Instrument and manner relatives identify the tool, means, method, or style involved in an event: mabuɗin da muka buɗe ƙofar da shi “the key with which we opened the door,” yadda muka warware matsalar “the way we solved the problem.” Hausa normally keeps an instrument’s da phrase inside the clause and resumes an overt instrument head with a pronoun. Manner can use the same headed strategy or the specialized expression yadda.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko writes ɓ, ɗ, ƙ, ’y and normally omits tone and vowel-length marks.
The corresponding content-question strategy is explained on questioning a prepositional complement; this page builds noun-modifying relatives instead.
Two different da elements can occur
In an overt-headed instrument relative, the first da introduces the relative clause and the second means “with/by means of”:
Ga mabuɗin da muka buɗe ƙofar da shi.
Here is the key with which we opened the door.
The parts are:
mabuɗin (linked head) + da (relative linker) + muka buɗe ƙofar (relative clause) + da shi (instrumental resumptive)
The two occurrences of da are not duplicates. Invariant relative da follows the linked noun; instrumental da selects the pronoun shi, which refers back to masculine mabuɗin. English often fronts with which or ends with with; Hausa keeps da shi in its ordinary clause-internal position.
Na wanke wuƙar da mai dafa abinci ya yanka naman da ita.
I washed the knife with which the cook cut the meat.
Sun tattara kayan aikin da injiniyoyin suka gyara janareton da su.
They gathered the tools with which the engineers repaired the generator.
Feminine wuƙar takes da ita; plural kayan aikin takes da su. The internal subjects mai dafa abinci and injiniyoyin control relative-completive ya and suka. The instrument head never controls TAM merely because it appears first.
Agreement in the resumptive instrument
The pronoun after instrumental da agrees with the head’s grammatical gender and number.
| Head | Instrumental resumptive | Model phrase |
|---|---|---|
| mabuɗin, masculine | da shi | mabuɗin da na buɗe akwatin da shi |
| wuƙar, feminine | da ita | wuƙar da Amina ta yanka kayan lambu da ita |
| kayan aikin, plural | da su | kayan aikin da muka yi amfani da su |
Wayar da nake ɗaukar hotuna da ita ta lalace.
The phone with which I take photographs has broken.
Mun mayar da kayan aikin da ba mu yi amfani da su ba.
We returned the tools that we did not use.
The first is an instrumental relative: da ita is necessary to express “with the phone.” The second contains the selected expression yi amfani da “use,” whose da su must remain. It is therefore not the canonical simple direct-object pattern kayan da muka saya, where no object pronoun follows the verb.
Compare subject, object, and instrument heads
One event can be reorganized around different heads:
Yaron da ya buɗe akwatin ɗan mai gadi ne.
The boy who opened the box is the guard’s son. (subject relative)
Akwatin da yaron ya buɗe yana ƙarƙashin tebur.
The box that the boy opened is under the table. (direct-object relative)
Mabuɗin da yaron ya buɗe akwatin da shi yana aljihunsa.
The key with which the boy opened the box is in his pocket. (instrument relative)
The subject head controls ya in the first sentence. The direct-object head leaves a gap after buɗe in the second. The instrument head is resumed by da shi in the third, while overt masculine yaron controls ya. Treating all three dependencies alike would erase real Hausa argument structure.
Aspect belongs to the event, not the instrument
Choose relative TAM from the event’s viewpoint:
Na sami alkalamin da kika rubuta wasiƙar da shi.
I found the pen with which you wrote the letter. (addressing one female)
Wannan ita ce na’urar da ake auna zafin jiki da ita.
This is the device with which body temperature is measured.
Sun kawo motar da za mu ɗauki kayan da ita.
They brought the vehicle with which we will transport the goods.
Completed kika, habitual/general ake, and future za mu describe different situations. Feminine na’urar and motar both take da ita, independently of the subject–TAM choice. Compare plain Ana auna zafin jiki da wannan na’urar “Body temperature is measured with this device”; the restrictive version selects relative ake.
Headed manner relatives
Nouns such as hanya “way/method,” dabara “strategy,” and salo “style” can be overt heads. When the noun is construed as a means or manner rather than a direct object, an agreeing da phrase resumes it.
Hanyar da muka warware matsalar da ita ta rage ɓata lokaci.
The method by which we solved the problem saved time.
Dabarar da Amina take shawo kan kwastomomi da ita tana da tasiri.
The strategy Amina uses to persuade customers is effective.
Ba na son salon da Malam Musa yake magana da shi a taro.
I do not like the manner in which Malam Musa speaks at meetings.
Feminine hanyar/dabarar takes da ita; masculine salon takes da shi. In English, in which/by which may sound formal, while the way ... can omit a preposition. Hausa overt resumption is ordinary and makes the relation explicit; it is not restricted to (formal) writing.
Sometimes hanya is instead a true direct object. Hanyar da muka bi means “the road/route that we followed” and has a direct-object gap. Hanyar da muka warware matsalar da ita means “the method by which we solved the problem” and has instrumental/manner da ita. Lexical meaning decides the analysis.
Headless manner with yadda
Hausa yadda introduces a manner or way without a separate lexical head. It can function much like “how” or “the way that” in an embedded expression.
Ina son yadda kuke tsara bayananku.
I like the way you all organize your notes.
Yadda aka gudanar da zaɓen ya jawo muhawara.
The way the election was conducted caused debate. (neutral news or formal discussion)
Ta nuna mana yadda za mu cika fom ɗin.
She showed us how we should fill in the form.
Because yadda already supplies the manner relation, do not add another relative da before the clause. Relative kuke/aka occurs in canonical affirmative completed or open relative/focus environments; future za mu retains its ordinary form.
Do not confuse embedded yadda with interrogative yaya “how?” A direct question is Yaya kuka gyara shi? “How did you repair it?” An embedded manner is yadda kuka gyara shi “the way you repaired it.” The contrast is lexical, not merely punctuation.
Instrument, companion, and possession
The preposition da also marks accompaniment and occurs in possessive predication, so context matters.
Na san mutumin da muka yi tafiya da shi.
I know the man with whom we travelled. (companion, not instrument)
Na sayi gudumar da take da sabon mariƙi.
I bought the hammer that has a new handle. (possession, not instrument)
The first has companion da shi; the second has possessive take da. Only a tool used to carry out an event receives an instrumental analysis. English with is similarly broad, so semantic role cannot be recovered from the translation alone.
Restrictive and appositive uses
Wuƙar da ya yanka naman da ita selects a knife by its use. An established noun can receive an appositive comment with agreeing wanda/wadda/waɗanda (careful speech and writing):
Wannan sabuwar na’ura, wadda ake auna zafin jiki da ita, tana amfani da batir.
This new device, with which body temperature is measured, uses a battery. (careful speech or writing)
Feminine wadda agrees with na’ura, and da ita resumes the same device inside the relative. The appositive adds information rather than identifying which device. Relative ake is valid; appositive relatives may show speaker variation in affirmative TAM.
Common Mistakes
1. Dropping the instrumental relation
❌ mabuɗin da muka buɗe ƙofar
Incorrect for the intended ‘key with which we opened the door’—the instrument relation is missing.
✅ mabuɗin da muka buɗe ƙofar da shi
The key with which we opened the door.
2. Using the wrong resumptive gender
❌ wuƙar da ta yanka naman da shi
Incorrect—feminine wuƙar requires ita.
✅ wuƙar da ta yanka naman da ita
The knife with which she cut the meat.
3. Keeping plain continuative TAM
❌ na’urar da ana auna zafi da ita
Incorrect canonical relative—ana is plain continuative.
✅ na’urar da ake auna zafi da ita
The device with which temperature is measured.
4. Adding da after yadda
❌ yadda da kuka tsara taron
Incorrect—yadda already introduces the manner clause.
✅ yadda kuka tsara taron
The way you all organized the meeting.
5. Confusing yaya with yadda
❌ Ina son yaya kuke tsara bayananku.
Incorrect for an embedded ‘the way’; yaya is the direct interrogative form.
✅ Ina matuƙar son yadda kuke tsara bayananku.
I really like the way you all organize your notes.
Key Takeaways
- Overt instrument heads normally retain instrumental da plus an agreeing resumptive: da shi, da ita, da su.
- The first da after a linked head opens the relative; a later da can mark the instrument.
- Relative TAM agrees with the event’s subject, while the resumptive agrees with the instrument or manner head.
- Direct objects leave ordinary gaps, but instruments and selected yi amfani da complements keep their da relation.
- Headed manner nouns can use da shi/ita; headless yadda means “the way/how” and takes no extra relative da.
- Keep embedded yadda distinct from interrogative yaya.
Related Topics
- Relative Clauses with da: OverviewA2 — Build basic Hausa relative clauses with a linked noun head, invariant da, and the appropriate relative TAM form.
- Resumptive Pronouns in RelativesB1 — Know when a Hausa relative leaves a gap and when a pronoun or possessive suffix must preserve the head noun's grammatical relation.
- Questioning a Prepositional ComplementA2 — Ask about companions, instruments, sources, and locations by moving a complete Hausa prepositional phrase.
- yaya: Asking HowA2 — Ask about manner, method, condition, and names with yaya or ta yaya while preserving Hausa focus and TAM structure.
- Manner Expressions with daA2 — Build Hausa manner adjuncts with da plus a noun or quality expression, and place them beside the action they describe.
- da: With, By, and HavingA1 — Use Hausa da for accompaniment, instruments, means, manner, and possession without copying the many unrelated uses of English with and by.