The affirmative plain-completive marker for one female addressee is kin: Kin zo “You came,” Kin gama “You have finished,” and Kin sani “You know.” English you does not reveal gender or number, but Hausa makes the speaker choose among feminine singular kin, masculine singular ka, and plural kun.
All unlabelled forms on this page are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not mark the tone and vowel-length contrasts described in linguistic grammars; this page therefore uses the standard unmarked spelling kin in normal examples.
Kin in the plain-completive paradigm
| Person | Plain completive | With zo “come” |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | na | na zo |
| 2nd masculine singular | ka | ka zo |
| 2nd feminine singular | kin | kin zo |
| 3rd masculine singular | ya | ya zo |
| 3rd feminine singular | ta | ta zo |
| 1st plural | mun | mun zo |
| 2nd plural | kun | kun zo |
| 3rd plural | sun | sun zo |
| impersonal | an | an zo |
Kin is a complete subject–aspect marker. It identifies the subject as the woman or girl being addressed and presents the predicate from a completive viewpoint. It is not merely a free pronoun placed before an unchanged verb.
Kin dawo lafiya?
Did you get back safely? (to one female)
Kin gama aikin.
You finished the work / You have finished the work. (to one female)
Kin karɓi saƙona?
Did you receive my message? (to one female)
The choice between English simple past and present perfect depends on context. Hausa kin gama presents the finishing as complete; it does not itself encode the English contrast between finished and have finished.
Active predicates present a bounded event
With an active predicate, kin usually reports an action as a complete whole.
Jiya kin kira ni sau biyu.
Yesterday you called me twice. (to one female)
Kin ajiye makullin a cikin jaka.
You put the key in the bag. (to one female)
Kin ba ta kuɗin mota?
Did you give her the bus fare? (to one female)
In the last example, kin is the subject–TAM marker, ba is the lexical verb “give,” and ta is its female recipient. The verb ba exceptionally selects the recipient series ni/ka/ki/shi/ta/mu/ku/su, so kin ba mata is not the neutral standard way to say “you gave her.”
An overt expression can identify the addressee more explicitly. With a name used as a vocative, the name calls the person and kin remains the grammatical subject marker:
Aisha, kin tura wa Hauwa saƙon?
Aisha, did you send Hauwa the message?
For emphatic self-contrast, independent ke can head the subject phrase:
Ke Aisha, kin kawo ruwan; ita Hauwa ta kawo abincin.
You, Aisha, brought the water; Hauwa brought the food.
English usually says you once. Hausa can use ke for contrast and kin for the finite completive frame; each has a different job.
Stative predicates often receive a present translation
With knowledge, ability, perception, or comparison, completive viewpoint can present a state as established rather than narrate a past event.
Kin san inda take.
You know where she is. (to one female)
Kin iya tuƙi sosai.
You can drive very well. (to one female)
Kin fi ni haƙuri.
You are more patient than I am. (to one female)
Nothing has turned kin into a special present-tense form. The completive combines with the lexical meaning of sani, iya, or fi to describe a currently established relation. Compare the active Kin koyi tuƙi bara “You learned to drive last year,” where a bounded event makes an English past natural.
Time expressions anchor the completion
Jiya kin kammala rahoton.
Yesterday you completed the report. (to one female)
Yanzu kin gane matsalar.
Now you understand the problem. (to one female)
Zuwa gobe da safe, kin kammala rahoton.
By tomorrow morning, you will have completed the report. (to one female)
The future-time example views the report as complete by a future deadline. Ordinary future Za ki kammala rahoton gobe “You will complete the report tomorrow” instead predicts a later event. This contrast shows why calling kin simply “past” is misleading.
See aspect rather than English tense for the wider logic behind these context-dependent translations.
Plain kin contrasts with relative kika
Unlike masculine ka, feminine singular has visibly different plain and relative completive forms in ordinary boko. Neutral reporting takes plain kin. Constituent questions, focus constructions, and relative clauses take relative kika.
Kin sayi sabuwar waya.
You bought a new phone. (plain completive; one female)
Me kika saya?
What did you buy? (relative completive; one female)
Ke ce kika sayi sabuwar wayar?
Are you the one who bought the new phone? (one female)
The extra syllable in kika is not optional decoration, nor is it a special past-tense ending. The information structure selects the relative paradigm. A polar question such as Kin sayi waya? asks whether the whole proposition is true and keeps plain kin; a constituent question such as Me kika saya? focuses what and selects relative kika.
Keep kin separate from ke, ki, and kina
The forms around second-person feminine reference are systematic but not interchangeable.
| Form | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ke | independent pronoun | Ke ce. |
| kin | plain completive subject–TAM | Kin zo. |
| kika | relative completive subject–TAM | Me kika gani? |
| ki | object/recipient, and also a subjunctive subject marker in its own construction | Na kira ki; ina so ki zo. |
| kina | continuative subject–TAM | Kina aiki. |
Na kira ki, amma ba ki ɗaga waya ba.
I called you, but you did not answer the phone. (to one female)
The first ki follows kira and is the direct object “you.” The second ki stands before the predicate within the negative-completive frame. Neither is affirmative kin.
Ina so ki zo da wuri.
I want you to come early. (to one female)
Here ki zo is subjunctive: it names a desired action, not one asserted as complete. In Kina zuwa da wuri, continuative kina presents coming as ongoing or habitual.
Negative completive is ba ki … ba
The negative does not retain affirmative kin. Use ba ki … ba for one female addressee.
Ba ki kira ni jiya ba.
You did not call me yesterday. (to one female)
Ba ki gama aikin ba.
You did not finish the work. (to one female)
Ba ki san amsar ba.
You do not know the answer. (to one female)
The closing ba is part of the negative-completive frame. By contrast, negative continuative Ba kya zuwa ranar Lahadi “You do not come on Sunday” belongs to another TAM pattern and normally has no closing ba.
Common Mistakes
1. Using masculine ka for a female addressee.
❌ Ka gama aikin?
Incorrect when speaking to one woman; ka is masculine singular.
✅ Kin gama aikin?
Have you finished the work? (to one female)
2. Replacing subject–TAM kin with independent ke.
❌ Ke gama aikin.
Incorrect — independent ke cannot make a finite completive clause by itself.
✅ Ke kin gama aikin.
You finished the work. (one female, contrastive)
3. Keeping kin in a focused question.
❌ Me kin saya?
Incorrect in the standard relative-completive pattern.
✅ Me kika saya?
What did you buy? (one female)
4. Keeping affirmative kin inside the negative frame.
❌ Ba kin gama aikin ba.
Incorrect — the negative-completive subject form is ki, not kin.
✅ Ba ki gama aikin ba.
You did not finish the work. (one female)
5. Translating every kin as English past.
❌ Kin san amsar.
Incorrect if automatically translated as ‘You knew the answer’; this stative normally describes current knowledge.
✅ Kin san amsar.
You know the answer. (to one female)
Key Takeaways
- Kin is the plain-completive marker for one female addressee.
- Active predicates usually describe a completed event; stative predicates can describe a present established state.
- Plain kin contrasts visibly with relative kika, continuative kina, and negative-completive ba ki … ba.
- Independent ke adds emphasis, while object or recipient ki follows a selecting verb.
- Time expressions, not kin alone, determine whether English prefers a past, present-perfect, present-state, or future-perfect translation.
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
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- Plain Completive: Second Person Plural (kun)A2 — Use kun for plural or respectfully plural address in neutral completive clauses and distinguish it from ku, kuka, kuna, and possessive -ku.
- Active and Stative Verb InterpretationsA1 — See how a verb's action or state meaning changes the time interpretation of Hausa completive and continuative constructions.
- 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.
- 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.