To say where a known person or thing is, Hausa normally combines that subject with an agreeing continuative form and a place: Musa yana gida “Musa is at home,” Amina tana ofis “Amina is at the office,” and yaran suna waje “the children are outside.” No separate lexical verb meaning be follows yana/tana/suna; the continuative form itself supports the locative predicate. This differs from existential akwai/babu, which introduces or denies the presence of an entity.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko preserves ɓ, ɗ, ƙ and apostrophes but does not write tone or vowel length. This page uses only the most frequent forms; full plain, negative, and relative continuative paradigms have their own pages.
The core pattern is subject + continuative + location
Bello yana gida yana hutawa.
Bello is at home resting.
Amina tana Kano saboda taron.
Amina is in Kano because of the conference.
Yaran suna waje tare da kakarsu.
The children are outside with their grandmother.
The overt subject controls agreement: masculine singular Musa yana, feminine singular Amina tana, and plural yaran suna. Inanimate nouns also have grammatical gender:
Motar tana wajen babbar ƙofa.
The car is outside the main gate.
Littafin yana kan tebur.
The book is on the table.
Feminine mota selects tana, while masculine littafi selects yana. English calls both objects it, so an English-speaking learner must memorize the Hausa noun's gender rather than copying English pronoun choice.
Compare a verbal S–TAM–V–O clause:
Musa ya buɗe ƙofar.
Musa opened the door.
This sentence has subject Musa, completed marker ya, lexical verb buɗe, and object ƙofar. Musa yana gida has no lexical verb and no object: gida predicates Musa's location. Treating gida as something Musa acts on would misrepresent the clause.
Simple and relational places
Place names, deictic adverbs, and several common place nouns can follow directly:
| Type | Examples | Model clause |
|---|---|---|
| place name | Kano, Abuja | Amina tana Abuja. |
| deictic place | nan “here,” can “there” | Musa yana nan. |
| common location | gida “home,” waje “outside,” ofis “office” | Suna waje. |
| relational location | cikin ɗaki, kan tebur, kusa da ƙofa | Tana cikin ɗaki. |
Takardun suna cikin aljihun jakar.
The documents are inside the bag’s pocket.
Mai gadi yana kusa da babbar ƙofa.
The guard is near the main gate.
Kujerun suna bayan teburin manaja.
The chairs are behind the manager’s desk.
Relational nouns and phrases contribute distinctions such as inside, on, near, and behind. In the neutral Standard production pattern taught here, simple locations occur without an extra general a: yana Kano, tana gida, suna kasuwa. Some speakers and constructions also permit an overt a, but beginners should keep the productive pattern on this page consistent rather than assigning the variation to one broad region.
Location is different from motion
A locative predicate describes a state; a motion verb describes an event that may lead to that state:
Bello ya tafi Kaduna jiya da safe.
Bello went to Kaduna yesterday morning. (motion event)
Bello yana Kaduna yanzu.
Bello is in Kaduna now. (current location)
Likewise, Amina ta shiga ofis “Amina entered the office” describes a completed boundary-crossing event, while Amina tana ofis locates her there. English may use is going or is in with the same auxiliary be; Hausa chooses between a verbal predicate and a nonverbal locative predicate.
The continuative location is often current, but it is not inherently limited to this exact moment. A time frame can locate the state:
Da na kira jiya, Amina tana asibiti tare da mahaifiyarta.
When I called yesterday, Amina was at the hospital with her mother.
The past clause da na kira jiya sets the reference time. Hausa can keep tana where English changes is to was.
Yes/no questions keep the plain form
A polar question does not invert the subject and continuative form:
Bello yana gida da yamma?
Is Bello at home in the evening?
Yaran suna makaranta yau?
Are the children at school today?
The written order matches the statement. Spoken question prosody and context distinguish the question; there is no English-style movement of is/are before the subject.
Where-questions require relative locative forms
A fronted locative question word triggers the relative continuative series:
Ina Musa yake yanzu?
Where is Musa now?
Ina Amina take aiki yau?
Where is Amina working today?
Ina yaran suke?
Where are the children?
Yake, take, suke agree with the subject just as yana, tana, suna do, but they mark a relative/focus environment. In the second example, take aiki contains the verbal noun aiki and asks where her work activity is taking place; the first and third are purely locative predicates.
Do not use plain yana/tana/suna after fronted ina in the standard constituent-question pattern. English also fronts where, but its auxiliary inversion is not the model for Hausa relative forms.
Focused places and topical places are not the same
Neutral location puts the subject first:
Musa yana Zariya wannan makon.
Musa is in Zaria this week. (neutral)
Contrastive place focus fronts a locative phrase, adds ne, and selects relative yake:
A Zariya ne Musa yake wannan makon, ba Kano ba.
It is in Zaria that Musa is this week, not Kano.
The focused constituent is the prepositional phrase a Zariya. Because a phrase of place rather than a gendered noun is focused, stabilizing ne is invariable here.
A left-dislocated place topic can instead be resumed by can “there” in an ordinary locative clause:
Zariya kuwa, Musa yana can wannan makon; Amina kuma tana Kaduna.
As for Zaria, Musa is there this week; Amina, meanwhile, is in Kaduna.
The topic construction retains plain yana and contains resumptive can. The focus construction uses relative yake and no resumptive place in its core clause. Movement is therefore licensed by information structure, not by a free decision to reorder words.
Negative locations use a special continuative series
The ordinary negative replaces the affirmative continuative form and normally has no final ba:
Musa ba ya gida yanzu.
Musa is not at home now.
Maryam ba ta banki yau; tana aiki daga gida.
Maryam is not at the bank today; she is working from home.
Ɗaliban ba sa filin wasa saboda zafin rana.
The students are not on the playing field because of the heat.
The forms are not ba yana, ba tana, ba suna. They are ba ya, ba ta, ba sa. Other persons have their own forms, including ba na “I am not,” ba kya “you (one female) are not,” and ba kwa “you all are not.” The full paradigm must be learned; there is no safe rule of merely inserting ba before the affirmative.
Negative location is distinct from negative existence:
Likitan ba ya asibiti yau, amma akwai wata likita.
The doctor is not at the hospital today, but there is another doctor.
The first clause tracks one known doctor. The second introduces a different doctor as present. If no doctor at all were present, the clause would be Babu likita a asibiti yau.
A short discourse that motivates focus
—Musa yana ofis? —A’a, yana wurin taro. —A babban ɗakin taro ne yake? —A’a, a ƙaramin ɗakin ne yake tare da manaja.
—Is Musa in the office? —No, he is at the meeting venue. —Is he in the large meeting room? —No, it is in the small room that he is with the manager.
The first question and answer use plain yana because they request and provide ordinary location. The last two turns contrast possible rooms, so the place is fronted and relative yake appears.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting the agreeing continuative form
❌ Amina ofis yau.
Incorrect as a complete neutral locative clause — the predicate marker is missing.
✅ Amina tana ofis yau.
Amina is at the office today.
2. Adding an English-style copula
❌ Bello yana ne gida.
Incorrect — ne is not a general translation of English is.
✅ Bello yana gida.
Bello is at home.
3. Using the wrong noun gender
❌ Motar yana gaban gidan.
Incorrect — mota is grammatically feminine singular.
✅ Motar tana gaban gidan.
The car is in front of the house.
4. Keeping a plain form after ina
❌ Ina yaran suna?
Incorrect standard where-question — suna is plain continuative.
✅ Ina yaran suke?
Where are the children?
5. Adding a final ba to the ordinary negative
❌ Amina ba ta gida ba.
Incorrect as the neutral negative locative pattern taught here.
✅ Amina ba ta gida.
Amina is not at home.
Key Takeaways
- A known subject is located with subject + agreeing continuative form + place.
- Place nouns and adverbs can follow directly; relational expressions specify inside, on, near, or behind.
- Plain forms occur in statements and polar questions; yake/take/suke occur in fronted where-questions and locative focus.
- A focused place leaves a dependency and takes relative agreement; a place topic may be resumed with can.
- Negative locations use forms such as ba ya, ba ta, ba sa and normally no clause-final ba.
- Location of a known referent is not existential availability and is not a motion event.
Related Topics
- Clauses without an Overt Lexical VerbA1 — Choose the Hausa nonverbal construction that expresses identity, location, existence, possession, or presentation instead of translating English be word for word.
- Existential akwai and babuA1 — Use invariable akwai and babu to introduce something as present or available, and distinguish existence from the location of a known referent.
- Continuative for Temporary States and LocationsA2 — Use continuative subject–TAM markers with locative and state predicates to say where someone is and what temporary condition currently holds.
- Relative Continuative PronounsA2 — Use nake, kake, kike, yake, take, muke, kuke, suke, and ake for ongoing or habitual situations in focus, questions, and relative clauses.
- Negating Locative PredicatesA1 — Use negative continuative agreement to say that a known person or thing is not at a particular location.
- Adverbial and Locative FocusB1 — Focus Hausa locations, times, paths, companions, reasons, and manners by fronting the whole phrase with stabilizing ne.