Hausa girma is both an intransitive verb “grow, grow up, become big/great” and a masculine noun “size, bigness, greatness, prestige.” As a verb it is commonly classified as Grade 3a: its subject undergoes growth, and basic girma does not take a direct object. As a noun it appears in girman ɗaki “the size of a room,” mafi girma “bigger/largest,” and ya yi mini girma “it is too big for me.”
The family contains a second, restricted comparison predicate: girmi before a noun and girme before a pronoun or dative expression, meaning “be older/bigger than.” That predicate is not simply the transitive present tense of intransitive girma. It has its own object-conditioned forms and strongly favors completive morphology even when the English translation is a present state.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not mark the tone and vowel-length contrasts that distinguish some members of this family in speech.
Core forms and environments
| Environment | Form | Function |
|---|---|---|
| finite intransitive | girma | grow, grow up, become big/important |
| direct noun/pronoun object | — | not licensed by basic girma |
| strong verbal noun | girma | growing; becoming big |
| lexical noun | girma (masculine) | size, greatness, prestige |
| comparison + noun | girmi | be older/bigger than a named noun phrase |
| comparison + pronoun/dative | girme | be older/bigger than someone; be beyond someone |
| honor/respect | girmama | separate transitive verb “honor, respect” |
Yarinyar ta girma sosai tun lokacin da muka gan ta.
The girl has grown a great deal since we saw her. (intransitive completive)
Birnin yana girma da sauri saboda sabbin masana’antu.
The city is growing quickly because of the new industries. (continuative with strong verbal noun)
Itacen zai girma idan yana samun isasshen ruwa.
The tree will grow if it gets enough water. (future)
Shukar ba ta girma ba saboda ƙarancin ruwan sama.
The crop did not grow because of insufficient rain. (negative completive)
Grade 3a girma has no basic B- or C-form. A person, animal, plant, institution, or settlement can be the growing subject, but the thing enlarged cannot simply follow as a direct object. This is the same valency principle explained in the Grade 3 overview.
One spelling, verbal and nominal syntax
The verbal noun of Grade 3a girma is pronounced with the length appropriate to the strong verbal noun, but ordinary boko writes it exactly like the finite form. The continuative construction identifies its verbal use. The lexical noun is masculine and exposes -n before a possessor or dependent: girmansa, girman gidan.
Girman kamfanin ya sa aka buɗe sabon reshe a Legas.
The company’s growth/size led to the opening of a new branch in Lagos. (masculine noun with linker)
Ba girman ginin muke aunawa ba, ƙarfin tubalinsa muke dubawa.
We are not measuring the building’s size; we are examining the strength of its blocks. (nominal girma)
Yayin da yara suke girma, buƙatunsu ma suna canzawa.
As children grow, their needs also change. (relative continuative)
English uses growth, size, greatness, and grow. Hausa can use girma across these categories, but agreement and linking reveal the syntax. In girma yana da muhimmanci, masculine yana agrees with a noun; in bishiya tana girma, feminine tana agrees with bishiya and introduces a verbal-noun predicate.
“Too big for me”: yi girma plus a dative
For clothing, quantities, tasks, and other measured things, yi + girma describes being big, often excessively big relative to someone. The experiencer takes the ordinary ma series: mini, maka, miki, masa, mata, mana, muku, musu.
Rigar nan ta yi mini girma; akwai ƙarama?
This dress is too big for me; is there a smaller one? (dative experiencer)
Aikin bai yi wa ƙungiyar girma ba; sun kammala shi cikin kwana biyu.
The task was not too much for the team; they completed it in two days. (formal capability judgment)
The dative is selected by the construction yi wa X girma, not by intransitive girma taking an indirect object. Do not manufacture a form such as *girmam mini from the English phrase too big for me.
Comparison with fi, mafi, and restricted girmi/girme
The most productive comparison uses fi ... girma: the subject exceeds the comparison target in size, age, or rank. Superlative mafi girma is equally common.
Wannan ɗakin ya fi wancan girma, amma wancan ya fi samun iska.
This room is bigger than that one, but that one has better ventilation. (productive comparative)
Ita ce jami’a mafi girma a jihar ta fuskar yawan ɗalibai.
It is the largest university in the state by student population. (formal superlative with an explicit criterion)
The lexical comparison predicate is more compact. Before a noun-like direct object use girmi; before a direct pronoun use girme. An added da + measure states the difference.
Audu ya girmi Bashir da shekara uku.
Audu is three years older than Bashir. (noun comparison target: girmi)
Audu ya girme ni da shekara uku, amma muna aiki tare.
Audu is three years older than me, but we work together. (pronoun target: girme)
Traditional descriptions note a genuine restriction: this stative comparison normally appears with completive-looking subject–TAM forms even when it denotes a present fact. Do not freely build *yana girmi or a straightforward future comparison as though girmi were an ordinary activity verb. When another TAM meaning is needed, the productive fi ... girma construction is safer and clearer.
A shekara mai zuwa, Zainab za ta fi ƙanwarta girma da shekaru biyar kamar yadda take yanzu.
Next year, Zainab will still be five years older than her younger sister, as she is now. (future framed with fi)
Enlarging and honoring are separate predicates
To “make something bigger,” use an attested causative expression such as ƙara girman X, faɗaɗa X, or sa X ya yi girma. Girmama means “honor, respect”; it does not normally mean physically enlarge.
Ki ƙara girman rubutun domin tsofaffi su iya karantawa.
Increase the size of the text so that elderly people can read it. (to one woman)
Hukumar za ta faɗaɗa asibitin, ba wai ta girmama shi ba.
The authority will expand the hospital, not ‘honor’ it. (formal lexical contrast)
Al’ummar gari suna girmama likitar saboda hidimarta.
The townspeople respect the doctor because of her service. (transitive girmama)
The noun also has a prestige reading: mai girma is an honorific “honourable/exalted” in (formal/respectful) address, while girman kai means pride or arrogance. These are lexical collocations, not automatic meanings of every finite girma clause.
Common Mistakes
1. Giving intransitive girma a direct object
❌ Kamfanin ya girma ofishin bara.
Incorrect—basic girma does not mean ‘enlarge’ with a direct object.
✅ Kamfanin ya faɗaɗa ofishin bara.
The company expanded the office last year.
2. Using girma unchanged before a comparison target
❌ Audu ya girma Musa da shekara biyu.
Incorrect for the lexical ‘be older than’ predicate before a noun.
✅ Audu ya girmi Musa da shekara biyu.
Audu is two years older than Musa.
3. Confusing girmi and girme environments
❌ Hauwa ta girmi shi da shekara ɗaya.
Incorrect object-conditioned form before a direct pronoun.
✅ Hauwa ta girme shi da shekara ɗaya.
Hauwa is one year older than him.
4. Copying an English progressive onto the stative comparison
❌ Audu yana girmi Bashir.
Incorrect ordinary frame for the established age relation.
✅ Audu ya fi Bashir girma.
Audu is older/bigger than Bashir.
5. Using girmama for physical enlargement
❌ Mai zanen ya girmama hoton a kwamfuta.
Incorrect—girmama means honor or respect, not resize.
✅ Mai zanen ya ƙara girman hoton a kwamfuta.
The designer enlarged the image on the computer.
Key Takeaways
- Grade 3a girma is intransitive: its subject grows, grows up, or becomes important.
- Strong verbal noun and masculine lexical noun girma share ordinary spelling; syntax, agreement, and linkers distinguish them.
- Use yi wa X girma for “be too big/much for X,” and fi ... girma for the productive comparative.
- Restricted girmi + noun and girme + pronoun/dative express an established age or size relation, normally with completive-looking morphology.
- Use ƙara girman, faɗaɗa, or a causative clause for enlargement. Girmama means honor/respect.
Related Topics
- Grade 3 Intransitives: OverviewB2 — Recognize canonical Grade 3 as an intransitive short-a class and distinguish locative complements, pre-dative forms, verbal nouns, and derived transitive relatives.
- Grade 3 and Change of StateB2 — Use Grade 3's strong change-of-state tendency without mistaking it for a universal meaning or a productive English-style derivation.
- Paired Grades and Valency AlternationC1 — Analyze transitive–intransitive and causative–result pairs by tracking participant roles, grade form, and the lexical limits of each alternation.
- Verbal Nouns and Grade MembershipA2 — Use Hausa verb grades to anticipate verbal-noun patterns while learning the strong, weak, and sometimes multiple forms each lexical verb actually permits.
- Comparatives with fiB1 — Build Hausa greater-than comparisons with the stative verb fi, an agreeing subject marker, a standard, and a scale expression.
- Indirect-Object Pronouns with ma-B1 — Use Hausa mini, maka, miki, masa, mata, mana, muku, and musu for recipients, beneficiaries, and other affected participants.