Hausa yaushe asks “when?” Canonical content questions place it at the front: neutral Kun gama aikin jiya “You all finished the work yesterday” becomes Yaushe kuka gama aikin? “When did you all finish the work?” The change kun → kuka matters. Yaushe identifies time as the missing information, while relative TAM marks the rest of the clause as the background in which that time is sought.
All unlabelled forms are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not show lexical tone or vowel length. Phrase-level question intonation is real, but Standard Hausa does not require one English-style final rise, and intonation cannot repair a plain TAM form after fronted yaushe.
Completed events: yaushe plus the relative completive
Use the relative-completive series when the event is presented as bounded or complete.
Yaushe kuka isa gida jiya?
When did you all arrive home yesterday?
Yaushe muka fara wannan aikin?
When did we begin this work?
Yaushe aka buɗe sabon asibitin?
When was the new hospital opened?
The visible plural contrasts are especially useful: plain mun/kun/sun/an become relative muka/kuka/suka/aka. Singular na/ka/ya/ta look the same in ordinary boko even though the construction still selects the relative paradigm.
| Neutral report | Time question |
|---|---|
| Mun fara ranar Litinin. | Yaushe muka fara? |
| Kun dawo jiya. | Yaushe kuka dawo? |
| Sun rufe shagon da yamma. | Yaushe suka rufe shagon? |
| An gyara hanyar bara. | Yaushe aka gyara hanyar? |
English inserts did before the subject. Hausa has no dummy equivalent of did: the subject–TAM form itself changes. The wider paradigm is reviewed in Relative Completive: Complete Person Paradigm.
Ongoing schedules and habits: use the relative continuative
When yaushe asks about an open activity, a routine, or the customary time of an event, use nake, kake, kike, yake, take, muke, kuke, suke, ake.
Yaushe kuke buɗe shagon da safe?
When do you all open the shop in the morning?
Yaushe Amina take karatu idan tana gida?
When does Amina study when she is at home?
Yaushe ake rabon magani a asibitin?
When is medicine distributed at the hospital?
Relative kuke/take/ake does not mean “past.” It presents the situation as open or recurring while the answer supplies its time. Compare completed Yaushe kuka buɗe shagon? “When did you open the shop?” with habitual Yaushe kuke buɗe shagon? “When do you open the shop?”
Future questions keep the future form
The ordinary za- future does not have a special relative series parallel to kuka/kuke. Fronted yaushe therefore combines with the future form required by the meaning.
Yaushe za ku dawo daga Kaduna?
When will you all return from Kaduna?
Yaushe Aisha za ta fara sabon aikin?
When will Aisha start the new job?
Do not invent a relative future merely because yaushe is fronted. Relative marking is visible only in paradigms that grammatically distinguish it.
Yaushe asks for a time; da ƙarfe nawa asks for a clock hour
Yaushe is broad: an answer may be gobe “tomorrow,” bayan taro “after the meeting,” ranar Litinin “on Monday,” or a clock time. To request a clock reading specifically, ask da ƙarfe nawa?
Yaushe za mu haɗu? — Gobe da safe.
When shall we meet? — Tomorrow morning.
Da ƙarfe nawa za mu haɗu? — Da ƙarfe tara.
At what time shall we meet? — At nine o'clock.
This is a difference in expected answer, not formality. Both are normal in (informal) conversation and careful (formal) scheduling. See Asking and Answering the Time for clock expressions.
Do not confuse interrogative yaushe with lexicalized koyaushe “always.” Nigerian Standard writes koyaushe as one word.
Koyaushe tana zuwa da wuri, amma yau ban san yaushe za ta zo ba.
She always comes early, but today I do not know when she will come.
Focused answers and correction
A short time phrase is a natural (informal/conversational) answer. A full focused answer uses a time phrase, usually ne, and a following relative-TAM clause.
| Question | Short answer | Focused answer |
|---|---|---|
| Yaushe kuka iso? | Jiya. | Jiya ne muka iso. |
| Yaushe kuke taro? | Da safe. | Da safe ne muke taro. |
| Yaushe aka gyara shi? | Ranar Litinin. | Ranar Litinin ne aka gyara shi. |
Here ne stabilizes the focused time expression; it is not an ordinary agreeing verb and carries no tense. The following muka/muke/aka locates and structures the event.
Ba jiya ba ne muka iso; yau da safe ne.
It was not yesterday that we arrived; it was this morning.
This correction preserves the presupposed arrival and replaces only its time. Plain Ba mu iso jiya ba denies a yesterday arrival but does not by itself supply the corrected time.
What the question presupposes
Yaushe kuka aika saƙon? ordinarily assumes that you sent the message. If that premise is false, reject it directly rather than inventing a time.
—Yaushe kuka aika saƙon? —Ba mu aika shi ba tukuna; muna jiran adireshin.
—When did you all send the message? —We have not sent it yet; we are waiting for the address.
This differs from a correction question with a proposed answer:
Jiya ne kuka aika saƙon, ko yau?
Was it yesterday that you sent the message, or today?
The open question seeks a time. The second question asks the listener to choose or correct an already salient time.
One event, several possible questions
Start with Yaran sun kawo kayan ranar Talata “The children brought the goods on Tuesday.”
| Function | Question or correction | Missing information |
|---|---|---|
| subject question | Wa ya kawo kayan ranar Talata? | the bringer |
| object question | Me yaran suka kawo ranar Talata? | the thing brought |
| time question | Yaushe yaran suka kawo kayan? | the time |
| clefted correction | Ba ranar Litinin ba ne suka kawo kayan; ranar Talata ne. | the proposed time is replaced |
All three content questions share focus-related relative morphology, but the gap is different. This is the deeper connection among Hausa wh-fronting, focus, and relativization: the same relative TAM forms place the rest of the clause outside the requested focus.
A natural dialogue
—Yaushe za ku tashi zuwa Zariya? —Gobe da safe. —Da ƙarfe nawa? —Da ƙarfe bakwai. —Na ɗauka yau ne za ku tafi. —A’a, gobe ne za mu tafi; direban bai samu mota ba yau.
—When will you all leave for Zaria? —Tomorrow morning. —At what time? —At seven o'clock. —I thought you were leaving today. —No, it is tomorrow that we will leave; the driver did not get a vehicle today.
The dialogue moves from a broad time question to a clock-time question, then to corrective focus.
Negative questions
Negative polarity supplies its own TAM forms. Do not place ba before an affirmative relative form.
Yaushe ba ku zuwa ofis?
When do you all not go to the office?
Yaushe ba ku buɗe shagon a makon jiya ba?
When did you all not open the shop last week?
The first uses negative continuative ba ku zuwa without a closing ba. The second uses completed negative ba ku buɗe ... ba. Context must make a negative when question sensible—for example, asking which day an office is closed.
Practice
- Kun gama aikin jiya; ask for the time → Yaushe kuka gama aikin?
- Suna buɗe shago da safe; ask for the habitual time → Yaushe suke buɗe shago?
- Za su dawo ranar Juma’a; ask for the future time → Yaushe za su dawo?
- Correct Monday to Tuesday → Ba ranar Litinin ba ne suka tafi; ranar Talata ne.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping plain completive after fronted yaushe
❌ Yaushe kun gama aikin?
Incorrect canonical time question; kun is plain completive.
✅ Yaushe kuka gama aikin?
When did you all finish the work?
2. Keeping plain continuative for a habitual question
❌ Yaushe suna buɗe shagon?
Incorrect canonical fronted content question; suna is plain continuative.
✅ Yaushe suke buɗe shagon?
When do they open the shop?
3. Using yaushe when only a clock hour will answer
❌ Yaushe ne yanzu?
Incorrect for the intended question ‘What time is it?’
✅ Ƙarfe nawa ne yanzu?
What time is it now?
4. Treating ne as the tense-bearing verb
❌ Jiya ne iso.
Incorrect — ne focuses the time but does not supply subject or TAM.
✅ Jiya ne muka iso.
It was yesterday that we arrived.
5. Splitting the lexicalized word koyaushe
❌ Ko yaushe tana zuwa da wuri.
Incorrect Nigerian Standard spelling for the intended word ‘always.’
✅ Koyaushe tana zuwa da wuri.
She always comes early.
Key Takeaways
- Fronted yaushe asks for time and selects relative TAM where the paradigm distinguishes it.
- Use relative completive muka/kuka/suka/aka for bounded events and relative continuative muke/kuke/suke/ake for open or habitual situations.
- Future questions retain za- forms, and negative questions use their own negative paradigms.
- Yaushe asks broadly “when?”; da ƙarfe nawa requests a clock hour.
- Focused corrections use a time phrase plus ne and a relative-TAM background.
- Write koyaushe “always” as one word, distinct from interrogative yaushe.
Related Topics
- ina: Asking WhereA2 — Use interrogative ina for location, destination, and source questions with the correct relative, future, or negative TAM form.
- Asking and Answering the TimeA2 — Ask what time it is or when an event occurs, then give exact, approximate, and confirmatory answers naturally.
- Relative Completive: Complete Person ParadigmB1 — Master all nine Hausa relative-completive subject markers and recognize their focus, relative, temporal, narrative, negative, and stative uses.
- Relative Continuative: Complete Person ParadigmB1 — Master nake, kake, kike, yake, take, muke, kuke, suke, and ake in focused, questioned, and relative continuative clauses.
- Relative Completive in Focus ConstructionsB2 — Use the relative completive in explicit Hausa focus constructions while separating focus, polarity, aspect, and time reference.
- Relative Continuative in Focus ConstructionsB2 — Build Hausa subject, object, time, and place focus with ne or ce and the relative-continuative subject forms.