Hausa ba “give” is short but exceptionally irregular. Its ordinary two-object frame puts the recipient immediately after ba and the thing given after the recipient: Amina ta ba Musa littafi “Amina gave Musa a book.” Most importantly, a pronominal recipient uses ni, ka, ki, shi, ta, mu, ku, su—the forms that elsewhere commonly serve as direct objects—not mini, maka, miki, masa, mata, mana, muku, musu. Say ta ba shi littafi, never ta ba masa littafi.
This page gives the lexical facts for ba without treating it as a regular member of a verb grade. General object order appears on Double-Object Constructions, while Object Pronouns with Two-Object Verbs compares its exceptional paradigm with other verbs.
All examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa) unless another register is stated. Ordinary boko writes ɓ, ɗ, ƙ and apostrophes but not tone or vowel length. Tone and length are therefore not guessed here.
Compact form and environment table
| Environment | Form | Model |
|---|---|---|
| recipient + theme | ba | ba Musa littafi “give Musa a book” |
| pronominal recipient + theme | ba + ni/ka/ki/shi/ta/mu/ku/su | ba shi littafi “give him a book” |
| noun recipient with explicit marker | bai wa + noun | bai wa Musa littafi “give Musa a book” |
| theme expressed, no internal recipient | ba da; also bayar da | ba da kuɗi “give money away” |
| nothing expressed after the verb | bayar | sun bayar “they gave/contributed” |
| weak verbal noun, no local complement | bayarwa | suna bayarwa “they are giving” |
| continuative with recipient/theme | ba / bai wa / ba da | suna ba shi abinci “they are giving him food” |
These are not tense forms. Completive ta ba shi, future za ta ba shi, and habitual takan ba shi keep the same recipient frame. What follows the verb determines which lexical construction is available.
Amina ta ba Musa makullin ofis da safe.
Amina gave Musa the office key in the morning. (noun recipient followed by theme)
Likitar ta ba shi magani bayan ta duba shi.
The doctor gave him medicine after examining him. (exceptional pronominal recipient shi)
Za mu bai wa makarantar littattafai ɗari a wata mai zuwa.
We will give the school one hundred books next month. (explicit wa before a noun recipient)
Kamfanin ya ba da kayan agaji ga iyalan da ambaliya ta shafa.
The company donated relief supplies to families affected by the flood. (formal; theme-only ba da plus external goal phrase)
Recipient first: the central valency pattern
The prototypical event has a giver, a recipient, and a theme. Hausa orders the two postverbal participants recipient–theme. English allows both give Musa a book and give a book to Musa; Hausa does not obtain its neutral pattern by translating either English order word for word.
With a noun recipient, bare ba + recipient + theme is common. The alternative bai wa + noun recipient + theme makes the recipient relation explicit. Before a noun, the marker is written separately as wa.
Shugaban ya ba ma’aikatan sabon jadawalin aikin.
The manager gave the employees the new work schedule. (neutral recipient-first order)
Gidauniyar ta bai wa ɗalibai goma tallafin karatu.
The foundation awarded ten students scholarships. (formal/neutral noun-recipient frame with wa)
The form bai here belongs to the lexical construction before wa. It is not the negative completive marker bai ... ba. Context and the presence of wa separate ta bai wa Amina littafi “she gave Amina a book” from a negative clause such as bai ba Amina littafi ba “he did not give Amina a book.”
If only the theme is expressed, use ba da + theme. This frame is common for handing over, donating, issuing, or giving something away. A later ga or another phrase may identify a destination, but it does not turn the theme into the recipient.
Bayan taron, sakatariyar ta ba da kwafin rahoton ga kowane sashe.
After the meeting, the secretary distributed a copy of the report to each department. (formal ba da frame)
Modern (formal/administrative) prose also frequently uses bayar da + theme, especially for issuing an answer, order, permission, or statement. This longer expression overlaps with ba da, but its institutional collocations should be learned as encountered; it does not alter the exceptional pronoun-recipient construction ba shi.
Za a bayar da amsar buƙatar izini cikin kwanaki biyar.
A response to the permit application will be issued within five days. (formal impersonal bayar da)
The exceptional pronoun recipients
The recipient series is ni, ka, ki, shi, ta, mu, ku, su:
| Recipient | Frame | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| me | ba ni | give me |
| you, one male | ba ka | give you |
| you, one female | ba ki | give you |
| him / masculine referent | ba shi | give him/it |
| her / feminine referent | ba ta | give her/it |
| us | ba mu | give us |
| you all | ba ku | give you all |
| them | ba su | give them |
This is a lexical exception, not a claim that Hausa lacks the ma series. The same speaker says ta saya masa littafi “she bought him a book” but ta ba shi littafi “she gave him a book.” English him hides the distinction; the Hausa verb selects it.
Don Allah, ki ba ni alkalamin idan kin gama rubutu.
Please give me the pen when you finish writing. (to one female; ni, not mini)
Mun ba su abinci da ruwa kafin su ci gaba da tafiya.
We gave them food and water before they continued their journey. (plural recipient su; subjunctive su after kafin)
Kada ku ba ta amsa tukuna; ku bar ta ta yi tunani.
Do not give her the answer yet; let her think. (plural addressees; feminine recipient ta)
Bayar and bayarwa
When neither recipient nor theme follows, the lexical no-complement form is bayar. It commonly means “give, contribute, pay, provide,” with the contribution recoverable from context. It is especially frequent in institutional and public language.
Kowa ya bayar gwargwadon ƙarfinsa domin a gyara rijiyar.
Everyone contributed according to their means so that the well could be repaired. (neutral communal context)
The weak verbal noun is bayarwa. It appears in the continuative when no local complement follows and as a nominal “giving/provision.” Before ordinary recipients or themes, the corresponding shorter complement frame is used instead: tana ba shi shawara, tana ba da shawara, tana bai wa yara abinci. Do not manufacture bawa as the general verbal noun of this verb; bawa is also the ordinary noun “servant/slave,” a different lexical item.
Ƙungiyoyin suna bayarwa a kai a kai, amma gudummawar wannan watan ta yi kaɗan.
The organizations contribute regularly, but this month’s contribution was small. (continuative, no following complement)
Asibitin yana ba marasa lafiya magani kyauta a ranar Litinin.
The hospital gives patients medicine free of charge on Mondays. (habitual continuative; noun recipient and theme)
Negation wraps the clause in the normal negative frame. It does not replace the exceptional recipient paradigm.
Ban ba shi takardar ba, domin bai nuna katin shaidarsa ba.
I did not give him the document because he did not show his identity card. (negative completive)
Frequent constructions and idioms
Many abstract combinations still preserve the recipient relation: ba mutum shawara “advise someone,” ba mutum dama “give someone a chance,” ba mutum haƙuri “apologize to someone,” and blessings such as Allah ya ba ka lafiya “may God grant you health.” Learn each collocation with its natural meaning; English may choose a verb other than give.
Mahaifina ya ba ni shawarar in jira har zuwa gobe.
My father advised me to wait until tomorrow. (literally gave me advice)
Allah ya ba ki lafiya, ya kuma sa ki warke da sauri.
May God grant you health and make you recover quickly. (formulaic blessing to one woman)
The expression ba da shawara presents “advice” as the theme with no encoded recipient, while ba ni shawara encodes “me” as recipient. This contrast follows the core valency system rather than creating two unrelated verbs.
Common Mistakes
1. Using the ordinary ma-series after ba
❌ Likita ta ba masa magani bayan gwaji.
Incorrect standard recipient form for ba—masa belongs with verbs that select the ma-series.
✅ Likita ta ba shi magani bayan gwaji.
The doctor gave him medicine after the test.
2. Putting the theme before the recipient
❌ Ta ba littafi Musa bayan darasi.
Incorrect neutral two-object order—the recipient should immediately follow ba.
✅ Ta ba Musa littafi bayan darasi.
She gave Musa a book after the lesson.
3. Using ba plus a lone theme without da
❌ Hukumar ta ba kayan agaji ga iyalan.
Incorrect for the intended theme-only donation frame.
✅ Hukumar ta ba da kayan agaji ga iyalan.
The authority donated relief supplies to the families.
4. Using bayar before an overt recipient
❌ Za su bayar yara abinci da yamma.
Incorrect—bayar is the no-following-complement form here.
✅ Za su ba yara abinci da yamma.
They will give the children food in the evening.
5. Treating bayarwa as an unchanged English infinitive
❌ Jiya Amina ta bayarwa Musa kuɗin.
Incorrect finite form—bayarwa is a verbal noun, not the past form of ba.
✅ Jiya Amina ta bai wa Musa kuɗin.
Yesterday Amina gave Musa the money.
Key Takeaways
- Neutral two-object ba places the recipient before the theme: ba Musa littafi.
- A pronominal recipient is ni/ka/ki/shi/ta/mu/ku/su, never mini/maka/miki/masa/mata/mana/muku/musu.
- With a noun recipient, both ba Musa littafi and bai wa Musa littafi are available; wa is separate.
- Use ba da + theme when the thing given is expressed but no internal recipient follows.
- The no-complement form is bayar and the weak verbal noun is bayarwa; these are not interchangeable tense forms.
Related Topics
- Monosyllabic VerbsC1 — Master the small high-frequency class of one-syllable Hausa verbs without inventing object alternations, verbal nouns, or derived-grade paradigms.
- Grade 0 and Irregular Derived PatternsC1 — Use Grade 0 as a precise residual classification while learning the object frames, verbal nouns, and derived forms of exceptional verbs lexically.
- Object Pronouns with Two-Object VerbsA2 — Order Hausa recipients before themes, choose the indirect-object series for most recipients, and learn the special pattern used with ba ‘give’.
- Double-Object ConstructionsA2 — Distinguish Hausa’s restricted bare two-object verbs from ordinary recipients marked by wa or the fused ma- pronouns.
- Core Collocations with baB1 — Distinguish the verb ba ‘give’ from negative ba and use its recipient frame and conventional ba da collocations naturally.
- wa: To and For a Noun RecipientA1 — Mark a noun recipient or beneficiary with wa, and replace the whole wa phrase with the fused ma- series when that participant is a pronoun.