This page annotates a short (journalistic/formal) report about preparations for possible flooding. The report and every institution, place, date, and statement in it are original and fictional teaching material; they do not announce a real emergency. Its central lesson is evidential: completed municipal work, an attributed forecast, residents’ reported actions, and official advice must not be presented as though they had the same source.
For the genre conventions behind the passage, see News Reporting Style and Hearsay, Rumor, and Attribution.
Complete original Hausa report
Shirin tunkarar ambaliya a Garin Tsauni — A jiya, majalisar ƙaramar hukumar Garin Tsauni ta ce ta kammala share manyan magudanan ruwa uku kafin damina ta tsananta. Bisa ga rahoton sashen kula da muhalli, an kwashe shara daga magudanan, sannan aka buɗe wuraren da ruwa zai bi zuwa rafin Kuka. Shugabar sashen, Hajiya Binta Sani, ta ce ana sa ran samun ruwan sama mai ƙarfi tsakanin ranar Alhamis da Juma’a. “Mun tanadi motocin ɗaukar jama’a biyu, amma muna roƙon mazauna unguwannin da ke kusa da rafin su tattara muhimman takardunsu tun da wuri,” in ji ta. Wasu mazauna Unguwar Yamma sun ce sun riga sun ɗaga kayayyakin ɗakuna daga ƙasa. Hukumar agajin gaggawa ta shawarci jama’a kada su tsallaka ruwa mai gudu, kuma su kira lambar gwaji 000 idan suka ga ruwa yana shiga gidaje. Har zuwa lokacin haɗa wannan rahoto, ba a bayar da umarnin ƙaura ba.
Flood preparations in Garin Tsauni — Yesterday, the fictional Garin Tsauni local council said it had finished clearing three main drains before the rainy season intensified. According to the environmental department’s report, refuse was removed from the drains and blocked passages were opened so that water could flow toward Kuka stream. The department head, Hajiya Binta Sani, said heavy rain was expected between Thursday and Friday. ‘We have prepared two vehicles for transporting people, but we ask residents of the neighbourhoods near the stream to gather their important documents early,’ she said. Some residents of Unguwar Yamma said they had already raised household belongings off the floor. The emergency agency advised the public not to cross fast-moving water and to call the fictional test number 000 if they saw water entering homes. As of the time this report was compiled, no evacuation order had been issued.
The English translation says “blocked passages” where the Hausa simply has wuraren da ruwa zai bi, literally “places by which water will pass.” That is a natural purpose-oriented Hausa description, not a noun-for-noun copy of English administrative prose.
Lead: time first, claim second
A jiya, majalisar ƙaramar hukumar Garin Tsauni ta ce ta kammala share manyan magudanan ruwa uku.
Yesterday, the Garin Tsauni local council said that it had finished clearing three main drains. (literal structure: yesterday, council it said it finished...)
Initial a jiya is an established (journalistic) time frame; it is not an erroneous translation of English on yesterday. The feminine subject–completive ta appears twice. The first has majalisa as subject of ce; the second is inside the cewa/ce content and refers back to the same council. Hausa does not backshift the second verb merely because English often changes has finished to had finished. See English Reported-Speech Backshift.
The lead attributes the completion claim to the council. It does not say that the reporter personally inspected every drain. That distinction is the report’s first layer of responsibility.
Evidence and impersonal event packaging
Bisa ga rahoton sashen kula da muhalli, an kwashe shara daga magudanan, sannan aka buɗe wuraren da ruwa zai bi zuwa rafin Kuka.
According to the environmental department’s report, refuse was removed from the drains, and then the passages through which water would flow toward Kuka stream were opened.
Bisa ga presents a document as evidential basis; a cewar would more naturally attribute someone’s words. The completives an kwashe and aka buɗe are impersonal. They foreground the completed operations rather than unnamed workers. Sannan orders the second operation after the first.
In wuraren da ruwa zai bi, da introduces a relative clause. Ruwa is the overt subject and future zai projects the intended route. The preceding linker in rahoton sashen and sashen kula packages noun relations: “the report of the department” and “the department of oversight.” For the mechanics, review The Genitive Linker -n.
Forecast, quotation, and reference
Shugabar sashen, Hajiya Binta Sani, ta ce ana sa ran samun ruwan sama mai ƙarfi tsakanin ranar Alhamis da Juma’a.
The department head, Hajiya Binta Sani, said that heavy rain was expected between Thursday and Friday.
Shugabar has the feminine linker -r, agreeing with shugaba as a feminine officeholder here. Ana sa ran is an impersonal continuative expression, literally involving “putting expectation,” and appropriately marks a forecast rather than a completed fact. The named official is the source of that forecast.
Mun tanadi motocin ɗaukar jama’a biyu, amma muna roƙon mazauna unguwannin da ke kusa da rafin su tattara muhimman takardunsu tun da wuri, in ji ta.
We have prepared two vehicles for transporting people, but we ask residents of the neighbourhoods near the stream to gather their important documents early, she said.
Quoted mun tanadi is first-person plural completive: the official speaks institutionally as “we.” Muna roƙon is first-person plural continuative and presents the request as current. After roƙon ..., third-person plural subjunctive su tattara expresses the requested action. Final in ji ta is a conventional (journalistic) attribution; feminine ta resumes Hajiya Binta, not the council.
The relative phrase da ke kusa da rafin restricts which residents are addressed. Removing it would expand the advice to every resident.
A second source and a time-bounded update
Wasu mazauna Unguwar Yamma sun ce sun riga sun ɗaga kayayyakin ɗakuna daga ƙasa.
Some Unguwar Yamma residents said they had already raised household belongings off the floor.
Wasu deliberately limits the claim to “some.” Both sun ce and sun riga sun ɗaga have plural subjects. Riga plus a matching completive marks prior completion. The residents’ statement corroborates preparation, but it does not prove the council’s claim about all three drains.
Har zuwa lokacin haɗa wannan rahoto, ba a bayar da umarnin ƙaura ba.
Up to the time this report was compiled, no evacuation order had been issued.
The frame har zuwa lokacin haɗa wannan rahoto limits the negative statement to publication time. Impersonal negative completive ba a bayar ... ba avoids inventing an issuing officer. The demonstrative wannan rahoto points to the report being read; it is discourse deixis, not a mysterious physical object.
Reusable public-information patterns
Bisa ga rahoton hukumar, an kammala aikin da safiyar yau.
According to the authority’s report, the work was completed this morning.
Ana sa ran samun ruwan sama mai ƙarfi a daren Juma’a.
Heavy rain is expected on Friday night.
Hukumar ta shawarci jama’a kada su kusanci rafin.
The authority advised the public not to go near the stream.
Har zuwa lokacin haɗa rahoton, ba a rufe hanyar ba.
As of the time the report was compiled, the road had not been closed.
These are templates, not evidence. A newsroom must still supply a real source, place, date, and verified status before publishing them.
Common Mistakes
1. Presenting a forecast as an observed event
❌ Ruwan sama mai ƙarfi zai sauka ranar Juma’a, babu shakka.
Misleading certainty—the fictional source only stated an expectation.
✅ A cewar shugabar sashen, ana sa ran samun ruwan sama mai ƙarfi ranar Juma’a.
According to the department head, heavy rain is expected on Friday.
2. Treating a jiya as nonstandard
❌ A cire a daga a jiya domin rahoton ya zama daidai.
Incorrect editing advice—a jiya is an established journalistic frame.
✅ A jiya, majalisar ta gabatar da rahoton.
Yesterday, the council presented the report.
3. Dropping the subject–TAM complex
❌ Hukumar shawarci jama’a kada su tsallaka ruwan.
Incorrect finite clause—hukumar requires ta before shawarci.
✅ Hukumar ta shawarci jama’a kada su tsallaka ruwan.
The authority advised the public not to cross the water.
4. Turning a slogan into a Hausa proverb
❌ ‘Ka shirya ko ka nutse’ karin maganar Hausa ne.
Incorrect attribution—a newly translated warning is not automatically a Hausa proverb.
✅ A faɗi umarnin kai tsaye: kada ku tsallaka ruwa mai gudu.
Give the instruction directly: do not cross fast-moving water.
Key Takeaways
- A jiya establishes a journalistic time frame, while the source phrases establish who is responsible for each claim.
- Bisa ga grounds a claim in a document; final in ji ta attributes quoted words.
- Impersonal an/aka/ba a ... ba foregrounds events, but should not conceal a relevant known actor.
- Relative clauses and noun linkers keep drains, residents, departments, and documents identifiable.
- Publication-time frames prevent a temporary status from sounding permanently true.
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
- News Reporting StyleB2 — Learn how Hausa news reports package events, time, sources, and responsibility for a broad public audience.
- Hearsay, Rumor, and AttributionB2 — Report what others say in Hausa while distinguishing identified evidence, circulating hearsay, unverified rumor, and responsible attribution.
- According To and In the View OfB1 — Distinguish source-reporting a cewar, evidence-based bisa ga, and viewpoint-framing a ganin, including their possessive pronoun forms.
- Relative Completive in Relative ClausesB2 — Build completed Hausa relative clauses with the agreeing relative-completive paradigm and understand its restrictive, negative, and stative uses.
- Time Adverbs and Clause PositionA2 — Place Hausa time words and phrases where they can anchor, schedule, or contrast an event without changing its aspect.
- Adverbial and Locative FocusB1 — Focus Hausa locations, times, paths, companions, reasons, and manners by fronting the whole phrase with stabilizing ne.