A plain noun head is an overt lexical noun such as mutum “person,” mota “car,” or yara “children,” as opposed to a headless expression meaning “the one(s) who….” In the core Hausa construction, that ordinary noun does not remain morphologically bare: it takes its joined linked form before invariant da—mutumin da…, motar da…, yaran da…. “Plain” therefore describes the type of head, not permission to omit -n/-r.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko preserves ɓ, ɗ, ƙ, ’y and does not add tone or vowel-length marks. The following page contrasts these heads with free relatives using wanda and wadda.
An overt noun names the category
A lexical head tells the listener what kind of entity is being discussed before the relative clause narrows the reference.
Ina neman mutumin da ya kawo wannan saƙon.
I am looking for the person who brought this message.
Ta ɗauki jakar da muka ajiye kan kujera.
She took the bag that we put on the chair.
Mutumin establishes the category “person”; da ya kawo wannan saƙon identifies that person. Jakar establishes “bag”; da muka ajiye kan kujera selects the relevant bag. This division of labor is useful when several people or objects are under discussion.
The full frame is:
lexical head in linked form + da + relative subject–TAM + predicate
| Citation noun | Linked head | Relative phrase |
|---|---|---|
| littafi (masculine) | littafin | littafin da na karanta |
| mota (feminine) | motar | motar da muka saya |
| mutane (plural) | mutanen | mutanen da suka zo |
Masculine, feminine, and plural heads
The lexical noun controls the joined -n/-r form. Masculine singular and plural heads normally use -n; feminine singular heads in -a normally use -r.
Littafin da yake kan tebur na makaranta ne.
The book that is on the table belongs to the school.
Ƙofar da take kallon titi a rufe take.
The door that faces the street is closed.
Littattafan da suke kan tebur na makaranta ne.
The books that are on the table belong to the school.
The plural must be learned lexically before the linker is added: littafi → littattafai → littattafan, mota → motoci → motocin. English plural -s is no guide. Gender also belongs to the Hausa noun, not its English translation; masculine gida gives gidan da…, despite ending in -a.
Gidan da muka gani yana da babban fili.
The house that we saw has a large compound.
Subject heads and object heads
An overt lexical head can fill different semantic roles inside the relative clause. In a subject relative, the head controls the subject–TAM marker:
Matar da take magana da manaja likita ce.
The woman who is speaking with the manager is a doctor.
Feminine matar is understood as the speaker, so take agrees with it. No second full noun phrase meaning “the woman” appears after da.
In an object relative, a separate internal subject controls the marker and the lexical head normally corresponds to a direct-object gap:
Wasiƙar da Hauwa take karantawa daga asibiti ce.
The letter that Hauwa is reading is from the hospital.
Here Hauwa inside the clause controls take. Feminine head wasiƙar is the understood object of karantawa and is not repeated with an object pronoun.
Na ga yaran da Amina take koyarwa.
I saw the children whom Amina teaches.
Plural yaran remains the object head, but feminine Amina still controls take. This example shows why head number and clause agreement must be calculated separately.
The special TAM is part of the relative construction
Invariant da is not enough. Canonical affirmative relatives also select relative TAM.
Ɗalibai sun rubuta rahoton.
The students wrote the report. (independent clause; plain completive)
Rahoton da ɗalibai suka rubuta yana nan.
The report that the students wrote is here. (relative clause; relative completive)
Ɗalibai suna rubuta rahoto.
The students are writing a report. (independent clause; plain continuative)
Rahoton da ɗalibai suke rubutawa yana kan kwamfuta.
The report that the students are writing is on the computer. (relative clause; relative continuative)
The completed contrast is sun → suka; the open contrast is suna → suke. The head is linked as rahoton in both relatives. Hausa thus identifies the construction both before da and inside the modifying clause.
When a lexical head is not a direct argument
A plain noun can head a locative, temporal, or possessive relation too. Such relations may be recovered through the predicate or expressed by a resumptive element.
Ban manta da ranar da muka fara wannan aikin ba.
I have not forgotten the day when we began this work.
The time head ranar is interpreted through the event frame; relative muka agrees with “we.” For a possessor, Hausa commonly keeps a possessive suffix inside the clause:
Na san matar da ɗanta yake aiki a banki.
I know the woman whose son works at a bank.
Feminine singular possessive -ta in ɗanta refers back to matar. The possessive suffix agrees with the possessor, while masculine subject noun ɗanta “her son” controls yake. The head is therefore connected to a resumptive suffix rather than a direct gap.
Direct-object heads and possessed heads must not be treated alike. Littafin da na karanta needs no shi; matar da ɗanta yake aiki a banki needs the possessive relation expressed as -ta.
Plain noun heads versus free relatives
With an overt noun head, the category is explicit:
Ka kira mutumin da ya gyara motar.
Call the man who repaired the car. (addressing one male)
If the noun is omitted, Hausa uses an agreeing free-relative form such as wanda “the one who” or wadda “the female one who”:
Ka kira wanda ya gyara motar.
Call the one who repaired the car. (masculine or contextually appropriate referent; addressing one male)
Do not analyze wanda as merely wan + da produced by deleting mutum. It is an established relative form with its own gender and number contrasts. Conversely, do not replace invariant da after every overt noun with wanda/wadda by copying English who/which agreement.
Restrictive and discourse-continuing readings
The basic linked lexical head usually supports a restrictive reading:
A kawo kujerun da muka gyara jiya.
Bring the chairs that we repaired yesterday. (selects particular chairs)
An already unique name or referent may instead receive parenthetical information with an agreeing form (careful speech and writing):
Bello, wanda muka gani jiya, ya dawo yau.
Bello, whom we saw yesterday, returned today. (careful speech or writing)
This discourse continuation does not identify which Bello is meant in the immediate context; it adds information about an established referent. English punctuation is a clue to meaning, not a mechanical Hausa conversion rule. Advanced pages handle nonrestrictive variation in detail.
Common Mistakes
1. Interpreting plain head as bare spelling
❌ mutum da yake jira
Incorrect in the basic linked-head construction.
✅ mutumin da yake jira
The man who is waiting.
2. Choosing the wrong joined form
❌ jakan da kika saya
Incorrect — feminine jaka takes -r, not -n.
✅ jakar da kika saya
The bag that you bought. (addressing one female)
3. Keeping plain TAM
❌ rahoton da ɗalibai sun rubuta
Incorrect — sun is plain completive.
✅ rahoton da ɗalibai suka rubuta
The report that the students wrote.
4. Making da agree with the lexical head
❌ motar wadda muka saya
Wrong for the compact invariant-da pattern taught here.
✅ motar da muka saya
The car that we bought.
5. Repeating a direct-object head
❌ littafin da suka karanta shi
Incorrect in the basic direct-object relative.
✅ littafin da suka karanta
The book that they read.
Key Takeaways
- A plain noun head is an overt lexical noun, not a morphologically bare noun.
- Put that noun in its joined -n/-r form before invariant da.
- Subject heads control the relative TAM marker; object heads normally leave a gap while the internal subject controls the marker.
- Possessor relations commonly retain a possessive suffix inside the clause.
- Wanda/wadda/waɗanda can stand without a lexical head or introduce appositive material, but they are not agreement replacements for compact noun + da.
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.
- Free Relatives with wanda and waddaA2 — Use Hausa wanda and wadda for headless expressions meaning ‘the one who/that,’ with the right gender, gap, and relative TAM form.
- Plural Free Relatives with waɗandaA2 — Use waɗanda for headless plural relatives meaning ‘the ones who/that,’ with plural agreement, object gaps, and relative TAM.