When a canonical restrictive Hausa relative clause presents an event as complete or a state as established, it normally uses the relative completive: rahoton da muka karanta “the report that we read.” The construction is not identified by da alone. Its linked head, the role interpreted as a gap or resumed element, and the special subject–TAM form all work together.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko leaves tone and vowel length unmarked, so na, ka, ya, ta can look identical to plain-completive forms even though the clause environment selects the relative paradigm.
For each person outside the relative-clause frame too, consult the complete relative-completive paradigm.
The complete construction
The compact restrictive pattern is:
LINKED HEAD + da + (INTERNAL SUBJECT) + RELATIVE COMPLETIVE + PREDICATE
Direban da ya kawo buhunan yana cin abinci a rumfa.
The driver who brought the sacks is eating in a stall.
Motar da muka saya a Kaduna har yanzu tana aiki sosai.
The car that we bought in Kaduna still works very well.
Yaran da suka lashe gasar sun dawo gida.
The children who won the competition have returned home.
Masculine direba appears as linked direban, feminine mota as motar, and plural yara as yaran. Write the linker joined to the noun, then write invariant da separately. Da does not become masculine, feminine, or plural; gender and number appear elsewhere.
The relative-completive paradigm
| Subject inside the relative clause | Relative completive | Model phrase |
|---|---|---|
| I | na | rahoton da na karanta |
| you, one male | ka | rahoton da ka karanta |
| you, one female | kika | rahoton da kika karanta |
| he | ya | rahoton da ya karanta |
| she | ta | rahoton da ta karanta |
| we | muka | rahoton da muka karanta |
| you, plural | kuka | rahoton da kuka karanta |
| they | suka | rahoton da suka karanta |
| unspecified actor | aka | rahoton da aka karanta |
The visible anchors are kika, muka, kuka, suka, aka, contrasting with plain kin, mun, kun, sun, an. Do not add tone marks to the singular spellings to manufacture a written contrast absent from ordinary boko.
Subject relatives
If the head is understood as the subject inside the relative clause, it controls the marker. Hausa still expresses that agreement before the verb; da does not replace the subject–TAM complex.
Macen da ta rubuta sanarwar tana nan.
The woman who wrote the notice is here.
Ma’aikatan da suka kammala aikin sun tafi.
The workers who completed the work have left.
Feminine matar controls ta, while plural ma’aikatan controls relative suka. English who stays unchanged, so English-speaking learners must watch both the linked head and Hausa agreement.
The completive does not always translate as past. With a state-like predicate it can present a state as established now:
Shi ne mutumin da ya san hanyar zuwa asibiti.
He is the man who knows the way to the hospital.
Relative ya is completive in grammatical classification, but san is state-like and the identifying context is current. Translating every relative completive with English did or was gives the wrong result.
Object relatives
If the linked head is the missing direct object, an overt or understood internal subject controls the marker.
Na adana sanarwar da Bilkisu ta rubuta.
I kept the notice that Bilkisu wrote.
Mun gyara hoton da ɗalibai suka zana.
We corrected the picture that the students drew.
Ga saƙonnin da kuka aika daga ofishin.
Here are the messages that you all sent from the office.
Feminine sanarwar does not make the inner marker feminine; Bilkisu does. Masculine hoton does not control suka; plural ɗalibai does. In the third sentence, “you all” controls kuka.
The direct-object position is normally a gap. In sanarwar da Bilkisu ta rubuta, do not append ta after rubuta to repeat sanarwar. Some verb grades also change their surface form when no local object follows, so learn the appropriate gap form of the verb rather than inserting a pronoun to preserve the neutral frame.
Plain clause versus completed relative
Compare the same event as a main assertion and as identifying material:
Ɗaliban sun aika rahoton jiya.
The students sent the report yesterday. (plain independent clause)
Na karanta rahoton da ɗaliban suka aika jiya.
I read the report that the students sent yesterday. (relative clause)
Plain sun presents the sending as the main neutral report. Relative suka places the completed sending inside a clause that identifies rahoton. The lexical verb aika has not become “relative”; the decisive contrast sits in the preverbal marker.
Locative and possessive relations
Not every relative role is a bare direct-object gap. A locative relation can retain a prepositional expression containing a resumptive pronoun:
Mun ziyarci gidan da kakana ya zauna a cikinsa.
We visited the house in which my grandfather lived.
Masculine -sa in a cikinsa points back to gidan. The clause is organized like “the house [my grandfather lived inside it].” This resumption is licensed by the locative relation; it is not the redundant direct-object doubling rejected above.
Possessors are similarly resumed:
Na kira mutumin da motarsa ta lalace.
I called the man whose car broke down.
The masculine possessive suffix -sa in motarsa refers back to mutumin. Feminine mota is the subject inside the relative clause and controls ta. English compresses the relation into whose; Hausa shows it through an ordinary possessed noun.
Restriction and discourse continuation
In a restrictive relative, the clause narrows the reference: ma’aikatan da suka zo da wuri selects the workers who arrived early. The linked head and relative completive make the identifying structure explicit.
An already identified name can instead take an appositive comment with agreeing wanda/wadda/waɗanda, especially in careful speech or writing:
Bello, wanda ya dawo jiya, zai jagoranci taron.
Bello, who returned yesterday, will chair the meeting. (neutral careful writing)
The appositive does not select one Bello from several; it continues the discourse with parenthetical information about an established referent. Singular ya is morphologically ambiguous in ordinary boko because plain and relative singular forms coincide. Appositives show speaker variation: relative TAM is permitted, while some speakers also permit plain TAM, visibly contrasting plural waɗanda suka... with waɗanda sun.... Compare a new independent assertion: Bello ya dawo jiya. Zai jagoranci taron. The first sentence is a plain main clause, not an embedded relative merely because the same fact could appear parenthetically.
Negation chooses its own paradigm
Positive relative suka/aka does not remain inside the ordinary negative-completive frame.
Na kira baƙin da ba su halarci taron jiya ba.
I called the guests who did not attend yesterday’s meeting.
Ki duba ƙofar da ba a rufe ba.
Check the door that has not been closed. (addressing one female)
Use ba su ... ba and impersonal ba a ... ba, not ba suka ... ba or ba aka ... ba. Relative syntax remains visible through the linked head and da, even though negation neutralizes the positive plain–relative contrast.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping the plain completive
❌ Fom ɗin da mun cika yana cikin fayil.
Incorrect canonical completed relative—mun is plain completive.
✅ Fom ɗin da muka cika yana cikin fayil.
The form that we filled out is in the file.
2. Leaving the common-noun head unlinked
❌ mota da muka saya tana waje.
Incorrect standard compact restrictive frame—mota needs joined -r.
✅ Motar da muka saya tana waje.
The car that we bought is outside.
3. Making da agree
❌ matan wadda suka iso
Incorrect compact restrictive plural phrase—da is invariant after the linked head.
✅ matan da suka iso
The women who arrived.
4. Agreeing with an object head
❌ wasiƙar da Musa ta rubuta
Incorrect—masculine Musa is the internal subject.
✅ wasiƙar da Musa ya rubuta
The letter that Musa wrote.
5. Repeating a direct object
❌ rahoton da suka aika shi jiya
Incorrect canonical object relative—the final shi repeats the gap.
✅ rahoton da suka aika jiya
The report that they sent yesterday.
Key Takeaways
- Completed restrictive relatives use linked head + da + relative completive.
- The full affirmative series is na, ka, kika, ya, ta, muka, kuka, suka, aka.
- A subject head controls agreement; an object head does not—the internal subject does.
- Plain sun asserts a neutral main clause, while relative suka places a completed proposition inside the identifying construction.
- Direct objects normally leave gaps; locative and possessive relations may require resumptive material.
- Appositive wanda/wadda/waɗanda clauses continue discourse about an established referent and must not be confused with an independent plain clause.
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.
- The Head Noun's -n/-r LinkerA2 — Choose and spell the joined -n/-r form that a Hausa noun head takes before a basic da-relative clause.
- Subject Relative ClausesA2 — Form Hausa relatives in which the linked noun head is understood as the subject of the modifying clause.
- Object Relative ClausesA2 — Build Hausa relatives whose linked noun head is understood as the missing object of the modifying clause.
- 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 Completive in Relative ClausesB2 — Build completed Hausa relative clauses with the agreeing relative-completive paradigm and understand its restrictive, negative, and stative uses.