human sex.

Use these free forms for identification, contrast, topic setting, and other independent phrase positions. Do not treat them as the only Hausa words for English he/him/his and she/her/her: finite subjects, direct objects, recipients, and possessors select their own series.

All unlabelled forms are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko leaves lexical tone and vowel length unmarked.

The masculine and feminine chains

Function	Masculine singular	Feminine singular
independent	shi	ita
completive subject–TAM	ya	ta
continuative subject–TAM	yana	tana
future	zai	za ta
direct object	shi	ta
indirect object	masa	mata
possessive after littafi	littafinsa	littafinta

Masculine independent shi and direct-object shi have the same spelling. Their syntactic position separates them. Feminine independent ita and direct-object ta are visibly different.

Shi ya gan ta a bakin ƙofa.

He saw her at the doorway. (contrastive ‘he’)

Ita ta gan shi a cikin mota.

She saw him in the car. (contrastive ‘she’)

In the first sentence, initial shi is independent, ya marks the masculine subject in the completive, and final ta is the feminine direct object. The second sentence reverses the roles.

Overt nouns do not remove subject–TAM marking

Names show the underlying structure clearly. The gender agreement guide traces the same masculine–feminine contrast across a wider set of constructions:

Musa ya kawo kayan; Aisha ta karɓe su.

Musa brought the goods; Aisha received them.

Both subjects are overt, yet ya follows masculine Musa and ta follows feminine Aisha. The same markers remain when shi/ita are used for contrast.

Shi ya kawo kayan; ita ta karɓe su.

He brought the goods; she received them.

Shi yana aiki a banki; ita tana koyarwa a makaranta.

He works at a bank; she teaches at a school.

Shi zai zo yau; ita za ta zo gobe.

He will come today; she will come tomorrow.

Independent shi/ita identify opposing participants. The forms ya/ta, yana/tana, and zai/za ta express subject plus tense–aspect. In a neutral continuation, Hausa normally omits the independent word:

Ya zo da safe, amma ta zo da yamma.

He came in the morning, but she came in the evening.

💡

When the participant is already clear, the subject–TAM form often does the routine referring. Add shi or ita when the discourse needs “he, not she,” “she, for her part,” or an independently identified participant.

Identification with shi ne and ita ce

Independent pronouns combine naturally with the identifying copulas ne and ce. Masculine shi selects ne; feminine ita selects ce.

Shi ne sabon direbanmu.

He is our new driver.

Ita ce sabuwar shugabar makarantar.

She is the school's new head.

Shi ne ya buɗe ofishin da safe.

He is the one who opened the office this morning.

Ita ce ta turo mana da saƙon.

She is the one who sent us the message.

The focused forms do more than state an event: they identify which person satisfies the description. They are current in (informal) conversation and (formal) prose.

Independent pronouns can also answer a question without a following verb:

Wace ce ta shirya taron? Ita.

Which woman organized the meeting? Her.

English chooses object-form her in this short answer, but Hausa chooses the full independent ita, not direct-object ta.

Reference to things as well as people

Hausa nouns have grammatical gender. A previously mentioned masculine noun may be resumed by shi, and a feminine noun by ita.

Ina littafin? Ga shi nan a kan tebur.

Where is the book? Here it is on the table.

Ina jakar? Ga ta nan kusa da ƙofa.

Where is the bag? Here it is beside the door.

The presentational construction uses shi for masculine littafi and ta for feminine jaka. If the item is independently identified, the fuller forms appear:

Wannan littafi shi ne nawa; wannan jaka ita ce taki.

This book is mine; this bag is yours (female singular).

The gender choice follows littafi and jaka, not biological sex. English it hides the distinction.

💡

Do not translate shi/ita mechanically as “he/she.” First identify the Hausa antecedent and its grammatical gender; an English “it” may still require either form.

Object, recipient, and possessive forms

As direct objects, use shi for masculine and ta for feminine:

Na kira shi, amma ban same shi ba.

I called him, but I did not reach him.

Na kira ta, amma ba ta ɗauki waya ba.

I called her, but she did not answer the phone.

For a recipient or beneficiary, use masa/mata:

Na same shi a ofis, sannan na nuna masa shafin.

I found him in the office and then showed him the page.

Na same ta a ofis, sannan na bayyana mata abin da za ta yi.

I found her in the office and then explained to her what she would do.

Possessive forms join to the noun:

Littafinsa yana nan, amma littafinta yana gida.

His book is here, but her book is at home.

The final sequences -nsa/-nta are not free shi/ita placed after a noun. Hausa possession has its own morphology.

A short contrastive exchange

A: Musa ne ya kira? B: A’a, ita ce ta kira. Shi ya turo saƙo kawai. A: To, ka gaya mata zan dawo da yamma.

A: Was it Musa who called? B: No, she was the one who called. He only sent a message. A: Then tell her I will return this evening.

Ita ce ta kira corrects the proposed caller. Shi ya turo contrasts Musa's actual action. Final mata marks the person who receives the telling; independent ita would not fill that recipient slot.

Practice Exercises: follow gender across the clause

Fatima ta gama aikinta; ita za ta tafi yanzu.

Fatima finished her work; she will leave now.

Ali ya gama aikinsa; shi zai jira a nan.

Ali finished his work; he will wait here.

Motar ta lalace, amma ita ce kaɗai muke da ita.

The car broke down, but it is the only one we have.

Wayar tana ɗaki; na bar ta a kan gado.

The phone is in the room; I left it on the bed. (feminine grammar)

Common Mistakes

1. Dropping subject marking after an independent pronoun

❌ Ita tafi gida.

Incorrect as ‘She went home’ — a finite completive clause needs ta.

✅ Ita ta tafi gida.

She went home. (contrastive)

2. Using independent ita as a neutral direct object

❌ Na gan ita a kasuwa.

Incorrect in the ordinary direct-object construction.

✅ Na gan ta a kasuwa.

I saw her at the market.

3. Copying one third-person form into every function

❌ Na yi ita bayani.

Incorrect for ‘I explained it to her’ — ita is not the recipient form.

✅ Na yi mata bayani.

I explained it to her.

4. Using masculine agreement after a feminine noun

❌ Aisha ya dawo gida.

Incorrect — Aisha takes feminine singular subject agreement.

✅ Aisha ta dawo gida.

Aisha returned home.

5. Writing possession as noun plus free pronoun

❌ littafi ita

Incorrect for ‘her book.’

✅ littafinta

her book

Key Takeaways

Independent shi is masculine singular; independent ita is feminine singular.
A finite verb still takes subject–TAM marking: shi ya..., ita ta..., shi yana..., ita tana....
Direct objects are shi/ta, recipients are masa/mata, and possessives include -nsa/-nta.
Shi/ita may resume grammatically gendered things as well as people.
Use shi ne and ita ce for identification; do not treat free ita as the ordinary object form.

Now practice Hausa

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Hausa →