Grade 4 verbs end in e and have a characteristic high–low melody. They include transitive verbs such as rufe “close,” yanke “sever,” and bincike “investigate,” as well as intransitive verbs such as ɓace “become completely lost.” Many Grade 4 forms present an action as reaching an endpoint, affecting a whole object, or moving away from a starting point. That is an important tendency, but it is not a tense and not a definition that predicts every verb. The grade foundations explain the broader classification.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa) in ordinary boko. Tone and vowel length appear only in the technical displays labelled below.
The core sound pattern
Grade 4 is identified jointly by its final vowel, tone melody, object-conditioned form, and lexical behavior. Its regular forms can be summarized as follows.
| Environment | Technical pattern (academic) | Ordinary boko with rufe |
|---|---|---|
| A: no following object | H-L-(H), long -e | Ta rufe. |
| B: direct-object pronoun | H-L-(H), long -e | Ta rufe ta. |
| C: noun-like direct object | H-L-(L), normally short -e | Ta rufe ƙofar. |
| D: indirect object | H-L-(H), long -e | Ta rufe masa idanu. |
In a pronunciation pattern (academic/pedagogical), a regular disyllabic A-, B-, or D-form has H-L tone and long final -e; its C-form has short final -e. A longer A/B/D form follows H-L-H, whereas a longer C-form ends H-L-L. Ordinary spelling writes rufe in every row, so learners must acquire the spoken contrast from the construction and reliable audio.
Da zarar aka gama shara, Amina ta rufe.
As soon as the sweeping was finished, Amina closed up. (A-form; no direct object follows)
Amina ta rufe ƙofar domin kada ƙura ta shiga.
Amina closed the door so that dust would not get in. (C-form before a noun object)
Tagar tana kaɗawa, sai Amina ta rufe ta.
The window was banging, so Amina closed it. (B-form before a direct-object pronoun)
Suka rufe masa idanu kafin su kawo kyautar.
They covered his eyes before bringing the present. (D-form before an indirect object)
Grade 4 can be transitive or intransitive
Unlike Grade 2, which is transitive, and core Grade 3, which is intransitive, Grade 4 does not impose one valency. Rufe takes an object, but ɓace can describe the subject itself reaching a state of complete disappearance or loss.
Ma’aikatan sun rufe shagon da ƙarfe shida.
The employees closed the shop at six. (transitive Grade 4)
Takardar ta ɓace gaba ɗaya; ba mu sake ganinta ba.
The document disappeared completely; we never saw it again. (intransitive Grade 4)
The shared grade contributes a sound-and-form pattern plus recurring semantic associations. It does not erase each verb’s lexical frame. A learner must still know whether a particular verb takes a direct object, a source phrase, or no object at all.
A derived form may add an endpoint
Grade 4 often contrasts with a related form in another grade. Grade 1 yanka means “cut”; Grade 4 yanke commonly means “cut through, sever” and also occurs in established expressions such as yanke shawara “make a decision.” Grade 2 saya means “buy,” while Grade 4 saye can mean “buy up, buy completely.”
Ta yanka albasa ta zuba ta a miya.
She cut up an onion and put it in the stew. (basic Grade 1 yanka)
Ma’aikacin ya yanke igiyar da wuƙa mai kaifi.
The worker severed the rope with a sharp knife. (related Grade 4 yanke)
Sun sayi buhu biyu a kasuwa.
They bought two sacks at the market. (Grade 2 saya before a noun object)
Kamfanin ya saye kayan da suka rage duka.
The company bought up all the goods that remained. (Grade 4 saye)
The endpoint reading is clearest in contrasts like these, but one cannot attach -e to any Hausa verb and guarantee a natural word. Some Grade 4 forms are old and lexicalized; rufe is the ordinary verb “close,” not merely a transparent, optional derivative that speakers calculate each time.
Grade is not TAM
The e ending does not mean “past,” “perfect,” or “finished tense.” Subject–TAM material to the left locates the event, while Grade 4 contributes the lexical verb’s form and event shape.
Maryam ta rufe ofishin jiya.
Maryam closed the office yesterday. (completive TAM)
Maryam za ta rufe ofishin gobe.
Maryam will close the office tomorrow. (future TAM, same Grade 4 C-form)
Maryam tana rufe ofishin da ƙarfe biyar kullum.
Maryam closes the office at five every day. (continuative/habitual context)
Maryam ba ta rufe ofishin ba.
Maryam did not close the office. (negative completive, same Grade 4 C-form)
The continuative uses the weak-verbal-noun paradigm. For regular Grade 4, the full weak verbal noun is built with -wa: rufewa when no object follows. Traditional learner descriptions say that -wa “drops” before a local object; in a stricter analysis, the ordinary object-conditioned verb form appears instead. Either way, tana rufe ofishin contains the same C-form heard before a noun object, while tana rufewa has the full no-object verbal noun.
Object environment, not English translation, selects the form
English close it can leave “it” unspoken, express it as a noun, or use a pronoun. Hausa responds to what actually follows the verb.
| Hausa frame | What immediately follows | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Na rufe. | nothing | A-form, even if the object is understood |
| Na rufe wannan. | noun-like demonstrative | C-form |
| Na rufe shi. | core direct-object pronoun | B-form |
| Na rufe wa yaron akwatin. | indirect object introduced by wa | D-form |
Wannan ne akwatin da na rufe.
This is the box that I closed. (the object is fronted, so no object follows rufe)
The A/B/C/D labels describe syntactic environments, not four unrelated dictionary words. In boko, the Grade 4 forms coincide visually. In speech, A, B, and D normally retain the long final vowel, while C normally has the short vowel and its corresponding tone melody.
Practice
Classify the form of rufe: (1) Mun rufe = A, nothing follows; (2) Mun rufe ƙofar = C, noun object; (3) Mun rufe ta = B, core direct-object pronoun; (4) Mun rufe wa yaran akwatin = D, an indirect object is adjacent. Then identify what changes in za mu rufe ƙofar: the future marker changes, but the noun-object C-environment and Grade 4 membership remain.
Common Mistakes
1. Treating written rufe as phonetically invariant.
❌ Ta rufe; ta rufe ƙofar; ta rufe ta.
Incorrect delivery if every final -e is given exactly the same length and melody.
✅ Ta rufe ƙofar, sannan ta rufe ta da makulli.
She closed the door, then locked it — learn the spoken C/B contrast even though boko repeats rufe.
2. Choosing -e because the event is past.
❌ Ta yanke igiyar jiya domin -e yana nufin lokacin da ya wuce.
Incorrect explanation — -e marks Grade 4, not past time.
✅ Za ta yanke igiyar gobe idan an kawo wuƙa.
She will sever the rope tomorrow if a knife is brought.
3. Assuming every Grade 4 verb is transitive.
❌ Takardar ta ɓace ta.
Incorrect — ɓace is intransitive in the intended meaning ‘become completely lost.’
✅ Takardar ta ɓace a lokacin ƙaura.
The document went missing during the move.
4. Manufacturing a Grade 4 form from any English idea of completion.
❌ Ana iya sa -e ga kowane fi’ili domin a nuna an gama.
Incorrect claim — Grade 4 membership is lexical, not a freely attachable completion suffix.
✅ Ka koyi yanka da yanke tare da bambancin ma’anarsu.
Learn yanka and yanke together with their difference in meaning.
Key Takeaways
- Grade 4 combines final e with an H-L-(H) melody and characteristic object-conditioned length.
- A, B, and D normally have long final -e; C normally has short final -e and a different final tone pattern.
- Grade 4 includes both transitive and intransitive verbs.
- Totality, endpoint, and separation are common meanings, not a universal formula.
- Grade 4 is lexical morphology, not past or completive TAM.
- Learn every verb with its attested frames, derived relatives, and verbal noun.
Related Topics
- What a Hausa Verb Grade Is—and Is NotA2 — Understand Hausa verb grades as lexical morphophonological patterns shaped by meaning, valency, and the following object environment—not as tense conjugations.
- The Three Object EnvironmentsA2 — Choose Hausa verb forms by whether no object, a noun direct object, or a direct-object pronoun immediately follows, while treating indirect objects separately.
- Tone and Vowel Length in Verb MorphologyA2 — Hear the tone and final-vowel length patterns that distinguish Hausa verb grades and object environments even when ordinary boko hides them.
- Grade 1: Core Form PatternB1 — Recognize Grade 1 Hausa verbs by their -a termination, H-L-(H) melody, and final-vowel shortening before noun objects.
- 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 4 Semantics and Completive ForceB1 — Interpret Grade 4's endpoint, totality, and separation tendencies without confusing lexical meaning with completive TAM.