Shekara da ta gabata ban tafi gari ba.

Last year I did not go to town.

Breakdown of Shekara da ta gabata ban tafi gari ba.

• ba … ba: not
• tafi: to go
• gari: the town
• shekara: the year
• da ta gabata: last

Questions & Answers about Shekara da ta gabata ban tafi gari ba.

What is the basic word‑for‑word breakdown of Shekara da ta gabata ban tafi gari ba?

One common way to gloss it is:

• Shekara – year
• da – that / which (relative linker)
• ta – she / it (3rd person feminine subject pronoun)
• gabata – passed / went by
• ban – ba
  • ni (“not I”) = I (negated)
• tafi – went / go (perfective)
• gari – town
• ba – negative particle (sentence‑final)

So the structure is roughly:
“Year that it passed, I‑not went town not.” → “Last year I didn’t go to town.”

What exactly does Shekara da ta gabata mean, and why is it used for “last year”?

Shekara da ta gabata literally means “the year that passed” or “the year which has gone by.”

• Shekara – year
• da ta gabata – that (it) passed

This whole chunk functions as a time expression:

• Shekara da ta gabata = last year
  You can treat it like English “Last year” at the start of a sentence.

In Shekara da ta gabata, what is the role of da? Does it mean “and”?

Here da is not “and.” It’s acting as a relative linker, a bit like English “that / which” in phrases like “the year that passed.”

• In other contexts, da can mean “and” (e.g. Ali da Musa – Ali and Musa).
• In this context, it’s linking the noun shekara (year) with the descriptive clause ta gabata (that passed).

So you should understand Shekara da ta gabata as “the year that passed.”

Why is it ta gabata and not ya gabata after shekara?

Because shekara (year) is grammatically feminine in Hausa.

• Feminine 3rd person singular subject pronoun: ta (she / it)
• Masculine 3rd person singular subject pronoun: ya (he / it)

The pronoun in the relative clause must agree with the noun:

• shekara (fem.) → ta gabata
• a masculine noun like wata (month, masculine) would take ya gabata

So Shekara da ta gabata is “the year that (she/it) passed,” using the feminine pronoun that matches shekara.

Why is there no separate word for “I” in ban tafi gari ba? Where is the subject “I”?

The subject “I” is built into the form ban.

• Underlyingly, negation with ni (I) would be ba ni (not I).
• In fast / normal speech and standard spelling, this contracts to ban.

So:

• na tafi gari – I went to town.
• ban tafi gari ba – I did not go to town.

The n at the end of ban tells you the subject is “I” in this negative perfective context. You don’t add an extra ni; that would be ungrammatical here.

Why are there two ba’s in the negation: ban … ba? Is that always needed?

Hausa negative perfective uses a discontinuous negation, often described as ba … ba.

• The first ba combines with the subject pronoun:
  
  • ba ni → ban (I not)
  • ba ka → baka (you masc. not)
  • ba ta → ba ta (she not), etc.
• The second ba appears at the end of the clause.

So:

• Na tafi gari. – I went to town.
• Ban tafi gari ba. – I did not go to town.

In this tense/aspect, yes: normally you need both parts of the negation pattern:
[ba + subject] + verb + (rest of clause) + ba.

What would the positive version of ban tafi gari ba be?

The straightforward positive equivalent is:

• Na tafi gari. – I went to town.

Compare:

• Na tafi gari. – positive, “I went to town.”
• Ban tafi gari ba. – negative, “I did not go to town.”

The negative form adds ba … ba and modifies the subject marker (na → ban).

Can I say ban je gari ba instead of ban tafi gari ba? What’s the difference between je and tafi?

Yes, you’ll also hear je with a similar meaning:

• tafi – to go, to leave, travel
• je – (also) to go (often used in many of the same contexts)

So:

• Ban tafi gari ba.
• Ban je gari ba.

Both can be understood as “I didn’t go to town.” In many everyday contexts, they’re interchangeable, though tafi often feels a bit more general “go/leave/travel,” whereas je is more tightly “go (to a place).” For a learner, treating them as near‑synonyms in this sentence is fine.

Why is there no preposition like “to” before gari? Why not something like “zuwa gari”?

Hausa commonly expresses “go to X” as just tafi + place with no extra preposition:

• Na tafi gida. – I went home.
• Na tafi gari. – I went to town.

The idea of “to” is built into the verb tafi / je in this pattern.
You can see zuwa (to/towards) in other constructions, but with tafi/je + place, you usually just put the place directly after the verb.

Is there a difference between Shekara da ta gabata and Shekarar da ta gabata?

Yes, there’s a small grammatical difference:

• Shekara da ta gabata – often used as a time adverbial on its own:
  
  • “Last year (as a free time expression) …”
• Shekarar da ta gabata – literally “the year which passed,” with the -r linking suffix on shekara (shekara + r = shekarar) showing a tighter link before the relative clause.

In many everyday contexts they will both be understood as “last year”, and usage can vary by speaker and style. For learning purposes, you can treat Shekara da ta gabata as a natural way to say “Last year …” at the beginning of a sentence.

Why does the time expression Shekara da ta gabata go at the beginning of the sentence? Could it go elsewhere?

Putting time expressions at the beginning of a sentence is very common in Hausa:

• Shekara da ta gabata ban tafi gari ba. – Last year I didn’t go to town.
• Jiya na ga shi. – Yesterday I saw him.

You can sometimes move time expressions, but the most natural, neutral pattern in Hausa is:

[Time] + [Subject/Verb/Rest of Clause]

So in this sentence, Shekara da ta gabata is just doing the same job as English “Last year,” placed sentence‑initially.