Immediately before a core direct-object pronoun, a Grade 2 verb uses its B-form, ending in long -e: saye shi “buy it/him,” neme ta “look for her/it,” ɗauke su “take them.” The core direct-object paradigm gives the person distinctions. A demonstrative such as wannan, an independent pronoun such as ita, and an indirect object such as masa do not belong to the B-trigger set.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko writes the verb and pronoun separately and omits tone and vowel length. Technical comments below are explicitly (academic/pedagogical).
The B-form and its pronoun set
The direct-object series is ni, ka, ki, shi, ta, mu, ku, su. Grade 2 replaces the A-form’s long -a with long -e before every member.
| Object | Pronoun | With nema “look for” |
|---|---|---|
| me | ni | neme ni |
| you (one male) | ka | neme ka |
| you (one female) | ki | neme ki |
| him / masculine it | shi | neme shi |
| her / feminine it | ta | neme ta |
| us | mu | neme mu |
| you all | ku | neme ku |
| them | su | neme su |
Mai shagon ya neme ni bayan na bar saƙo.
The shopkeeper looked for me after I left a message.
Zan ɗauke ka daga tashar da ƙarfe shida.
I will pick you up from the station at six. (one male addressee)
Zan ɗauke ki daga tashar da ƙarfe shida.
I will pick you up from the station at six. (one female addressee)
Mun saye su ne saboda sun fi ɗorewa.
We bought them because they were more durable.
The second-person singular gender distinction is obligatory. Third-person shi/ta follows the grammatical gender of a singular referent, including an inanimate noun.
B has a spoken pattern as well as written -e
The B-form’s final -e is phonologically long. A two-syllable form such as saye or neme has the Grade 2 object melody L-H; a three-syllable form such as tambaye has L-L-H. The following direct-object pronoun has its low-tone realization after this high-final Grade 2 host.
Pronunciation display (academic/pedagogical): sàyē shì “buy it/him.” A grave accent marks low tone, a macron marks vowel length, and unaccented vowels have high tone in this narrow display. In ordinary boko write saye shi.
Ta saye ta bayan ta gwada girman.
She bought it after trying the size. (feminine referent)
Ɗaliban sun tambaye shi bayan lacca.
The students asked him after the lecture.
The pronoun’s low tone is not optional emphasis. Hausa direct-object pronouns have host-selected tonal realizations; object focus instead uses syntax, as in Shi ne suka tambaya “He is the one they asked.”
Keep B separate from C and A
| Right-hand environment | Grade 2 form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| nothing / object gap | A -a | Na saya. |
| core direct-object pronoun | B -e | Na saye shi. |
| noun-like direct object | C -i | Na sayi littafi. |
| indirect object | D, lexically selected | Na saya masa littafi. |
Na ɗauka, amma na bar ɗayan a gida.
I took one, but I left the other at home. (A)
Na ɗauki jakar da ke kusa da ƙofa.
I took the bag near the door. (C)
Na ɗauke ta domin kada ta jiƙe.
I took it so that it would not get wet. (B)
Na saya wa Hauwa ita bayan ta duba ingancinta.
I bought it for Hauwa after she checked its quality. (D before noun beneficiary)
The Grade 2 pattern supplies possible morphology, but individual verbs still determine which recipient or beneficiary meanings they license. Learning an ending never replaces learning valency.
Independent and indirect pronouns do not trigger B
English her can correspond to direct ta, independent ita, or beneficiary mata. Hausa keeps these functions separate.
Na neme ta a ofis.
I looked for her at the office. (direct object; B-form)
Ita ce na nema a ofis.
She is the one I looked for at the office. (focused independent pronoun; A-form after the gap)
Na saya mata littafi.
I bought her a book. (indirect object; D-form)
The visible overlap of English glosses is misleading. In the focus clause, independent ita is fronted and the verb has no following object. In the beneficiary clause, mata is an indirect object. Only postverbal direct ta selects neme/saye/ɗauke.
A direct pronoun after an indirect object is not immediate
Hausa places the recipient or beneficiary next to the verb and the theme after it. If that later theme is a pronoun, it does not reach across the indirect object to trigger B.
Na saya wa Amina ita domin aikinta.
I bought it for Amina for her work.
The structure is verb + indirect object + direct object. Immediate adjacency matters. Compare saye ta with direct ta, but saya mata ita with immediate beneficiary mata and later theme ita.
TAM changes without changing B
Kabiru ya saye shi jiya.
Kabiru bought it yesterday.
Kabiru zai saye shi gobe.
Kabiru will buy it tomorrow.
Kabiru bai saye shi ba.
Kabiru did not buy it.
Ina so Kabiru ya saye shi yanzu.
I want Kabiru to buy it now.
Completive, future, negative completive, and subjunctive morphology occurs to the left. The direct pronoun remains to the right, so B stays constant.
Continuative and derivation require another analysis
The continuative uses a verbal noun. Yana saye “he is buying” has strong verbal noun saye, while yana sayen kaya uses the same verbal noun plus linker -n. Its spelling resembles finite B, but no pronoun selects it.
Derived Grade 4 saye “buy up” is also a distinct lexical verb. Its similarity to Grade 2 B-form saye shi is not identity.
Kamfanin ya saye ƙananan shagunan da suka rage.
The company bought up the remaining small shops. (derived Grade 4 saye)
Na saye su ɗaya bayan ɗaya.
I bought them one by one. (Grade 2 B-form)
Grade membership, construction, and complement structure disambiguate the two. There is no single English translation that exposes every contrast.
Practice
Replace each noun object with a core pronoun: sayi littafi → saye shi; sayi mota → saye ta; ɗauki yara → ɗauke su; tambayi Amina → tambaye ta. Then contrast focused Amina ce suka tambaya with neutral Sun tambaye ta. Finally classify mata in Sun saya mata littafi as indirect, so the verb is D-form saya, not B saye.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping C-form -i before a pronoun.
❌ Mun sayi su jiya.
Incorrect standard Grade 2 form before a direct-object pronoun.
✅ Mun saye su jiya.
We bought them yesterday.
2. Using B before a demonstrative.
❌ Na saye wannan.
Incorrect—wannan is noun-like for grade selection.
✅ Na sayi wannan.
I bought this one.
3. Using an independent form as a neutral object.
❌ Mun neme ita ko’ina.
Incorrect neutral object construction—ita is independent.
✅ Mun neme ta ko’ina.
We looked everywhere for her.
4. Treating an indirect pronoun as a B trigger.
❌ Na saye miki littafi.
Incorrect—miki is a beneficiary and selects the D-frame.
✅ Na saya miki littafi.
I bought you a book. (one female addressee)
5. Choosing -e because the clause is future.
❌ Za mu saye sabuwar kujera.
Incorrect in the intended noun-object frame—future does not select B.
✅ Za mu sayi sabuwar kujera.
We will buy a new chair.
Key Takeaways
- Grade 2 B has long -e and appears immediately before ni, ka, ki, shi, ta, mu, ku, su.
- The B-form ends in high tone and selects the low-tone realization of the object pronoun in speech.
- Demonstratives, independent pronouns, and indirect-object forms do not trigger B.
- A later direct-object pronoun cannot trigger B across an intervening beneficiary.
- Similar-looking verbal nouns and derived verbs must be analyzed by construction and lexical grade.
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
- Grade 2 Variable-Vowel Verbs: OverviewB1 — Use the Grade 2 A, B, and C forms selected by no following object, a direct-object pronoun, or a noun-like direct object.
- Noun Objects versus Direct-Object PronounsA2 — Choose the correct Hausa verb form by distinguishing noun-like direct objects from the special postverbal direct-object pronoun series.
- Direct-Object Pronouns: Core ParadigmA2 — Learn Hausa ni, ka, ki, shi, ta, mu, ku, and su as direct objects and keep them distinct from independent, subject–TAM, indirect-object, and possessive forms.
- Direct Objects after Grade 2 VerbsA2 — Use the Grade 2 ending -e before Hausa direct-object pronouns, contrasting it with -i before noun objects and -a when no object follows.
- Object Pronoun Tone and Host InteractionA2 — Understand why the same written Hausa object pronoun has high- and low-tone realizations selected by its preceding host.