Tafin takalmin yana da santsi; zan zame.

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Breakdown of Tafin takalmin yana da santsi; zan zame.

• da: to have
• ya: he/it
• tafin takalmi: the sole of a shoe

Questions & Answers about Tafin takalmin yana da santsi; zan zame.

What does tafin takalmin literally mean, and which noun is the main one?

It literally means the sole of the shoe.

The main noun is tafi = sole / underside / flat inner surface. Hausa possession works as:

[thing possessed] + [possessor]

So:

• tafin takalmi = sole of a shoe
• tafin takalmin = sole of the shoe

That means the phrase is built around tafi, not takalmi.

Why do both tafin and takalmin end in -n?

They are doing two different jobs.

• In tafin, the -n is a linking/construct ending because tafi is followed by its possessor.
• In takalmin, the -n marks definiteness, so it means the shoe rather than just a shoe.

So the two -n endings may look the same, but they are not the same grammatical marker.

A useful contrast:

• tafin takalmi = a shoe sole / the sole of a shoe
• tafin takalmin = the sole of the shoe

Why is it yana and not some other pronoun?