Questions & Answers about Ni na gama aiki cikin wahala yau.
What does each word in Ni na gama aiki cikin wahala yau roughly correspond to in English?
A fairly literal breakdown is:
- Ni – I / me (independent pronoun, used for emphasis or contrast)
- na – I (past/completed); this is the subject marker for 1st person singular, perfective aspect
- gama – finish, complete
- aiki – work, job, task
- cikin – in / inside / in the midst of (here: in, amid)
- wahala – hardship, difficulty, trouble
- yau – today
So the structure is basically: I – (I.PAST) – finish – work – in difficulty – today.
Why are both ni and na used when they both seem to mean I?