Ta dawo kwanan nan.

to return

Breakdown of Ta dawo kwanan nan.

• ta: she/it
• kwanan nan: recently

Questions & Answers about Ta dawo kwanan nan.

What does ta mean here?

Here ta means she.

More specifically, it is the 3rd person singular feminine subject form used with a completed action. So in Ta dawo, the subject is already built into the sentence: she returned / she has come back.

A learner may also see ta in other roles in Hausa, but in this sentence, because it comes before the verb dawo, it is clearly the subject marker meaning she.

Why is there no separate word for past tense?

Hausa often does not use tense in the same way English does. Instead, it uses aspect, and the subject form helps show that.

In Ta dawo, the form ta tells you this is a completed action. That is why the sentence can be translated in English as:

• She returned recently
• She came back recently
• She has returned recently

The exact English tense depends on context, but the Hausa form is natural and complete on its own.

What does dawo mean exactly?