The affirmative plain-completive impersonal marker is an. It presents an event as complete or an outcome as established without naming a specific grammatical subject: An rufe ƙofar “The door was closed / Someone closed the door.” English often uses a passive, but Hausa an is fundamentally a preverbal subject–TAM form with an unspecified human or generic agent.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko writes an without tone or vowel-length marks. The form is not the preposition a “in/at,” not third-person plural sun, and not relative-completive impersonal aka.
For a wider comparison across aspect and mood, see impersonal a and an forms.
An completes the plain-completive paradigm
| Person or reference | Plain completive | With kira “call” |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | na | na kira |
| 2nd masculine singular | ka | ka kira |
| 2nd feminine singular | kin | kin kira |
| 3rd masculine singular | ya | ya kira |
| 3rd feminine singular | ta | ta kira |
| 1st plural | mun | mun kira |
| 2nd plural | kun | kun kira |
| 3rd plural | sun | sun kira |
| impersonal | an | an kira |
An kira ni da safe.
I was called in the morning / Someone called me in the morning.
An buɗe ofishin da ƙarfe takwas.
The office was opened at eight o'clock.
An sayar da motar jiya.
The car was sold yesterday.
The unspecified participant is understood as the caller, opener, or seller. The expressed noun phrase is not what an agrees with: ofishin remains masculine singular and motar feminine singular, yet both clauses use the same impersonal marker.
Why English often translates an with a passive
Hausa uses an when the agent is unknown, irrelevant, generic, or deliberately withheld. English commonly meets the same discourse need with be + past participle.
An sace wayata a kasuwa.
My phone was stolen at the market.
An gyara hanyar bara.
The road was repaired last year.
An sanar da jama'a sakamakon.
The public were informed of the result.
It is useful to translate these as passives, but do not reverse-engineer Hausa from English passive morphology. An does not change for the gender or number of the affected participant, and the lexical verb is not an English-style participle. The clause simply leaves the agent impersonal.
An does not follow an overt agent subject
The general rule that an overt subject is followed by a subject–TAM marker still matters—but an itself suppresses a referential agent. When the agent is named as the grammatical subject, choose the personal marker that agrees with it.
Ma'aikatan sun gyara hanyar.
The workers repaired the road. (named plural agent + sun)
An gyara hanyar.
The road was repaired / Someone repaired the road. (agent unspecified + an)
Likita ya duba yaron.
The doctor examined the boy. (named masculine singular agent + ya)
An duba yaron.
The boy was examined. (examiner unspecified + an)
A learner must not produce ma'aikatan an gyara hanyar for “the workers repaired the road.” If the workers are the grammatical agent, they require sun. Affected material normally remains after the verb, as in an gyara hanyar.
A discourse topic can be placed first and resumed inside the impersonal clause. This is topic structure, not agreement with an:
Wannan aikin, an gama shi tuni.
As for this job, it has already been finished.
Here wannan aikin is an external topic and object shi resumes it. At A2, the safer neutral order is An gama wannan aikin tuni.
Active and stative interpretations
With an active verb, an ordinarily reports a completed event whose agent is not identified.
An kawo ruwa kafin taron.
Water was brought before the meeting.
An ɗauki hotuna da yawa.
Many photographs were taken.
An kammala ginin a watan Mayu.
The building was completed in May.
With a state-like or result-oriented predicate, the same completive can present knowledge or recognition as established. English then often uses a present passive.
An san wannan labari a ko'ina.
This story is known everywhere.
An gane matsalar yanzu.
The problem has now been understood.
There is no separate impersonal “present” form hiding in an san. The lexical meaning and temporal context determine whether English says was known, is known, or has been confirmed.
Time adverbs locate the completion
The completive viewpoint does not itself equal past time. Time expressions can anchor the completed outcome before now, at now, or by a future deadline.
Jiya an rufe makarantar da wuri.
Yesterday the school was closed early.
Yanzu an gama komai.
Everything has now been finished.
Zuwa gobe da yamma, an kammala gyaran.
By tomorrow evening, the repairs will have been completed.
In the final example, English needs will have been, but Hausa can combine future zuwa gobe da yamma with completive an kammala. Compare a prospective future event:
Za a kammala gyaran gobe.
The repairs will be completed tomorrow.
The za a future places the completion later; zuwa gobe … an presents it as already complete by the future checkpoint.
Plain an versus relative aka
Neutral assertions use plain an. A constituent question, focus construction, or relative clause selects impersonal relative-completive aka.
An ajiye takardun a ofis.
The documents were put in the office. (plain neutral report)
Ina aka ajiye takardun?
Where were the documents put? (relative completive in a constituent question)
A ofis ne aka ajiye takardun.
It was in the office that the documents were put. (focused location)
Takardun da aka kawo jiya suna kan tebur.
The documents that were brought yesterday are on the table. (relative clause)
The difference is syntactic, not a past-versus-present contrast. Both an and aka can describe a completed event.
Negative and continuative impersonal frames
The negative completive is ba a + predicate + ba, not ba an … ba.
Ba a buɗe ofishin jiya ba.
The office was not opened yesterday.
Ba a sanar da ni ba.
I was not informed.
Ba a san dalilin ba.
The reason is not known.
For an ongoing, habitual, or generic impersonal situation, Hausa uses continuative ana, whose negative is normally ba a … without a closing ba in the standard negative-continuative construction.
Ana sayar da nama a nan.
Meat is sold here / They sell meat here.
Ba a sayar da burodi a nan.
Bread is not sold here.
Context and the presence or absence of final ba help distinguish negative completive from negative continuative.
Practice: identify why the agent is absent
An ce za a yi ruwa gobe.
It was said that it will rain tomorrow.
The speaker does not identify who said it; an ce functions like English “it was said” or conversational “they say.” The future clause inside it has its own impersonal za a.
Common Mistakes
1. Treating the affected noun as a preverbal agreeing subject.
❌ Hanyar an gyara jiya.
Incorrect as the neutral A2 model; place the affected noun after the verb.
✅ An gyara hanyar jiya.
The road was repaired yesterday.
2. Naming an agent but keeping impersonal an.
❌ Ma'aikatan an gyara hanyar.
Incorrect for ‘The workers repaired the road’; the named plural agent requires sun.
✅ Ma'aikatan nan sun gyara hanyar.
These workers repaired the road.
3. Using an in a constituent question.
❌ Ina an ajiye kayan?
Incorrect — the focused location question selects relative aka.
✅ Ina aka ajiye kayan?
Where were the goods put?
4. Building the negative as ba an … ba.
❌ Ba an rufe shagon ba.
Incorrect — negative-completive impersonal uses ba a.
✅ Ba a rufe shagon ba.
The shop was not closed.
5. Assuming an must refer to past time.
❌ Zuwa gobe, an gama aikin.
Incorrectly translated as ‘The work was finished by tomorrow’; gobe places the reference point in the future.
✅ Zuwa gobe, an gama aikin.
By tomorrow, the work will have been finished.
Key Takeaways
- An + predicate is the plain-completive impersonal frame.
- It leaves the human or generic agent unspecified; English therefore often translates it with a passive.
- A named agent takes an agreeing personal marker such as ya or sun, not an.
- Neutral an contrasts with relative aka, negative-completive ba a … ba, and continuative ana.
- Active predicates report completed impersonal events; state-like predicates can express established knowledge or results.
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
- The Hausa Subject–TAM ComplexA1 — Understand the preverbal Hausa forms that express subject agreement together with tense, aspect, mood, and polarity.
- Plain and Relative TAM FormsA1 — Choose plain Hausa completive and continuative forms for neutral clauses, and relative forms for focus, constituent questions, and relative clauses.
- Plain Completive: Third Person Plural (sun)A2 — Use third-person plural sun for neutral completed events and established plural states, while keeping it distinct from suka and ba su … ba.
- 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.
- Relative Completive: Complete Person ParadigmB1 — Master all nine Hausa relative-completive subject markers and recognize their focus, relative, temporal, narrative, negative, and stative uses.
- Impersonal a and an FormsA2 — Use Hausa impersonal subject–TAM forms to describe actions by an unspecified person or group without confusing a with completive an.