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Learn Hardcore Hausa: Tana da gogewa. - She has experience.

Hardcore Hausa
/Applying for and interviewing for a job
/Tana da gogewa.

Tana da gogewa.

Word

Tana da gogewa.

Meaning

She has experience.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Applying for and interviewing for a job

Breakdown of Tana da gogewa.

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Questions & Answers about Tana da gogewa.

What does each word in Tana da gogewa do?

A simple breakdown is:

tana = she in this sentence
da = with / have
gogewa = experience

So the whole sentence means She has experience. Very naturally, it can also mean She is experienced.

Why is da used here?

Hausa often expresses possession with da, which basically means with.

So Tana da gogewa is structurally closer to She is with experience than to English She has experience. But in normal English, the best translation is simply She has experience.

This is a very common Hausa pattern:

Yana da mota = He has a car
Ina da lokaci = I have time
Tana da gogewa = She has experience

Why is it tana and not ita?

Because tana is the subject form used in this kind of sentence, while ita is the independent pronoun.

A useful rough distinction is:

tana = used inside a normal clause like she has... / she is...
ita = used for emphasis, contrast, or standing alone, like she / her

So in a basic sentence like Tana da gogewa, tana is the right choice.

Why is it tana and not ta?

Because Hausa uses different subject pronoun forms in different grammatical environments.

For example:

ta often appears in completed-action sentences, such as Ta tafi = She went / She has gone
tana is used in patterns like tana da... and also in some present/progressive-type sentences

So for she has experience, the normal form is tana da gogewa, not ta da gogewa.

Does Tana da gogewa mean She has experience or She is experienced?

It can mean either, depending on how natural English would express it in context.

She has experience is the more direct translation
She is experienced is often the smoother English equivalent

So if you are translating into English, both can be right.

Why is there no word for a, an, or the before gogewa?

Because Hausa does not use articles the same way English does.

In this sentence, gogewa is a bare noun, and that is completely normal. English needs something like experience on its own too, because it is usually uncountable here:

She has experience ✔
She has an experience ✘ in this meaning

So the Hausa structure is quite natural.

Is this a present-tense sentence?

Yes. In normal English, you would usually translate it with the simple present: She has experience.

Even though tana can appear in other present/progressive-looking patterns, in tana da + noun, you should understand it as a present-state possession pattern, not as English is having.

So:

Tana da gogewa = She has experience
not usually She is having experience

Can tana also mean she is doing something?

Yes, and that is a very important thing to notice.

For example:

Tana aiki = She is working
Tana magana = She is speaking

But when tana is followed by da + noun, it often gives a possession or has meaning:

Tana da mota = She has a car
Tana da gogewa = She has experience

So the word that comes after tana helps you understand the structure.

How would I say this with other subjects, like I, he, or they?

You keep da gogewa and change the subject part:

Ina da gogewa = I have experience
Kana da gogewa = You have experience (masculine singular)
Kina da gogewa = You have experience (feminine singular)
Yana da gogewa = He has experience
Tana da gogewa = She has experience
Muna da gogewa = We have experience
Kuna da gogewa = You have experience (plural)
Suna da gogewa = They have experience

How do I make it negative?

You say:

Ba ta da gogewa.

This means She does not have experience or She is inexperienced.

This negative pattern is very common with da possession:

Ina da gogewa = I have experience
Ba ni da gogewa = I do not have experience
Tana da gogewa = She has experience
Ba ta da gogewa = She does not have experience

How do I turn it into a question?

A simple way is just to use question intonation:

Tana da gogewa? = Does she have experience?

You can also add Shin at the beginning to make the question more explicit:

Shin tana da gogewa?

Both are natural ways to ask it.

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