The Hausa relative completive presents an event as complete inside a syntactically dependent or focused environment. Its forms are na, ka, kika, ya, ta, muka, kuka, suka, and impersonal aka. English has no corresponding pronoun series: it usually expresses the same contrast through word order, relative words, or cleft constructions. Start with the plain completive paradigm if the neutral forms are not yet familiar.
All unlabelled forms are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). “Relative” here does not mean that every form must follow English who or that. The set appears in Hausa relative clauses, constituent questions, and focus constructions. It contrasts with the plain completive used in a neutral main-clause report.
The compact paradigm
| Person | Relative completive | Plain completive | Relative example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | na | na | ni ne na kawo “I am the one who brought” |
| 2nd masculine singular | ka | ka | kai ne ka kawo |
| 2nd feminine singular | kika | kin | ke ce kika kawo |
| 3rd masculine singular | ya | ya | shi ne ya kawo |
| 3rd feminine singular | ta | ta | ita ce ta kawo |
| 1st plural | muka | mun | mu ne muka kawo |
| 2nd plural | kuka | kun | ku ne kuka kawo |
| 3rd plural | suka | sun | su ne suka kawo |
| impersonal | aka | an | abin da aka kawo “what was brought” |
Second-person singular still distinguishes gender: masculine ka, feminine kika. Some relative and plain forms look identical in ordinary boko, especially na, ka, ya, and ta. The visible contrasts kika/kin, muka/mun, kuka/kun, suka/sun, and aka/an make clear that two paradigms exist.
Subject focus selects the relative set
The focus frame identifies or corrects the participant responsible for a completed event. An independent pronoun or noun phrase carries the focus; the relative completive marker still makes the verb finite.
Ni ne na kawo ruwan.
I am the one who brought the water.
Ke ce kika turo hotunan?
Are you the one who sent the photos? (to a female)
Mu ne muka gyara kwamfutar.
We are the ones who repaired the computer.
Su ne suka biya kuɗin.
They are the ones who paid the money.
Compare neutral reports:
Mun gyara kwamfutar.
We repaired the computer. (neutral report)
Sun biya kuɗin.
They paid the money. (neutral report)
The independent forms mu and su do not replace the preverbal marker. Focused mu ne requires muka; focused su ne requires suka. English uses a cleft (we are the ones who…) but keeps the same subject pronoun system. Hausa changes the subject–TAM series.
Overt noun subjects still require a marker
A full name or noun phrase never licenses a bare verb. In a focused construction, the overt subject is followed by the appropriate relative form.
Amina ce ta shirya abincin.
Amina is the one who prepared the food.
Musa ne ya rufe shagon.
Musa is the one who closed the shop.
Yaran ne suka karya tagar.
The children are the ones who broke the window.
The feminine form ta agrees with Amina, masculine ya with Musa, and plural suka with yaran. In the singular examples, ta and ya happen to have the same written shape as plain completive forms; the focus frame is what licenses their relative use.
Relative clauses
After a noun, a clause introduced by da can identify which person or thing is meant. Its completed event takes the relative completive.
Mutanen da suka zo jiya suna jira a waje.
The people who came yesterday are waiting outside.
Wannan shi ne littafin da muka saya a Kano.
This is the book that we bought in Kano.
Na ga motar da kika gyara.
I saw the car that you repaired. (addressing a female)
Takardun da aka kawo suna kan tebur.
The documents that were brought are on the table.
The subject of the relative clause can be a pronoun encoded in suka/muka/kika, or an unspecified agent encoded by aka. If an overt noun is the subject inside the relative clause, it too retains a marker:
Na karanta saƙon da Aisha ta aiko.
I read the message that Aisha sent.
Aisha does not replace ta. The relative clause has the structure “that Aisha—relative completive—sent.”
Constituent questions
Questions that ask for a person, thing, place, or other constituent commonly select the relative paradigm. This differs from a neutral yes/no question, which can use the plain completive.
Wa ya buɗe ƙofar?
Who opened the door?
Me kuka saya a kasuwa?
What did you all buy at the market?
Ina suka ajiye motar?
Where did they park the car?
Wane saƙo kika karɓa?
Which message did you receive? (to a female)
Now compare a polar question:
Kun sayi abinci?
Did you all buy food? (yes/no question)
The constituent question has focused me “what” and relative kuka. The yes/no question asks whether the whole proposition is true and uses plain kun. Question meaning is not produced by a single obligatory English-style final rise; morphology and clause structure matter.
Relative completion is not “past tense”
The completive presents an event as bounded and complete. Context determines the most natural English tense.
Ita ce ta gama aikin yanzu.
She is the one who has just finished the work.
Su ne suka je Kaduna bara.
They are the ones who went to Kaduna last year.
The first has current relevance and English prefers a present perfect; bara places the second event in the past. The Hausa relative completive itself is not an English past-tense suffix.
One English pronoun, several Hausa series
English we/us/our encourages learners to reuse one form. Hausa selects a series according to grammatical function.
| Function | First-person plural form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| independent focus | mu | mu ne … |
| relative completive subject–TAM | muka | muka gan su |
| direct object | mu | sun gan mu |
| recipient/beneficiary | mana | sun kawo mana |
| possessive | -nmu | littafinmu |
Mu ne muka gan su, sannan sun nuna mana motarmu.
We are the ones who saw them, and then they showed us our car.
Here mu is independent and focused, muka is relative completive, su is a direct object, mana is a recipient, and motarmu contains a possessive. These forms are not stylistic alternatives.
The feminine singular chain makes the same principle especially visible:
Ke ce kika gan ta, sannan ta ba ki jakarki.
You are the one who saw her, and then she gave you your bag. (to a female)
Independent ke, relative kika, direct object ta, recipient ki as selected by ba “give,” and possessive -rki each occupy a different grammatical slot.
Impersonal aka
Aka presents an unspecified agent in a relative or focused completive environment. English often translates the clause with a passive.
A nan ne aka gina sabuwar makarantar.
This is where the new school was built.
Abin da aka rubuta a takardar bai bayyana ba.
What was written on the document was not clear.
Neutral plain an contrasts with relative aka:
An gyara hanyar jiya.
The road was repaired yesterday. (neutral report)
Jiya ne aka gyara hanyar.
It was yesterday that the road was repaired. (time focus)
Practice: choose plain or relative
Mun kawo kujerun.
We brought the chairs. (plain neutral report)
Mu ne muka kawo kujerun.
We are the ones who brought the chairs. (relative after focus)
Wane likita suka kira?
Which doctor did they call? (relative in a constituent question)
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping a plain plural form after subject focus.
❌ Ku ne kun ɗauki kujerun.
Incorrect in the standard focus construction — kun is plain completive.
✅ Ku ne kuka ɗauki kujerun.
You all are the ones who carried the chairs.
2. Using masculine ka for a female addressee.
❌ Ke ce ka aiko da saƙon.
Incorrect — focused feminine singular requires kika.
✅ Ke ce kika aiko da saƙon.
You are the one who sent the message. (to a female)
3. Dropping the marker after an overt noun.
❌ Zainab ce dafa abincin.
Incorrect — the focused clause lacks its relative subject–TAM marker.
✅ Zainab ce ta dafa abincin.
Zainab is the one who cooked the food.
4. Using independent pronouns as ordinary direct objects.
❌ Mu ne muka ga ita a tashar.
Incorrect for the neutral object ‘her’ — ita is independent/contrastive.
✅ Mu ne muka gan ta a tashar.
We are the ones who saw her at the station.
5. Using plain an in a focused impersonal clause.
❌ A nan ne an gina makarantar.
Incorrect in the standard focus construction — use relative aka.
✅ A nan ne aka gina makarantar.
This is where the school was built.
Key Takeaways
- Memorize na, ka, kika, ya, ta, muka, kuka, suka, aka as the relative completive paradigm.
- Use it in focus constructions, completed relative clauses, and constituent questions.
- Compare plain kin/mun/kun/sun/an with relative kika/muka/kuka/suka/aka.
- A name or noun still requires the preverbal marker: Amina ce ta…, yaran ne suka….
- Independent, subject–TAM, object, recipient, and possessive pronouns occupy different grammatical slots.
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Start learning Hausa →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.
- Relative Continuative PronounsA2 — Use nake, kake, kike, yake, take, muke, kuke, suke, and ake for ongoing or habitual situations in focus, questions, and relative clauses.
- Why Hausa Requires a Subject–TAM MarkerA2 — Understand the preverbal Hausa forms that jointly express subject agreement and tense, aspect, or mood, even when a full noun names the subject.
- 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.
- Independent Pronouns for Contrastive FocusA1 — Use Hausa independent pronouns to identify, correct, or contrast the person responsible for an action without losing the required subject–TAM marker.
- Impersonal a and an FormsA2 — Use Hausa impersonal subject–TAM forms to describe actions by an unspecified person or group without confusing a with completive an.