Learn Hardcore Hausa: Rigata fara ce, amma wando na baƙi ne. - My shirt is white, but my trousers are black.

rigata – my shirt / my dress (literally: shirt
- a possessive ending meaning my)
fara – white (feminine form of white, agreeing with riga)
ce – a copula, roughly “is”, used with feminine nouns/adjectives
amma – but
wando – trousers / pants (literally one pair of trousers)
na – my (possessive pronoun placed after wando)
baƙi – black (masculine form of black, agreeing with wando)
ne – a copula, roughly “is”, used with masculine (and plural) nouns/adjectives

So structurally it’s like:
My‑shirt white is, but trousers my black are. (Natural English: My shirt is white, but my trousers are black.)

Why is it rigata for “my shirt” but wando na for “my trousers”? Why not the same pattern in both?

Hausa has two common ways to express possession with nouns:

Attach a possessive ending directly to the noun
- riga (shirt/dress) → rigata (my shirt/dress)
  Here, -ta is a possessive ending that, in this form, means “my”.
Put a possessive pronoun after the noun as a separate word
- wando (trousers) + na (my) → wando na (my trousers)

Both patterns are common in real language. Often:

Some nouns are frequently heard with a suffix:
- gidana / gida na – my house
- rigata / riga ta / riga na – my shirt/dress
Others are very often heard with a separate pronoun:
- wando na – my trousers

You could also hear wandona (wando + -na → wandona) in some speech and writing. The exact choice (attached vs. separate) can vary with dialect, style, and individual preference. For now, just learn these two patterns as natural combinations:

rigata = my shirt
wando na = my trousers

What’s the difference between fara and other forms like fari, and why is fara used here?

Color adjectives like “white” change form to match the gender and number of the noun they describe.

For “white”:

fari – masculine singular (e.g. fari mutum – a white man)
fara – feminine singular (e.g. fara riga – a white shirt/dress)
farare – plural (e.g. fararen tufafi – white clothes)

In our sentence:

riga (shirt/dress) is grammatically feminine in Hausa.
So the adjective must take the feminine form: fara.

That’s why we get rigata fara ce, not rigata fari ce.

Why is it baƙi for “black” here? Does it also change form like fara/fari?

Yes, black also changes form with gender and number.

Typical forms:

baƙi – masculine singular (e.g. baƙin wando – black trousers)
baƙa – feminine singular (e.g. baƙar riga – a black shirt/dress)
baƙaƙe – plural (e.g. tufafin baƙaƙe – black clothes)

In the sentence:

wando (trousers) is treated as masculine in Hausa.
So the adjective must be masculine singular: baƙi.

Hence wando na baƙi ne, not wando na baƙa ne.

Why do the adjectives come after the nouns (e.g. rigata fara) instead of before, like in English “white shirt”?

In Hausa, adjectives usually follow the noun they modify:

riga fara – white shirt (literally shirt white)
wando baƙi – black trousers (literally trousers black)
mutum mai kyau – a good man (literally man good)

So rigata fara is just the normal order: noun + adjective.
The sentence Rigata fara ce is essentially:

rigata – my shirt
fara – (is) white
ce – is

= My shirt is white.

What are ce and ne doing at the end? Are they both just “is”?

ce and ne are often called copulas or predicative pronouns. In many simple sentences they function like “is/are”, but they also agree with the gender/number of what is being talked about.

A very useful beginner rule:

Use ce when the thing described is feminine singular.
Use ne when it is masculine or plural.

In our sentence:

rigata (my shirt) is feminine → Rigata fara ce.
wando na (my trousers) is masculine → Wando na baƙi ne.

So, yes, they roughly mean “is”, but you must choose the right one to match gender and number.

Could I say Rigata fara ne or Wando na baƙi ce, or would that be wrong?

In standard usage, those would sound wrong or at least non‑native in this context.

Rigata fara ne – ne mismatches: rigata is feminine, so we expect ce.
Wando na baƙi ce – ce mismatches: wando is masculine, so we expect ne.

So you should say:

Rigata fara ce. – My shirt is white.
Wando na baƙi ne. – My trousers are black.

Later you’ll learn some subtler patterns involving focus and emphasis, but at this level: match ce/ne to the gender/number of the thing described.

Can I leave out ce and ne and just say Rigata fara, amma wando na baƙi?

In very casual spoken Hausa, speakers sometimes drop ce/ne, especially when the meaning is obvious from context. So you might indeed hear:

Rigata fara, amma wando na baƙi.

However:

For clear, correct standard Hausa, especially in writing or careful speech, you should include ce/ne.
For a learner, it’s safer to always use them until you have a better feel for when they can be omitted.

So the textbook‑style form is:

Rigata fara ce, amma wando na baƙi ne.

Why is wando translated as “trousers” in English if the Hausa form looks singular?

In Hausa:

wando refers to one pair of trousers/pants.
The plural is wanduna (several pairs of trousers).

English treats trousers/pants as a plural‑only noun for a single item (one pair of trousers). Hausa does not: it uses a normal singular form (wando) for a single pair.

So:

Na sayi wando. – I bought (a pair of) trousers.
Na sayi wanduna. – I bought trousers (several pairs).

In our sentence, wando na is literally “my (one) trouser(s)”, but in natural English we say “my trousers.”

How do I pronounce baƙi and what’s special about the letters ɓ and ƙ?

Hausa has some consonants that don’t exist in English, written with special letters:

ɓ – an implosive b, written as b with a hook.
- Pronounce it a bit like “b”, but with a slight inward “gulp” of air.
ƙ – an ejective k, written as k with a hook.
- Pronounce a tense “k” with a little “pop,” without letting air flow out smoothly as in English.

The word baƙi (black, masculine) is roughly:

ɓàƙi – BAH-kee but with that special ɓ and a popped ƙ.

Getting these sounds right takes practice, but even if you approximate them with a normal b and k, people will usually still understand you from context.