Questioning a Prepositional Complement

When a question asks “with whom?”, “with what?”, “from where?”, or “about what?”, the missing information is the complement of a preposition. Canonical Hausa puts the whole prepositional phrase at the front: Da wa kika tafi? “Who did you go with?” and A kan me kuke magana? “What are you talking about?” Compare the source and destination patterns on ina: Asking Where. The following completive or continuative clause uses relative TAM.

All unlabelled forms are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko writes ɓ, ɗ, ƙ, ’y without tone or vowel-length marks. Phrase-level question intonation is real, but Standard Hausa does not require one English-style final rise, and intonation cannot replace the preposition, question word, or relative TAM form.

Move the preposition together with its complement

The basic fronted pattern is:

[PREPOSITION + WH-EXPRESSION] + [SUBJECT + RELATIVE TAM + PREDICATE + GAP]

In every example, the preposition remains directly before its interrogative complement: da wa, da me, daga ina, a kan me. The entire phrase occupies the fronted position. Relative kika/kuka/suka/kuke agrees with the subject of the following clause, not with the questioned complement.

Compare subject, object, and prepositional gaps

Start with Yaran sun buɗe akwatin da mabuɗi “The children opened the box with a key.” Three questions can target three different parts of the same event.

All three questions use relative-completive suka, but the gaps differ. The subject question contains no separate yaran. The object question retains the instrumental phrase. The prepositional question retains the direct object akwatin and leaves the instrument relation unfilled inside the clause.

Relative TAM belongs to the following clause

A fronted PP activates the same plain–relative contrast as another fronted wh-expression.

In a cikin wane akwati, the complement itself is an interrogative noun phrase. The positional expression cikin appears in its linked environment, and the larger PP fronts intact. Singular completive kika may resemble a plain form in boko, but plural suka makes the relative licensing visible.

Future retains its za form because Hausa has no special relative future paradigm:

Complement or adjunct: the fronting rule is the same

Some prepositional phrases are closely selected by a predicate: magana da Amina “speak with Amina,” dogara ga gwamnati “depend on the government.” Others add an instrument, source, or optional setting: buɗe akwatin da mabuɗi “open the box with a key,” kawo kaya daga Kano “bring goods from Kano.”

The semantic closeness to the verb changes how necessary the phrase is, but not the canonical question strategy: front the complete PP and use the TAM form licensed by the clause.

Hausa does not copy English preposition stranding

Conversational English prefers Who did you go with?, where who moves and with remains at the end. Canonical Hausa does not build its fronted question that way. It places da wa together at the front:

The preposition is “carried along” with the question word, a pattern often called pied-piping. Longer relational expressions move as a complete constituent too: a kan me, a cikin wane ɗaki, daga wurin wa.

Hausa does permit non-subject wh-expressions in situ, especially as (informal/conversational echo or clarification questions):

This is not preposition stranding. Da wa still forms an intact phrase; the whole phrase remains in its ordinary clause-final position. General completive kun matches that in-situ strategy. Neutral fronted Da wa kuka je...? instead has relative kuka.

Focused answers and corrections

A short PP is an ordinary (informal/conversational) answer:

A full focused answer fronts the PP, normally uses stabilizing ne, and keeps relative TAM in the background clause:

The focused constituent is the entire PP da ƙanwata. Feminine ƙanwata is inside that PP; it does not turn the PP stabilizer into ce. Compare a focused feminine noun phrase such as Amina ce ta zo, where the noun phrase itself is the focused identification.

The correction accepts that “we went” and changes only the companion. Relative muka follows both fronted PPs. Plain Ba mu je ba would deny the going event itself.

Presupposition and a truthful answer

Da wa kuka zo? normally suggests that the addressees came with somebody. If they came alone, reject that assumption:

Nigerian Standard writes indefinite kowa as one word. The answer’s first clause uses completed negative ba mu ... ba; the corrective second clause focuses mu kaɗai and uses relative muka.

A natural dialogue

The exchange asks successively for a source, an instrument or means of transport, and an interior location. Each fronted phrase retains all material needed to express its relation.

Practice

1. Kun tafi da Amina; ask for the companion → Da wa kuka tafi?
2. Sun kawo kayan daga Kano; ask for the source → Daga ina suka kawo kayan?
3. Kuna magana a kan aikin; ask for the topic → A kan me kuke magana?
4. Amina ta buɗe akwatin da mabuɗi; ask for the instrument → Da me Amina ta buɗe akwatin?
5. Sun sa takardun a cikin babban akwati; ask which box → A cikin wane akwati suka sa takardun?

Common Mistakes

1. Stranding the preposition like conversational English

2. Keeping plain TAM after a fronted PP

3. Repeating the preposition inside the clause

4. Making ne agree with a noun buried inside a PP

5. Dropping part of a complex preposition

Key Takeaways

• Front preposition + wh-expression as one complete phrase: da wa, da me, daga ina, a kan me.
• The following completive or continuative clause uses relative TAM; its marker agrees with the clause’s subject.
• An in-situ echo such as Kun je da wa? is possible, but da wa remains intact and general TAM matches the in-situ structure.
• Focused PPs normally take stabilizing ne, even when a feminine noun occurs inside them.
• A prepositional question presupposes that the relevant relation exists; reject that premise explicitly when it does not.