Regular Grade 4 verbs form a weak verbal noun by adding -wa: rufe → rufewa “closing,” yanke → yankewa “severing,” and bincike → bincikewa “investigating.” Hausa uses the full weak verbal noun after a continuative marker when no object follows. Before a local direct or indirect object, the matching B/C/D verb form appears instead—a pattern often taught as “dropping -wa.” The general verbal-noun guide contrasts this weak pattern with strong verbal nouns.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Tone and vowel length are discussed only in labelled technical terms; ordinary examples follow standard unaccented boko.
The basic Grade 4 pattern
The continuative marker carries person and aspect, while the verbal noun supplies the event.
| Grade 4 verb | Weak verbal noun | Continuative with no object |
|---|---|---|
| rufe “close” | rufewa | tana rufewa |
| yanke “sever” | yankewa | yana yankewa |
| bincike “investigate” | bincikewa | ana bincikewa |
| ɓace “become lost” | ɓacewa | yana ɓacewa |
Mai gadi yana rufewa yanzu; ka dawo bayan minti biyar.
The guard is closing up now; come back in five minutes.
Igiyar tana da kauri, amma Musa yana yankewa a hankali.
The rope is thick, but Musa is cutting through it slowly. (object understood)
Har yanzu ana bincikewa, don haka ba a fitar da rahoto ba.
The investigation is still under way, so no report has been issued.
Saƙon yana ɓacewa idan haɗin intanet ya yi rauni.
The message keeps disappearing when the internet connection becomes weak.
In a technical formation rule (academic/pedagogical), -wa attaches to the verb base; if the preceding final syllable has high tone, that tone becomes falling, except after -u verbs. Grade 4 itself has H-L-(H), so a two-syllable form like rufe already ends low. Learners should use verified audio for the resulting verbal noun rather than infer tone from ordinary boko.
Drop -wa before a direct noun object
When a direct noun object immediately follows, the full weak -wa form cannot occur; the matching C-form appears instead. Do not keep rufewa and do not add a genitive linker. The correct continuative sequence is tana rufe ƙofa.
Amina tana rufe ƙofar shago da ƙarfe shida kullum.
Amina closes the shop door at six every day.
Ma’aikaci yana yanke igiyar da ta makale a injin.
A worker is cutting through the rope that is caught in the machine.
Kwamitin yana bincike zargin da aka gabatar masa.
The committee is investigating the allegation submitted to it.
Compare no-object tana rufewa with object-bearing tana rufe ƙofa. English uses closing in both; Hausa exposes the object relation by the presence or absence of -wa.
This weak strategy differs from a strong verbal noun. Grade 2 saye keeps its lexical form and takes a linker in yana sayen littafi. Grade 4 does not form ungrammatical rufewan ƙofa or rufewar ƙofa as the ordinary continuative predicate “is closing a door.”
Drop -wa before a direct pronoun too
A local direct-object pronoun likewise excludes the full -wa form. The matching B-form appears, and the pronoun remains a separate word.
Tagar tana kaɗawa, Amina kuma tana ƙoƙarin rufe ta yanzu.
The window is banging, and Amina is trying to close it now.
Jami’an suna bincike su ɗaya bayan ɗaya.
The officers are searching them one by one.
Kamfanin yana saye su a hankali har ya mallaki duka.
The company is buying them up gradually until it owns all of them. (Grade 4 saye)
Do not attach possessive-type endings as one does with a strong verbal noun: Grade 2 has yana sayensa “he is buying it,” but regular Grade 4 has yana rufe shi “he is closing it.” Similar English translations do not create the same Hausa structure.
Indirect objects also remove -wa
An immediate indirect object likewise excludes the full -wa form. The verb appears in its D-environment, and the theme follows the indirect object.
Suna rufe masa idanu kafin su kawo kek ɗin.
They are covering his eyes before bringing the cake.
Ina rufe mata akwatin domin kada kayan su zube.
I am closing the box for her so that its contents do not spill.
The adjacency is verb + indirect object + theme: rufe + mata + akwatin. It is not ungrammatical rufewa mata akwatin, and the later akwatin does not license a linker or reach across mata to choose C.
Finite form and verbal-noun stem can look alike
The use of an ordinary object-conditioned form after the continuative marker creates boko strings identical to finite forms. Traditional descriptions call this -wa deletion.
| Construction | Example | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| finite completive | Ta rufe ƙofar. | finite Grade 4 C-form |
| continuative | Tana rufe ƙofar. | continuative marker + C-form (traditional -wa deletion) |
| finite + direct pronoun | Ta rufe ta. | finite Grade 4 B-form |
| continuative + direct pronoun | Tana rufe ta. | continuative marker + B-form (traditional -wa deletion) |
Jiya ta rufe ofishin da wuri, amma kullum tana rufe shi da ƙarfe biyar.
Yesterday she closed the office early, but she normally closes it at five.
Hausa does not have an invariant infinitive corresponding to English to close/closing. The subject–TAM construction distinguishes completed from ongoing or habitual readings, while the object environment determines whether the full weak verbal noun or an ordinary B/C/D form appears.
Verbal nouns can function as nouns
The full -wa form can name an activity, serve as a noun-phrase head, or be the object of another verb. In formal and neutral prose, this allows the event itself to be discussed.
Rufewa da wuri ta rage kuɗin wutar lantarki.
Closing early reduced the electricity bill.
Ba na son rufewa kafin kowa ya fita.
I do not like closing up before everyone has left.
In these examples the activity is presented without a local direct object immediately after rufewa. If the speaker supplies a local object in the continuative-style weak construction, -wa drops: rufewa but rufe shago.
The same lexeme across four finite environments
Verbal-noun formation does not replace the finite A/B/C/D paradigm. With rufe: ta rufe (A, no following object), ta rufe ƙofar (C, noun), ta rufe ta (B, direct pronoun), and ta rufe masa ƙofar (D, indirect object). A/B/D normally have long final -e; C normally has short -e. Boko writes them alike.
Ta rufe masa ƙofar domin kada yara su shiga ɗakin.
She closed the door for him so that the children would not enter the room. (finite D-frame)
Derived versus basic meaning
Grade 1 yanka “cut” has weak yankawa; related Grade 4 yanke “sever, cut through” has yankewa. Each grade supplies its own verbal noun and conventional meaning.
Yana yankawa a kicin saboda zai dafa miya.
He is doing some cutting in the kitchen because he is going to cook stew. (Grade 1 yankawa)
Yana yankewa yanzu domin ya raba igiyar gida biyu.
He is cutting through it now in order to divide the rope in two. (Grade 4 yankewa)
One cannot keep the lower-grade verbal noun while intending the derived Grade 4 meaning. Nor does -wa create Grade 4: the grade is already present in yanke; -wa makes its weak verbal noun.
Practice
Supply the correct verbal-noun shape: (1) tana _ from rufe with no object → rufewa; (2) tana _ ƙofa → rufe; (3) tana _ ta → rufe; (4) tana _ mata akwatin → rufe; (5) ana _ from bincike with no object → bincikewa; (6) ana _ lamarin → bincike.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting -wa when no object follows.
❌ Mai gadi yana rufe yanzu.
Incorrect in the intended no-object continuative; regular Grade 4 requires the full weak verbal noun.
✅ Mai gadi yana rufewa yanzu.
The guard is closing up now.
2. Keeping -wa before a noun object.
❌ Tana rufewa ƙofar.
Incorrect weak-verbal-noun construction—drop -wa before the direct object.
✅ Tana rufe ƙofar saboda iska.
She is closing the door because of the wind.
3. Adding a strong-noun linker.
❌ Tana rufewar ƙofa.
Incorrect as the ordinary continuative predicate ‘she is closing a door’; Grade 4 uses the weak-object pattern.
✅ Tana rufe ƙofa yanzu.
She is closing a door now.
4. Joining a possessive-type object ending.
❌ Tana rufenta.
Incorrect for the regular Grade 4 continuative with feminine direct object.
✅ Tana rufe ta da makulli.
She is locking it.
5. Treating -wa as a TAM ending.
❌ Rufewa tana nuna lokaci mai ci gaba ko da babu alamar ci gaba.
Incorrect claim—rufewa is a verbal noun; the surrounding construction supplies TAM.
✅ Rufewa da wuri ta zama dole yau.
Closing early has become necessary today. (verbal noun used as a clause subject)
Key Takeaways
- Regular Grade 4 forms weak verbal nouns with -wa: rufe → rufewa.
- The full -wa form appears when no local object follows.
- Before noun, direct-pronoun, and indirect objects, a matching C-, B-, or D-form replaces the full -wa form (traditionally described as -wa deletion).
- Grade 4 keeps direct pronouns separate: tana rufe ta, not a joined strong-verbal-noun form.
- An object-conditioned form can occur in both finite and continuative constructions; the subject–TAM construction distinguishes the readings.
- Grade and verbal-noun formation are separate: yanke supplies Grade 4 meaning, and -wa nominalizes it.
Related Topics
- Grade 4: Core Form PatternB1 — Recognize Grade 4's e-final form, its hidden A/B/C/D contrasts, and its frequent totality or result meaning.
- 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.
- Continuative with -wa Verbal NounsA2 — Form the Hausa continuative with weak -wa verbal nouns and remove -wa when a direct object follows.
- Dropping -wa before a Direct ObjectA2 — Know when a continuative -wa verbal noun loses -wa before a local direct object and when -wa returns because no object follows it.
- Continuative with Non--wa Verbal NounsA2 — Build the Hausa continuative with strong verbal nouns such as gani, ci, sha, saye, and tambaya, including their noun- and pronoun-object patterns.
- Grade 2 Verbal NounsB1 — Learn Grade 2 strong verbal nouns as lexical forms and use their genitive-style objects correctly in continuative and nominal constructions.