Every Grade 7 verb is intransitive. Its subject is the entity that becomes affected, achieves a result, displays a capacity, gathers, parts, meets, or otherwise participates in the lexical event. This syntactic fact is more reliable than any one English translation: soyu may translate with a passive, sayu with an active English verb, and gamu da with a reciprocal-looking verb, yet none takes a direct object in Hausa.
All unlabelled examples are (neutral Nigerian Standard Hausa). Ordinary boko does not mark tone or vowel length. Technically, Grade 7 has low…high tone and short final -u. The Grade 7 overview develops the affected-subject semantics; this page concentrates on syntax.
The subject is inside the result
Compare the transitive base with its Grade 7 relative. In the first clause, an actor deliberately affects an object. In the second, the former object becomes the grammatical subject and the clause profiles its result.
Mai gyara ya gyara injin ɗin cikin awa ɗaya.
The mechanic repaired the engine within an hour. (transitive gyara)
Injin ɗin ya gyaru bayan an canja wata igiya.
The engine was repaired/returned to working order after a wire was replaced. (Grade 7 gyaru)
Mai dafa abinci ya soya kifin sosai.
The cook fried the fish thoroughly. (transitive soya)
Kifin ya soyu sosai amma bai ƙone ba.
The fish fried very well but did not burn. (Grade 7 soyu)
The Grade 7 clause does not merely hide the actor. It selects a lexical perspective in which injin ɗin or kifin is the sole core argument. Whether a mechanic or cook existed may be obvious in the real world, but Grade 7 does not encode that participant as its core subject or object. Some specialist analyses permit a restricted, noncore agent/source phrase with ga for patient-oriented members; that does not turn Grade 7 into an ordinary transitive clause.
There are no Grade 7 B- and C-forms
Traditional grade descriptions distinguish an A-form with no following object, a B-form before a direct-object pronoun, and a C-form before a noun direct object. Grade 7 has no B- or C-form. Putting a noun or direct pronoun after it does not create another final-vowel variant; it makes the intended clause ungrammatical or forces a different analysis. A fuller A/B/C/D paradigm may show a special pre-dative D-form for some Grade 7 verbs, but an indirect-object applicative is not a direct object and does not supply the missing B- or C-form.
| Intended meaning | Correct Hausa | Structure |
|---|---|---|
| The workers assembled. | Ma’aikatan sun taru. | Grade 7, intransitive |
| The manager gathered the workers. | Shugaban ya tara ma’aikatan. | transitive tara + noun object |
| The manager gathered them. | Shugaban ya tara su. | transitive tara + direct pronoun |
| We collected the medical funds for him. | Mun tara masa kuɗin magani. | transitive tara + indirect object + noun object |
Baƙin sun taru a zauren tun ƙarfe takwas.
The guests assembled in the hall from eight o’clock.
Kwamitin ya tara su domin ya ji ra’ayinsu.
The committee gathered them in order to hear their views. (transitive base, not Grade 7)
Mun tara masa kuɗin magani cikin kwana uku.
We collected the medical funds for him within three days. (indirect-object frame of transitive tara)
This four-environment comparison satisfies an important diagnostic for the intended tara/rabu meanings: a direct object, or the particular beneficiary-plus-theme meaning “collect funds for him,” selects transitive tara. It is not a claim that every possible indirect-object construction forces a different grade; specialized Grade 7 D-forms are restricted and must be learned with the verb.
A prepositional complement is not a direct object
Intransitivity does not mean “nothing may follow the verb.” Some Grade 7 lexemes select a preposition. Gamu da means “meet/encounter,” and rabu da means “part from, separate from, lose possession of.” The phrase introduced by da is a prepositional complement.
Na gamu da Aisha a harabar jami’a.
I met Aisha on the university campus.
Mun gamu da su a hanya amma ba mu daɗe ba.
We met them on the road, but we did not stay long.
Kamfanin ya rabu da tsohon tsarinsa bayan shekaru da yawa.
The company abandoned/parted with its old system after many years.
Ma’auratan sun rabu da juna cikin lumana.
The married couple separated from each other peacefully.
English meet someone has a direct object, which tempts learners to omit da. Hausa packages this lexical item differently. Conversely, a place phrase such as a hanya and a time phrase such as bayan shekaru da yawa are adjuncts; they do not affect the verb’s intransitivity.
Grade 7 differs from the impersonal construction
When Hausa suppresses an agent but retains a transitive event, it can use the impersonal subject marker an with the transitive verb. Grade 7 instead uses an ordinary subject–TAM marker agreeing with the affected entity.
| Clause | Grammatical organization | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Mai gyara ya gyara motar. | agent subject + transitive verb + object | what the mechanic did |
| An gyara motar. | impersonal subject + transitive verb + object | a repair event; agent omitted |
| Motar ta gyaru. | affected subject + Grade 7 intransitive | the car’s successful change/result |
An gyara kwamfutar a ofishin fasaha.
The computer was repaired in the technical office. (impersonal transitive construction)
Kwamfutar ta gyaru bayan an sake kunna ta.
The computer started working properly after it was restarted. (Grade 7 result)
English may translate both with a passive. That overlap does not make the Hausa structures interchangeable in every context. Patient-oriented Grade 7 is itself called a lexical passive in some analyses, but its derivation is restricted. If the important assertion is simply that an unspecified person carried out the repair, productive impersonal an gyara is direct. If the important assertion is that the machine came into working order, ta gyaru is apt.
Agreement follows the Grade 7 subject
Because the affected participant is the grammatical subject, its gender and number determine the subject–TAM marker. Masculine nama takes ya, feminine mota takes ta, and plural kaya takes sun in the completive.
Naman ya soyu sosai.
The meat fried very well. (masculine singular subject)
Motar ta gyaru jiya.
The car was repaired yesterday. (feminine singular subject)
Kayan sun sayu kafin kasuwa ta rufe.
The goods sold before the market closed. (plural subject)
This agreement is one reason not to parse Grade 7 as an English-style passive with an absent grammatical subject. The Hausa subject is overt and controls the clause.
Not every Grade 7 subject is a passive patient
Lexicalized Grade 7 verbs reveal the broader pattern. The subject of faru “happen” is an occurrence; the plural subject of taru “assemble” consists of participants; the subject of yiwu “be possible” is a proposal or situation. There need not be an external agent at all.
Ba mu san abin da ya faru a ofishin ba.
We do not know what happened in the office.
Duk wakilan sun taru kafin a fara zaman.
All the representatives assembled before the session began.
Wannan shirin ba zai yiwu ba sai an ƙara kuɗi.
This plan will not be possible unless more money is added.
An English passive analysis cannot explain these ordinary meanings. Intransitivity is the shared grammatical property; affectedness, result, participation, and capacity form a semantic family rather than one rigid definition.
Verbal nouns preserve the intransitive frame
Grade 7 normally adds weak -wa, visibly yielding -uwa: taruwa, rabuwa, gyaruwa, soyuwa. A continuative construction does not license a new direct object.
Ma’aikatan suna taruwa a nan kowace Litinin.
The employees gather here every Monday.
Matsalar tana gyaruwa idan an sabunta manhajar.
The problem can be fixed/gets resolved when the software is updated.
To express “the supervisor is gathering the employees,” retain transitive tara in the appropriate verbal-noun construction rather than attaching ma’aikatan as an object of taruwa.
Practice
For each clause, underline the subject and decide whether any following phrase is a direct object, a prepositional complement, or an adjunct: Ma’aikatan sun taru a zaure; Na gamu da Aisha a hanya; Ma’auratan sun rabu da juna jiya; Kayan sun sayu da sauri. Then convert actor-centered clauses to result-centered Grade 7 where an established member exists: Mai gyara ya gyara motar → Motar ta gyaru and Mai abinci ya soya naman → Naman ya soyu.
Common Mistakes
1. Adding a noun direct object to Grade 7.
❌ Shugaban ya taru ma’aikatan.
Incorrect—taru cannot mean ‘gather the employees.’
✅ Shugaban ya tara ma’aikatan.
The manager gathered the employees.
2. Adding a direct-object pronoun to Grade 7.
❌ Shugaban ya taru su.
Incorrect—Grade 7 has no direct-pronoun form.
✅ Shugaban ya tara su.
The manager gathered them.
3. Omitting a lexically required preposition.
❌ Na gamu Aisha a ofis.
Incorrect—gamu selects da before the person encountered.
✅ Na gamu da Aisha a ofis.
I met Aisha at the office.
4. Treating the affected subject as an object for agreement.
❌ Motar ya gyaru jiya.
Incorrect agreement—mota is feminine and is the subject.
✅ Motar ta gyaru jiya.
The car was repaired yesterday.
5. Adding an English-style agentive da by-phrase.
❌ Kifin ya soyu da mai dafa abinci.
Incorrect for ‘the fish was fried by the cook’; da does not introduce the agent here.
✅ Mai dafa abinci ya soya kifin.
The cook fried the fish.
Key Takeaways
- Grade 7 is categorically intransitive and has no noun-object or direct-pronoun forms; restricted pre-dative/applicative morphology is a separate issue.
- The affected or participating entity is the grammatical subject and controls agreement.
- A following da phrase with gamu or rabu is a selected prepositional complement, not a direct object.
- Actor-centered transitive, impersonal transitive, and Grade 7 result clauses organize the same real-world scene differently.
- The four-frame test often requires a related transitive grade member such as tara, not an invented object form of taru.
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Start learning Hausa →Related Topics
- Grade 7 Resultative/Totality: OverviewB2 — Understand Grade 7 as an intransitive affected-subject pattern that often conveys a thorough result or capacity without being a passive voice or TAM marker.
- Grade 7 Result and CompletionB2 — Separate Grade 7's lexical result, thoroughness, and capacity from actual event completion, completive TAM, and Grade 4 totality.
- Grade 7 Verbal NounsB2 — Form and use the regular -uwa verbal nouns of Grade 7 while keeping finite -u forms, noun linkers, and da-complements distinct.
- Grade 7 versus Passive InterpretationB2 — Distinguish genuine patient-oriented Grade 7 passives from resultative, intensive, lexical, and impersonal constructions by using syntactic and discourse diagnostics.
- 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.
- 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.