Hausa ana is the plain impersonal continuative marker. It presents an ongoing, customary, or general activity without naming a specific grammatical subject: Ana gyaran hanya can mean “The road is being repaired” or “People are repairing the road.” English often chooses a passive, but Hausa has not promoted “the road” to subject in the same way. The related impersonal a/an overview places this form in the wider impersonal system.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not show tone or vowel length. Ana belongs to the subject–TAM system and selects the same continuative predicate patterns as the personal forms.
Ana in the complete paradigm
| Person | Plain continuative | With zuwa “coming/going” |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ina | ina zuwa |
| 2nd masculine singular | kana | kana zuwa |
| 2nd feminine singular | kina | kina zuwa |
| 3rd masculine singular | yana | yana zuwa |
| 3rd feminine singular | tana | tana zuwa |
| 1st plural | muna | muna zuwa |
| 2nd plural | kuna | kuna zuwa |
| 3rd plural | suna | suna zuwa |
| impersonal | ana | ana zuwa |
The impersonal row has no first-, second-, or third-person referent. It tells the listener that an activity occurs while leaving its human actor unidentified.
Ana taro a babban zaure yanzu.
A meeting is taking place in the main hall now.
Ana sayar da magani a shagon da ke gaba.
Medicine is sold at the shop ahead.
Ana gina sabuwar makaranta a unguwarmu.
A new school is being built in our neighborhood.
Why English often uses a passive
English normally requires an overt subject, so it may turn the affected thing into a passive subject: The road is being repaired. Hausa instead keeps the actor slot impersonal and leaves the affected noun after the predicate.
Ana gyaran tsohuwar hanyar da ta lalace.
The damaged old road is being repaired.
Ana wanke motocin a bayan ofishin.
The vehicles are being washed behind the office.
Ana raba abinci ga iyalan da suka iso.
Food is being distributed to the families who arrived.
These translations are passive because that is natural English. Structurally, however, hanyar, motocin, and abinci are not subjects controlling agreement with ana. Hausa therefore does not change ana for their gender or number.
Ongoing, habitual, and generic readings
Immediate context gives an activity-in-progress reading.
Yanzu ana sauke kaya daga babbar mota.
Goods are being unloaded from the truck now.
Ana tattauna batun a rediyo a wannan lokacin.
The issue is being discussed on the radio at the moment.
A frequency phrase gives a habitual or institutional reading.
Ana buɗe ofishin da ƙarfe takwas kowace rana.
The office is opened at eight every day.
A nan ana shan kunu da safe.
People drink millet drink here in the morning.
Rules, instructions, and social practices often take a generic reading.
A wannan makarantar ana sa takalmi baƙi.
At this school, black shoes are worn.
Ba a haye hanya sai an duba hagu da dama.
One does not cross the road until one has looked left and right.
The final example begins with negative continuative ba a, then uses impersonal completive an duba in the dependent clause. The two forms do not express the same aspect.
A specific noun subject requires personal agreement
Impersonal ana and plural suna answer different discourse questions. If the workers are made the grammatical subject, the clause uses plural agreement. If the activity matters and the workers are left backgrounded, use ana.
Ma’aikatan gundumar suna gyara babban titin.
The district workers are repairing the main road.
Ana gyaran hanyar.
The road is being repaired / People are repairing the road.
Masu gadi suna duba jakunkuna a ƙofa.
The guards are checking bags at the entrance.
Ana duba jakunkuna a ƙofa.
Bags are checked at the entrance.
This is the required overt-subject contrast: ma’aikatan suna and masu gadi suna, not ma’aikatan ana or masu gadi ana. A location or time phrase may precede ana, but it is not the grammatical actor:
A kasuwar nan ana sayar da kayan lambu masu kyau.
Good vegetables are sold at this market.
Time is supplied outside ana
Like the personal continuative forms, ana gives an inside or open viewpoint rather than an absolute present tense.
Jiya da safe ana gyaran wutar lantarki a unguwar.
Yesterday morning the electricity supply in the neighborhood was being repaired.
Yanzu ana karɓar takardun neman aiki.
Applications are being accepted now.
Gobe da rana ana gudanar da taron a ɗakin nan.
Tomorrow afternoon the meeting will be held in this room.
The phrases jiya da safe, yanzu, and gobe da rana locate the situation. English changes tense; Hausa retains ana.
Plain ana, relative ake, and negative ba a
Plain ana occurs in neutral assertions and yes/no questions. Constituent questions, focus, and relative clauses select impersonal relative continuative ake.
Ana sayar da tikiti a nan?
Are tickets sold here?
A wane ofishi ake sayar da tikiti?
In which office are tickets sold?
Wannan ne wurin da ake sayar da tikiti.
This is the place where tickets are sold.
Me ake ginawa a bayan kasuwa?
What is being built behind the market?
Ake is relative because of the syntactic environment; it is not a past-tense form.
The ordinary negative impersonal continuative is ba a + continuative predicate, normally without final ba.
Ba a aiki a nan ranar Lahadi.
People do not work here on Sunday.
Ba a sayar da wannan maganin ba tare da takardar likita ba.
This medicine is not sold without a prescription.
Ba a shan ruwan famfon nan.
People do not drink water from this tap.
In the second example, the final ba belongs inside the fixed prepositional expression ba tare da … ba “without,” not to continuative negation. Negative completive instead has its own frame, as in Ba a buɗe shagon jiya ba “The shop was not opened yesterday.”
Ana versus impersonal an
The nearest TAM contrast is between continuative ana and completive an.
An gyara injin jiya.
The machine was repaired yesterday. (completive)
Ana gyaran injin yanzu.
The machine is being repaired now. (continuative)
Za a gyara injin gobe.
The machine will be repaired tomorrow. (future)
The lexical expression also reflects continuative verbal-noun syntax: gyaran injin has a linker before its noun object. Hausa thus packages the central TAM contrast in an, ana, za a, while predicate morphology still responds to the construction.
Practice
Choose ana, ake, ba a, or an: (1) _ gyaran hanya yanzu “the road is being repaired now”; (2) Ina _ gyaran takalma? “where are shoes repaired?”; (3) _ aiki a nan da dare “people do not work here at night”; (4) _ gama aikin jiya “the work was finished yesterday.” Answers: ana, ake, ba a, an. Then rewrite item 1 with ma’aikata as the explicit actor: Ma’aikata suna gyaran hanya yanzu.
Common Mistakes
1. Putting a specific actor before impersonal ana.
❌ Ma’aikatan ana gyara hanya.
Incorrect — the overt plural actor requires third-person plural agreement.
✅ Ma’aikatan suna gyaran wannan titin.
The workers are repairing this road.
2. Making ana agree with the affected noun.
❌ Motocin suna wankewa a nan.
Incorrect for the intended agentless meaning ‘the vehicles are being washed’; this makes the vehicles agents.
✅ Ana wanke motocin a nan.
The vehicles are washed here.
3. Keeping plain ana after a constituent question word.
❌ Ina ana sayar da tikiti?
Incorrect in the standard constituent-question construction.
✅ A wane wuri ake sayar da tikitin mota?
At which place are bus tickets sold?
4. Using affirmative ana in the ordinary negative frame.
❌ Ba ana shan ruwan nan ba.
Incorrect for ordinary negative continuative meaning.
✅ Ba a shan ruwan nan.
People do not drink this water.
5. Using completive an for an event in progress.
❌ An gina gadar yanzu.
Incorrect for the intended meaning ‘the bridge is being built’; an presents a bounded event.
✅ Ana gina gadar yanzu.
The bridge is being built now.
Key Takeaways
- Ana is the plain impersonal continuative marker; it leaves the human actor unspecified.
- English may translate it with people, they, generic you, or a passive.
- A specific overt actor takes personal agreement: ma’aikata suna…, not ma’aikata ana….
- Ana covers ongoing, habitual, and generic activities, while time comes from adverbs and context.
- Use relative ake in constituent questions and relative clauses, and negative ba a without a continuative-closing ba.
- Contrast completive an, continuative ana, and future za a.
Related Topics
- Continuative PronounsA2 — Use ina, kana, kina, yana, tana, muna, kuna, suna, and ana for ongoing, habitual, and state-like situations in neutral Hausa clauses.
- 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.
- Negative Subject Pronoun SetsA2 — Distinguish Hausa negative completive, continuative, future, potential, and subjunctive subject patterns instead of applying one universal ba rule.
- Continuative Meaning and Ongoing EventsA2 — Understand how the Hausa continuative gives an inside view of unfolding, repeated, and still-open situations rather than marking one English tense.
- Continuative: Third Person Plural (suna)A2 — Use third-person plural suna for ongoing actions, routines, and open states, together with relative suke and negative ba sa.
- 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.