Gobe ba ni da aiki.

I

Breakdown of Gobe ba ni da aiki.

• gobe: tomorrow
• ba … ba: not
• da: with

Questions & Answers about Gobe ba ni da aiki.

What does gobe mean?

Gobe means tomorrow; it’s the time adverb specifying when.

Why is there no verb like to have in this sentence?

Hausa expresses possession with the structure da, not with a separate verb. Affirmative is ina da + noun (“I have …”), and negative is ba + pronoun + da + noun (“I don’t have …”).

What is the function of ba here?

Ba is the negative particle marking the absence of possession. It precedes the subject pronoun to signal “I do not …”.

What does ni represent?

Ni is the first-person singular pronoun I.

What role does da play in ba ni da aiki?

Here da is the possession marker linking I to the thing in question. In the negative construction ba … da, it completes “do not have”.

What is aiki?

Aiki means , , or . In this sentence it refers to “work” that tomorrow you won’t have.