Ni ina so in ci wake yau.

I want to eat beans today.

Breakdown of Ni ina so in ci wake yau.

• ni: I
• ne: to be
• so: to want
• yau: today
• ci: to eat
• wake: the bean

Questions & Answers about Ni ina so in ci wake yau.

Why do we have both Ni and ina? Don’t they both mean “I”?

Yes, both point to the speaker, but they’re not doing the same job.

• Ni is an independent/emphatic pronoun: Ni = I (me, myself).
  It adds emphasis or contrast: Ni ina so in ci wake yau ≈ As for me, I want to eat beans today.
• ina is part of the verb form that means I am / I (do) in the present:
  ina so = I want / I like.

You can drop Ni in normal speech:

• Ina so in ci wake yau. – perfectly natural: I want to eat beans today.

Keeping Ni just makes the I more strongly stressed or contrastive.

Could I just say Ina so in ci wake yau instead?

Yes.

• Ni ina so in ci wake yau. – more emphatic: I (in particular) want to eat beans today.
• Ina so in ci wake yau. – neutral, very common: I want to eat beans today.

For an everyday sentence with no contrast, most speakers would just say Ina so in ci wake yau.

What exactly does ina so mean – “I want” or “I like”?

ina so covers both “want” and “like/love”, depending on context.

• Ina so in ci wake yau. – here ina so is “I want”, because it’s followed by in ci (to eat).
• Ina son wake. – usually “I like beans / I love beans”.
• Ina son ka. – “I love you / I like you.”

Hausa often uses so with ina for present/habitual:

• ina so – I want / I like
• kuna so – you (pl.) want / like
• suna so – they want / like

What is in ci doing here? Why not just ci wake for “eat beans”?

in is a subjunctive marker meaning roughly “that I (should)”.

• ci is the verb “eat”.
• in ci ≈ that I eat / for me to eat.

After a verb of wanting like so, Hausa usually uses this subjunctive:

• Ina so in ci wake. – I want to eat beans.
• Ina so in tafi. – I want to go.
• Ina so in yi aiki. – I want to work.

So in is required here; *Ina so ci wake is not grammatical.

Is in the same as “I will” (future), like zan?

No, they are different:

• in ci wake – subjunctive: that I eat beans / for me to eat beans (often after want, ask, tell).
• zan ci wake – future: I will eat beans.

Examples:

• Ina so in ci wake. – I want to eat beans.
• Zan ci wake. – I will eat beans. (a future event, not necessarily wanted)

Why is it ci here, but sometimes I see cin (with an “n”) as in cin wake?

You’re seeing two different forms:

1. ci – the finite verb “eat”:

   • Na ci wake. – I ate beans.
   • Ina son in ci wake. – I want to eat beans.

2. cin – the verbal noun (like “eating” in English), used as a noun:

   • Ina son cin wake. – I like/love eating beans / I want to eat beans.
   • Cin wake da safe yana da kyau. – Eating beans in the morning is good.

In Ni ina so in ci wake yau, you have the finite verb in the subjunctive (in ci), so you use ci, not cin.

What is wake exactly – singular “bean” or plural “beans”?

wake normally means “beans” (in general or plural), not a single bean.

To talk about one bean, speakers usually say something like:

• ɗan wake – a (single) bean
• wake ɗaya – one bean

So in your sentence:

• wake = beans as food, a plural/mass idea: I want to eat beans today.

Does yau (today) always have to come at the end?

No. yau is a time word and is fairly flexible. All of these are possible:

• Ni ina so in ci wake yau.
• Ina so in ci wake yau.
• Yau ina so in ci wake. – Today I want to eat beans.
• Yau, ni ina so in ci wake. – extra emphasis on today and I.

Putting yau at the end, as in your sentence, is very common and natural.

How would I say “I don’t want to eat beans today”?

You negate ina so by changing it to ba na so (or bana so in fast speech):

• Ba na so in ci wake yau.
  = I don’t want to eat beans today.

Pattern:

• Ina so in ci wake. – I want to eat beans.
• Ba na so in ci wake. – I don’t want to eat beans.

How would I say “I like beans” (not specifically “I want to eat beans now”)?

Two common ways:

1. Using so

   • object:
   • Ina son wake. – I like beans / I love beans.

2. Using the verbal noun cin:

   • Ina son cin wake. – literally I like the eating of beans → I like eating beans.

Your original sentence Ina so in ci wake yau is more about a current desire or plan: I want to eat beans today (on this particular day).

Can I change the person, like “You want to eat beans today”? How does in change?

Yes. The subjunctive marker changes with the subject. For “want to eat”, the subject of so and in ci must match:

• Ina so in ci wake yau. – I want to eat beans today.
• Kana so ka ci wake yau. – You (m. sg.) want to eat beans today.
• Kina so ki ci wake yau. – You (f. sg.) want to eat beans today.
• Yana so ya ci wake yau. – He wants to eat beans today.
• Tana so ta ci wake yau. – She wants to eat beans today.
• Muna so mu ci wake yau. – We want to eat beans today.
• Kuna so ku ci wake yau. – You (pl.) want to eat beans today.
• Suna so su ci wake yau. – They want to eat beans today.

So in is specifically “that I (should)”; other persons use ka, ki, ya, ta, mu, ku, su in the same position.