Questions & Answers about A Litinin zan tafi makaranta.
A is a preposition that can mean in / at / on, depending on context.
Litinin means Monday.
So A Litinin is literally “at Monday / on Monday”, and in natural English we translate it as on Monday. Hausa uses a with days of the week where English uses on.
Yes. Both are correct:
- A Litinin zan tafi makaranta. – On Monday I will go to school. (slight emphasis on Monday)
- Zan tafi makaranta a Litinin. – I will go to school on Monday.
The meaning is the same. Putting A Litinin at the beginning just highlights the time a bit more, but it’s very natural either way.
Zan is a contracted form of za ni:
- za = future marker (something that will happen)
- ni = I / me
So za ni → zan = I will.
Similarly:
- za ka → za ka (you m.sing. will) – usually not contracted
- za ki (you f.sing. will)
- za mu (we will)
- za su (they will)
Only za ni is commonly written as one word: zan.
The I is already built into zan:
- za ni = I will → contracts to zan
Because of this contraction, you don’t say A Litinin za ni tafi makaranta in normal speech; you say A Litinin zan tafi makaranta.
In other persons, the subject pronoun is still separate:
- A Litinin za ka tafi makaranta. – On Monday you (m.sg.) will go to school.
- A Litinin za su tafi makaranta. – On Monday they will go to school.
Tafi is a verb that generally means to go / to leave / to depart.
In this sentence, zan tafi makaranta is understood as I will go to school (not just I will leave school). Hausa often uses tafi where English uses go.
You might also see je in some expressions, which is another verb meaning to go, but tafi is very common and basic.
Both patterns exist:
- Zan tafi makaranta. – I will go (to) school.
- Zan tafi zuwa makaranta. – I will go to school.
After motion verbs like tafi, Hausa often omits an explicit to; the direction is understood.
Adding zuwa (to/towards) is still correct, but the shorter zan tafi makaranta is very natural and common.
Makaranta by itself is indefinite; it can be translated depending on context as:
- a school
- the school (if already known from context)
- school in a general sense
So Zan tafi makaranta can mean:
- I will go to school (general), or
- I will go to the school (if both speaker and listener know which school is meant).
Hausa doesn’t use articles like a / the in the same way English does; context decides.
You negate a future sentence with ba … ba around the verb phrase. For this one:
- A Litinin ba zan tafi makaranta ba.
= On Monday I will not go to school.
Structure:
- A Litinin – on Monday
- ba – first negative particle
- zan tafi makaranta – I will go to school
- ba – closing negative particle
For yes–no questions in Hausa, you usually keep the same word order and rely on intonation (rising tone) in speech. To ask about you (male singular), you change the subject:
- A Litinin za ka tafi makaranta? – On Monday will you go to school? / Will you go to school on Monday?
If you want to emphasize that it is a question, you can also add ko? at the end:
- A Litinin za ka tafi makaranta, ko? – You’ll go to school on Monday, right?
You often use a before days of the week, but there are variants:
- A Litinin – on Monday
- Ran Litinin – on Monday / Monday (literally the day of Monday)
- A ranar Litinin – on Monday (more explicit: on the day Monday)
All are grammatical; A Litinin is short and common in everyday speech.
Examples:
- A Litinin zan tafi makaranta.
- Ran Litinin zan tafi makaranta.
- A ranar Litinin zan tafi makaranta.
Approximate pronunciation (ignoring tone):
Litinin: li-TEE-nin
- li as in *li*st
- ti as in tee
- nin like nin in nineteen
makaranta: ma-ka-RAN-ta
- ma as in *ma*ma
- ka as in ca*rry (short *a)
- ran like run but with a as in father
- ta as in *ta*r
Hausa is tonal, but for a beginner, getting the consonants and vowels close is the first step.