A Hausa completive can present an event as a bounded whole while making its result state relevant at the reference time. Na gama rahoton; ga shi nan means “I have finished the report; here it is,” and Motar ta lalace; ba za mu tafi ba means “The vehicle has broken down; we will not go.” The result comes from the lexical event and context together; there is no separate completive marker meaning English have.
All unlabelled forms below are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not mark tone or vowel length. “Result state” here means a condition brought about by an earlier change—finished, broken, lost, understood—not every state that happens to hold after an event. Compare the broader completive–English present perfect contrast.
The completive locates the event as a whole
The plain-completive paradigm remains the familiar person series. With gama aiki “finish work,” the completion inherently creates a state in which no part of that work remains.
| Person | Marker | Result-oriented expression |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | na | na gama aiki |
| 2nd masculine singular | ka | ka gama aiki |
| 2nd feminine singular | kin | kin gama aiki |
| 3rd masculine singular | ya | ya gama aiki |
| 3rd feminine singular | ta | ta gama aiki |
| 1st plural | mun | mun gama aiki |
| 2nd plural | kun | kun gama aiki |
| 3rd plural | sun | sun gama aiki |
| impersonal | an | an gama aiki |
Na gama rahoton; yanzu za ka iya karanta shi.
I have finished the report; now you can read it. (to one man)
An gama gyaran famfon, kuma ruwa yana fitowa sosai.
The tap has been repaired, and water is flowing well.
Ɗalibai sun kammala jarabawar, don haka zauren ya yi shiru.
The students have completed the examination, so the hall has become quiet.
English chooses a present perfect in these translations because the result is current. If the same event is anchored to a finished interval, English normally chooses a simple past: Na gama rahoton jiya da dare “I finished the report last night.” Hausa keeps the completive viewpoint.
Which predicates naturally support a result
Telic changes have an inherent endpoint and therefore readily license result-state inferences. Frequent types include finishing, breaking down, losing, repairing, closing, filling, dying, and coming to understand.
| Completed change | Likely result | Example frame |
|---|---|---|
| gama / kammala “finish” | task is complete | mun gama shiri |
| lalace “become damaged” | thing is unusable/damaged | injin ya lalace |
| rasa “lose” | possessor lacks the item | ta rasa makulli |
| gyara “repair” | thing is functional | an gyara na’ura |
| gane “come to understand” | understanding holds | na gane dalili |
Injin ya lalace a hanya; muna jiran makaniki.
The engine has broken down on the road; we are waiting for a mechanic.
Hauwa ta rasa katinta, saboda haka ba za ta shiga ba.
Hauwa has lost her card, so she will not enter.
Bayan bayanin malamar, yanzu mun gane bambancin.
After the teacher’s explanation, we now understand the difference.
Gane is especially instructive. It can profile the change “come to understand,” while the ensuing knowledge state supports present English understand. That does not make mun a present-tense marker. The whole predicate packages a completed transition plus its cognitive result.
A result is not automatically permanent
The completive asserts a bounded event, not an everlasting condition. Many results are cancellable by a later event.
Ta cika kwalbar, amma daga baya ta zubar da ruwan.
She filled the bottle, but later she poured the water out.
Mun gyara ƙofar da safe, sai yamma ta sake lalacewa.
We repaired the door in the morning, but by evening it broke again.
Na ajiye littafin a tebur, amma wani ya ɗauke shi.
I put the book on the table, but someone took it away.
In the first clause of each sentence, a normal result follows. The second clause cancels its persistence, not the truth of the original completed event. A true grammatical perfect-result category does not have to guarantee permanence, and Hausa completive is broader still: it is compatible with past narrative, current relevance, stative readings, and future checkpoints.
Result inference versus an explicit state predicate
Hausa can merely invite a result inference, or it can assert the state directly.
| Packaging | Example | Main assertion |
|---|---|---|
| completed causing event | Musa ya buɗe ƙofar. | Musa performed an opening event |
| continuing state | Ƙofar tana buɗe. | the door is open |
| result plus explicit evidence | An gyara rediyon; yanzu yana aiki. | repair occurred and functioning now holds |
Musa ya buɗe tagar, amma iska ta sake rufe ta.
Musa opened the window, but the wind closed it again.
Tagar tana buɗe yanzu; za ka iya ganin lambun.
The window is open now; you can see the garden. (to one man)
The completed opening normally suggests an open result, but only the state clause directly describes that state at yanzu. Ordinary boko can hide tonal distinctions among related verb and stative forms, so syntax and context matter. Do not claim that every ya/ta + verb means “is in the resulting state.”
Active events, stative completives, and acquired states
Three patterns overlap in translation but differ conceptually:
- an active completive with a current consequence: Na rasa makullin “I have lost the key”;
- a change culminating in a state: Na gane matsalar “I have understood / I understand the problem now”;
- a lexically stative completive: Na san amsar “I know the answer.”
Na san amsar tun jiya.
I have known the answer since yesterday. (established state)
Bayan da aka yi mini bayani, na gane amsar.
After it was explained to me, I understood the answer. (change into understanding)
Sani presents knowledge as established; gane can foreground acquiring it. English may translate both with a present state, but their aktionsart differs. Hausa does not choose the interpretation by changing only the person marker.
Reference time can be past, present, or future
A result state is evaluated relative to a contextual checkpoint.
Da muka iso jiya, shagon ya riga ya rufe.
When we arrived yesterday, the shop had already closed.
Yanzu an rufe shagon; masu saye suna komawa gida.
The shop has now been closed; the customers are going home.
Zuwa ƙarfe shida gobe, mun gama kwashe kayan.
By six tomorrow, we will have finished moving the goods.
The English auxiliaries had, has, and will have change, but the Hausa completive continues to present the relevant event as complete by the reference point. Time expressions perform work that English often assigns to tense morphology.
Plain and relative result-oriented completives
The relative completive appears where Hausa focus, fronted questions, or relative clauses license it. It does not create the result reading.
| Person | Plain form | Relative form |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | na gama | na gama |
| 2nd masculine singular | ka gama | ka gama |
| 2nd feminine singular | kin gama | kika gama |
| 3rd masculine singular | ya gama | ya gama |
| 3rd feminine singular | ta gama | ta gama |
| 1st plural | mun gama | muka gama |
| 2nd plural | kun gama | kuka gama |
| 3rd plural | sun gama | suka gama |
| impersonal | an gama | aka gama |
Wane injin suka gyara jiya? Shin yana aiki yanzu?
Which engine did they repair yesterday? Is it working now?
Na’urar ce suka gyara da safe.
It was the device that they repaired in the morning.
Mun gwada famfon da aka gyara jiya.
We tested the tap that was repaired yesterday.
The possible current result in the first example is tested independently by yana aiki yanzu. Relative suka/aka is required by the question, focus, or relative construction, not by pastness or current relevance.
Negating event completion and result
A negative completive denies that the bounded event occurred or reached its endpoint. Whether the expected result also fails depends on world knowledge.
Ba mu gama lissafin ba tukuna, don haka ba za mu aika rahoton ba.
We have not finished the calculation yet, so we will not send the report.
Ba a gyara injin ba; har yanzu ba ya aiki.
The engine has not been repaired; it still does not work.
The two clauses distinguish cause from result. Ba a gyara ba denies repair; ba ya aiki independently states the continuing malfunction. This is more precise than assuming that negating a completion grammatically encodes every possible consequence.
Exercises
Identify what is asserted and what is inferred. (1) Ta cika tankin asserts a completed filling; fullness afterward is the normal result. (2) Tankin yana cike directly describes fullness. (3) Na gane matsalar profiles a transition whose understanding state now holds. (4) Add an overt subject: Amina ta gama rahoton. (5) Focus the object: Rahoton ne Amina ta gama. (6) Negate with “yet”: Amina ba ta gama rahoton ba tukuna.
Common Mistakes
1. Equating completive with English simple past only
❌ Na gama tattara kayan.
Incorrect analysis if this is forced to describe only a remote past event; context can make the result current.
✅ Na gama tattara kayan; za mu iya rufe shagon yanzu.
I have finished gathering the goods; we can close the shop now.
2. Treating every completed event as a persisting state
❌ Ta cika kwalbar, kuma dole har yanzu tana cike.
Incorrect inference—the result can be reversed later; ‘must still be full’ does not follow grammatically.
✅ Ya cika tankin da safe, amma an yi amfani da ruwan da yamma.
He filled the tank in the morning, but the water was used in the evening.
3. Dropping agreement after an overt noun
❌ Motar lalace a hanya.
Incorrect finite clause—the feminine noun mota requires ta.
✅ Motar ta lalace a hanya.
The vehicle has broken down on the road.
4. Treating relative suka as a result or past marker
❌ Suka gyara na’urar.
Incorrect as an isolated neutral result report without a licensing context.
✅ Na’urar ce suka gyara.
It was the device that they repaired.
5. Using English tense to choose the Hausa construction
❌ Ina san amsar.
Incorrect as the neutral Standard expression for present ‘I know the answer.’
✅ Na san amsar, amma yanzu na gane dalilin.
I know the answer, but now I understand the reason.
Key Takeaways
- A result-oriented completive presents a bounded event whose consequence matters at the reference time.
- The result comes from predicate meaning and context, not from a special translation of na/ya/ta/mun/sun as English have.
- Result persistence is normally defeasible: a later event can reverse it.
- Distinguish an inferred result, an explicitly asserted state, an acquired state, and a lexically stative completive.
- Past, present, and future checkpoints can all host a completive result interpretation.
- Plain versus relative morphology follows information structure; negation denies event completion without encoding every downstream consequence.
Related Topics
- Completive Meaning with Active VerbsA2 — Understand how Hausa plain-completive markers present actions, processes, and changes as bounded wholes rather than simply marking past tense.
- Completive Meaning with Stative VerbsA2 — See why Hausa completive forms can express present knowledge, ability, perception, and comparison with stative predicates.
- Completive versus English Present PerfectA2 — Translate Hausa completives by context rather than equating them mechanically with either the English simple past or present perfect.
- Completive Events in Future-Time ContextsA2 — Use the Hausa completive for events viewed as already complete by a future reference point, without confusing aspect with future tense.
- Relative Time and Time AdverbsA1 — Use Hausa TAM viewpoints with time adverbs that anchor an event in the past, present, or future.
- Active and Stative Verb InterpretationsA1 — See how a verb's action or state meaning changes the time interpretation of Hausa completive and continuative constructions.