mini, maka, and miki | Hausa Grammar

Mini, maka, and miki are the singular indirect-object pronouns most useful in everyday interaction. Mini means “to/for me,” maka means “to/for you” when speaking to one male, and miki means “to/for you” when speaking to one female. They normally follow the verb and precede the thing transferred, shown, said, bought, or done. The full indirect-object paradigm adds the third-person and plural forms.

All unlabelled uses are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Standard boko writes each form as one word and does not mark its tone. Mani occurs as a (regional) first-person variant, but learners targeting Nigerian Standard/Kano-based usage should produce mini.

The three forms at a glance

Person	Indirect object	Direct object	Independent	Typical phrase
me	mini	ni	ni	kawo mini ruwa
you, one male	maka	ka	kai	kawo maka ruwa
you, one female	miki	ki	ke	kawo miki ruwa

Ka kawo mini ruwa, don Allah.

Bring me some water, please. (addressing one male)

Ki kawo mini ruwa, don Allah.

Bring me some water, please. (addressing one female)

The imperative subject changes from masculine ka to feminine ki, but the recipient remains first-person mini. This is a useful reminder that the preverbal subject and postverbal recipient are separate grammatical choices.

Zan kawo maka littafin gobe.

I will bring you the book tomorrow. (one male addressee)

Zan kawo miki littafin gobe.

I will bring you the book tomorrow. (one female addressee)

English says you in both sentences. Hausa obliges the speaker to identify the singular addressee as masculine or feminine.

Mini: the first-person recipient

Use mini when the speaker receives something, benefits from an action, or is the addressee of a message. It is not simply a longer spelling of direct-object ni.

Aiko mini da adireshin idan ka samu lokaci.

Send me the address when you have time. (addressing one male)

Ta nuna mini sabon ofishinta.

She showed me her new office.

Malam ya rubuta mini wasiƙar shaida.

The teacher wrote me a reference letter.

Ka karanta mini saƙon, don Allah.

Read the message to me, please. (addressing one male)

Now compare a direct object:

Malam ya kira ni bayan taro.

The teacher called me after the meeting. (ni: direct object)

Malam ya rubuta mini saƙo bayan taro.

The teacher wrote me a message after the meeting. (mini: recipient)

In the first sentence, “me” is the person directly called. In the second, saƙo is what was written and mini is the intended recipient.

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If another noun answers “what was brought/written/shown?”, mini usually identifies the person to or for whom it was done.

Maka and miki: gender in singular address

Use maka for one male addressee and miki for one female addressee. These forms belong to a broader masculine/feminine chain.

Function	One male	One female
independent	kai	ke
plain completive subject	ka	kin
direct object	ka	ki
indirect object	maka	miki
possessor after masculine noun	-nka	-nki

Kai ka aiko mini da hoton, ni kuma zan aiko maka da nawa.

You sent me the photograph, and I will send you mine. (speaking to one male)

Initial kai is independent and contrastive, ka is the masculine completive subject, mini is the first-person recipient, and maka is the masculine recipient. They are not optional variants of one word.

Ke kin aiko mini da hoton, ni kuma zan aiko miki da nawa.

You sent me the photograph, and I will send you mine. (speaking to one female)

Here feminine ke — kin — miki must remain consistent. If the same woman were a direct object, the form would be ki:

Na kira ki domin in gaya miki labarin.

I called you so that I could tell you the news. (one female addressee)

The first “you” is directly called, so Hausa uses ki. The second is the addressee of the news, so Hausa uses miki.

Na kira ka domin in gaya maka labarin.

I called you so that I could tell you the news. (one male addressee)

The masculine pair is ka as direct object and maka as indirect object.

Common everyday frames

These pronouns are especially frequent with verbs of transfer, communication, showing, procurement, and benefactive action.

Zan gaya maka abin da ya faru.

I will tell you what happened. (one male addressee)

Zan gaya miki abin da ya faru.

I will tell you what happened. (one female addressee)

Ka saya mini burodi idan za ka dawo.

Buy me some bread when you come back. (addressing one male)

Na tanada maka wuri kusa da taga.

I reserved a place for you near the window. (one male addressee)

Na tanada miki wuri kusa da taga.

I reserved a place for you near the window. (one female addressee)

Za ki iya bayyana mini wannan ɓangaren?

Can you explain this part to me? (asking one female)

The English equivalents alternate among tell you, buy me, for you, and to me. The stable Hausa insight is the participant's grammatical role, not the presence of one particular English preposition.

Position and word division

Write mini, maka, miki as single words, immediately after the relevant verb and before a following theme.

Hauwa ta kawo mini takardun da safe.

Hauwa brought me the documents in the morning.

The noun subject Hauwa does not replace the finite marker: ta is still required. Then the postverbal sequence is mini (recipient) + takardun (theme).

Do not split the forms as ma ni, ma ka, ma ki. Likewise, do not add noun marker wa: wa mini repeats a relation already encoded inside mini.

For a noun recipient, use wa:

Thus Hauwa ta kawo wa Musa takardun means “Hauwa brought Musa the documents,” while Hauwa ta kawo masa takardun replaces the complete wa + noun phrase with third-person masa.

The ba exception

After ba “give,” do not use mini, maka, miki for the recipient. The verb selects ni, ka, ki instead.

Ya ba ni littafin.

He gave me the book.

Na ba ka littafin.

I gave you the book. (one male addressee)

Na ba ki littafin.

I gave you the book. (one female addressee)

Compare the regular transfer verb kawo:

Ya kawo mini littafin.

He brought me the book.

This irregularity has no productive shortcut. Memorize ba ni/ka/ki alongside ordinary kawo mini/maka/miki.

Practice: choose role and gender

She called me. → Ta kira ni.

Me is directly called, so use direct-object ni.

She brought me tea. → Ta kawo mini shayi.

Me is the recipient, so use mini.

I will show you the room. → Zan nuna maka ɗakin.

Use maka for one male addressee.

I will show you the room. → Zan nuna miki ɗakin.

Use miki for one female addressee.

I gave you the key. → Na ba ki makullin.

Use exceptional ki after ba for one female addressee.

Common Mistakes

1. Using direct ni for a recipient.

❌ Ta kawo ni shayi.

Incorrect for ‘she brought me tea’ — ni is a direct object.

✅ Ta kawo mini shayi.

She brought me tea.

2. Using masculine maka for one woman.

❌ Zan nuna maka hoton.

Incorrect when speaking to one woman — maka is masculine singular.

✅ Zan nuna miki hoton.

I will show you the photograph. (one female addressee)

3. Using independent kai or ke as an ordinary recipient.

❌ Na rubuta kai saƙo.

Incorrect for ‘I wrote you a message’ — kai is independent.

✅ Na rubuta maka saƙo.

I wrote you a message. (one male addressee)

4. Splitting or double-marking the pronoun.

❌ Ka aiko wa ma ni da hoton.

Incorrect — mini is one word and needs no wa.

✅ Ka aiko mini da hoton.

Send me the photograph. (addressing one male)

5. Extending the regular series to ba.

❌ Na ba miki makullin.

Incorrect with ba ‘give’ in the Standard construction.

✅ Na ba ki makullin.

I gave you the key. (one female addressee)

Key Takeaways

Mini means “to/for me”; maka addresses one male; miki addresses one female.
These are indirect objects, distinct from direct ni/ka/ki and independent ni/kai/ke.
Write each form as one word after the verb and before a following direct object.
Choose maka versus miki by the singular addressee's gender; use muku for plural “you.”
The exact reading — recipient, beneficiary, or addressee — follows from the verb and context.
Memorize the ba exception: ba ni/ka/ki, not ba mini/maka/miki.

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