Hausa has a special impersonal subject used when the person or people responsible for an action are unspecified, unknown, obvious, or deliberately left unmentioned. The two most useful beginner forms are an, which presents a completed event, and a, which appears in the subjunctive and after future za. Ordinary spelling also uses a for the long-falling indefinite future. These forms are not the Hausa equivalents of the English articles a and an.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko spelling does not show tone or vowel length, so this page writes a, an, ana, aka, ake, akan without pronunciation marks. The impersonal category is sometimes called “fourth person” in grammatical descriptions; that label means “unspecified human subject,” not a new participant alongside I, you, and they.
For the matching personal pattern, first review the plain completive paradigm, where an contrasts with na, ka, kin, ya, ta, mun, kun, sun.
The core distribution
The impersonal marker occupies the same preverbal grammatical slot as a personal subject–TAM form. Its shape changes with tense, aspect, mood, and clause type.
| Environment | Impersonal form | Core interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Plain completive | an | someone/people did it; it was done |
| Plain continuative | ana | people do it; it is being done |
| Relative completive | aka | that someone did; focused completed event |
| Relative continuative | ake | that people do; focused ongoing or habitual event |
| Habitual | akan | one/people usually do it |
| Subjunctive | a | let it be done; it should be done |
| Future | za a | someone will do it; it will be done |
| Indefinite future | a (marked âa) | someone will probably do it; it will likely be done |
This table is a map, not a full lesson on every TAM paradigm. Its main warning is simple: a and an are selected by grammar, not by the first sound of the following word. English chooses a or an according to pronunciation; Hausa an is completive, bare a can be subjunctive or potential, and a after za supplies the impersonal participant in the future construction.
An buɗe sabon asibitin jiya.
The new hospital was opened yesterday.
Ana gyaran hanyar da ta lalace.
The damaged road is being repaired.
A gyara famfon kafin yamma.
The pump should be repaired before evening.
Za a gyara gadar nan wata mai zuwa.
This bridge will be repaired next month.
Akan duba tikiti a ƙofar shiga.
Tickets are usually checked at the entrance.
Wataƙila a kammala aikin gobe.
The work will probably be completed tomorrow. (potential a, with a long falling vowel)
The last two forms show why spelling alone is not enough. Habitual akan is visibly distinct, but potential a and subjunctive a look identical in ordinary boko. In speech, potential a has a long falling vowel; syntax and context distinguish the two constructions. The dedicated indefinite-future page gives the full marked paradigm.
Completed events with an
Use an when an unspecified human agent carried out an event presented as complete. English often translates this with an agentless passive, but Hausa has not turned the object into a personal subject marker. It has chosen an impersonal subject–TAM form and left the actor unexpressed.
An rufe kasuwar saboda ruwan sama.
The market was closed because of the rain.
An kira ki daga makaranta.
Someone called you from the school. (addressing a female)
An kawo mana ruwa da safe.
Water was brought to us in the morning.
An sace motarsa a wajen ofis.
His car was stolen outside the office.
Context decides whether English sounds better with someone, people, or a passive. An kira ki can be “someone called you” when the caller matters, or “you were called” when the event matters. Hausa itself does not identify a particular caller.
The impersonal subject is not simply ordinary third-person plural sun. Sun rufe kasuwar means “they closed the market” and normally points to a contextually identifiable group. An rufe kasuwar suppresses or backgrounds the group.
Ma’aikatan sun rufe shagon da wuri.
The workers closed the shop early.
An rufe shagon da wuri yau.
The shop was closed early today.
Subjunctive instructions with a
Bare impersonal a belongs to the subjunctive set. It is common in instructions, recommendations, administrative language, and polite impersonal directives. It can sound less personally confrontational than ordering a named addressee.
A jira a nan, don Allah.
Please wait here.
A cika wannan fom da baƙin biro.
This form should be filled in with a black pen.
A tabbatar an kashe wutar kafin a fita.
Make sure the electricity has been switched off before leaving.
A turo saƙon kafin ƙarfe huɗu.
The message should be sent before four o’clock.
These sentences do not name the person expected to act. English may use an imperative (please wait), a passive (should be filled in), or an infinitival instruction. Hausa uses a + verb because the desired action has an unspecified human subject.
Notice the two different forms inside A tabbatar an kashe wutar. The first a gives the instruction “make sure”; an kashe describes the switching-off as already complete. The forms cannot be exchanged without changing the grammatical viewpoint.
Future za a
In the future, za precedes impersonal a, and standard boko writes them as two words: za a. Do not fuse them into zaa in ordinary spelling.
Za a fara taron da ƙarfe goma.
The meeting will start at ten o’clock.
Za a sanar da ku idan an yanke shawara.
You all will be informed when a decision has been made.
Za a gina makaranta kusa da ƙauyen.
A school will be built near the village.
Yaushe za a biya ma’aikatan?
When will the workers be paid?
Here the future event has no named agent. If the subject is known, use the agreeing personal future form instead: Kamfanin zai gina makaranta “the company will build a school.” A noun subject and impersonal za a do not combine as two co-referential subject markers.
The same impersonal participant across different clause types
Relative and focused environments select aka or ake, not plain an/ana. This follows the same plain-versus-relative distinction found in personal paradigms.
Motar da aka gyara tana aiki yanzu.
The car that was repaired is working now.
A nan ake sayar da tikiti.
This is where tickets are sold.
Da safe ake share ofisoshin.
It is in the morning that the offices are swept.
The forms remain impersonal: no specific repairer, seller, or cleaner is named. Aka presents a completed event inside the relative clause; ake presents an ongoing or regularly repeated activity in a relative/focused environment.
Keeping the pronoun series separate
In An kira shi, an is the impersonal completive subject and shi is a masculine singular direct object. The two forms perform different jobs even though English may translate the whole clause with a passive.
An gan ta kusa da banki.
She was seen near the bank.
Shi aka zaɓa ya jagoranci ƙungiyar.
He is the one who was chosen to lead the group.
In the first sentence, ta is a feminine singular direct-object form. In the second, initial independent shi is focused, while aka supplies the impersonal relative-completive frame. Independent, object, and subject–TAM forms are grammatical series, not stylistic spellings of one universal pronoun.
Practice: name the viewpoint
For each sentence, ask two questions: Is the agent specified? Is the event completed, ongoing, desired, or future?
Ana sayar da sabuwar jarida a tashar.
The new newspaper is sold at the station.
An sayar da duk tikitin jiya.
All the tickets were sold yesterday.
A sayar da tsofaffin kujerun.
The old chairs should be sold.
Za a sayar da filin bayan an auna shi.
The plot will be sold after it has been measured.
The lexical action is similar, but ana, an, a, za a package four different grammatical viewpoints.
Common Mistakes
1. Choosing a or an by the next sound, as in English.
❌ A rufe ofishin jiya.
Incorrect for a completed report — bare a is not chosen because rufe begins with a consonant.
✅ An rufe ofishin jiya.
The office was closed yesterday.
2. Dropping a from the impersonal future.
❌ Za gina sabon aji gobe.
Incorrect as an impersonal future — za still needs the impersonal subject form a.
✅ Za a gina sabon aji gobe.
A new classroom will be built tomorrow.
3. Combining a named subject with impersonal an as if they agreed.
❌ Masu gyara an buɗe hanyar.
Incorrect if masu gyara ‘the repair workers’ is the grammatical subject.
✅ Masu gyara sun buɗe hanyar.
The repair workers opened the road.
4. Treating an as a personal plural referring to known people.
❌ ’Yan sanda an kira ni.
Incorrect when ’yan sanda is the expressed subject; use plural sun.
✅ ’Yan sanda sun kira ni.
The police called me.
5. Replacing a direct-object pronoun with an independent form.
❌ An kira ita daga asibiti.
Incorrect in neutral object position — ita is independent, not the ordinary direct-object form.
✅ An kira ta daga asibiti.
Someone called her from the hospital.
Key Takeaways
- An is the plain impersonal completive: an rufe “it was closed / someone closed it.”
- Bare a is the impersonal subjunctive, and future za a keeps a as a separate word.
- Ana, aka, ake belong to other TAM or clause-type paradigms; they confirm that the impersonal subject changes form just as personal subject–TAM markers do.
- The impersonal construction backgrounds an unspecified human agent; it is not ordinary plural “they.”
- A named subject takes its own agreeing form, while an object after the verb takes the direct-object series.
Related Topics
- Plain Completive PronounsA2 — Master the Hausa plain completive paradigm na, ka, kin, ya, ta, mun, kun, sun, and impersonal an for neutral completed-event clauses.
- Continuative PronounsA2 — Use ina, kana, kina, yana, tana, muna, kuna, suna, and ana for ongoing, habitual, and state-like situations in neutral Hausa clauses.
- Subjunctive PronounsA2 — Use the low-tone Hausa subjunctive series in commands, wishes, purpose clauses, necessity expressions, and dependent event sequences.
- Future Pronouns after zaA2 — Form the Hausa za future with zan, za ka, za ki, zai, za ta, za mu, za ku, za su, and impersonal za a.
- Indefinite Future PronounsA2 — Recognize the Hausa indefinite or potential future series na, ka, kya, ya, ta, ma, kwa, sa, and a, whose long falling vowels express a qualified prediction.
- Subject Marking after an Overt NounA2 — Keep the required Hausa subject–TAM marker after names and full noun phrases, and make it agree with gender, number, and person.
- Direct-Object Pronouns: Core ParadigmA2 — Learn Hausa ni, ka, ki, shi, ta, mu, ku, and su as direct objects and keep them distinct from independent, subject–TAM, indirect-object, and possessive forms.