Gashi na gajere ne.

My hair is short.

Breakdown of Gashi na gajere ne.

• ne: to be
• gajere: short
• gashi: the hair

Questions & Answers about Gashi na gajere ne.

What does Gashi na gajere ne literally mean word‑for‑word?

Literally, you can line it up like this:

• Gashi – hair
• na – my
• gajere – short
• ne – is (a copula particle that agrees with a masculine noun)

So the structure is roughly: “Hair my short is.”
Natural English: “My hair is short.”

Why is na after gashi instead of before it, like in English “my hair”?

In Hausa, the possessive pronoun usually comes after the noun it belongs to.

• English: my hair
• Hausa: gashi na (literally “hair my”)

This is normal for Hausa:

• motata / mota ta – my car
• littafinka / littafi nka – your book (to a man)

So gashi na follows the regular pattern “noun + my” instead of “my + noun.”

Is na always “my”? I’ve also seen na used to mean “of”. What’s going on?

Na has more than one function in Hausa; context tells you which it is.

1. As a possessive pronoun “my” (enclitic):

   • gashi na – my hair
   • mota ta or motata – my car
     Here it stands for “my”.

2. As a linker meaning something like “of / belonging to / that is”:

   • littafi na Turanci – an English book (a book of English)
   • yarinya ta Kano ce – she is a girl from Kano

In Gashi na gajere ne, the most natural reading is “my hair”, so here na is the 1st‑person singular possessive (“my”), not the generic “of.”

Why is the adjective gajere used here? Does it have other forms?

Gajere is the basic masculine form of the adjective “short.” Hausa adjectives often change form depending on the gender and number of the noun they describe.

For gajere:

• gajere – short (masculine singular)
• gajera – short (feminine singular)
• gajeru – short (plural, any gender)

Because gashi (“hair”) is grammatically masculine singular, we use the masculine form:

• gashi na gajere ne – my hair is short

If the noun were feminine, you’d usually expect gajera, and with plural nouns, gajeru.

Is gajere only for people’s height, or can it also describe hair, objects, etc.?

Gajere can describe both height and length, so it is not limited to people.

Examples:

• Mutum gajere ne. – The man is short (in height).
• Itace gajera ce. – The tree is short.
• Gashi na gajere ne. – My hair is short (in length).

So using gajere for hair is completely normal. Context tells you whether “short” refers to height or length.

What is ne doing at the end of the sentence?

Ne is a kind of copula in Hausa – it plays the role of “is / am / are” in many sentences.

In Gashi na gajere ne:

• Gashi na – my hair (subject)
• gajere – short (adjective / description)
• ne – copula, roughly “is”, agreeing with a masculine noun

So structurally:

[My hair] [short] [is].

Ne agrees with the gender and number of what you are talking about. Since gashi is masculine singular, you use ne.

What’s the difference between ne and ce? Why not ce here?

Hausa uses ne and ce as copular particles that agree with gender (and sometimes number):

• ne – used with masculine singular nouns (and many plurals)
• ce – used with feminine singular nouns

Some examples:

• Yaro gajere ne. – The boy is short. (masc → ne)
• Yarinya gajera ce. – The girl is short. (fem → ce)
• Littafinka sabo ne. – Your book is new. (masc → ne)
• Motata sabuwa ce. – My car is new. (fem → ce)

Because gashi (“hair”) is grammatically masculine, the correct form is:

• Gashi na gajere ne. – My hair is short.

If “hair” were a feminine noun (it is not), you would see ce instead.

Can I leave out ne and just say Gashi na gajere?

In casual, fast speech some speakers might drop ne/ce, and listeners will still understand from context:

• Gashi na gajere.

However:

• In careful or standard Hausa, you normally include ne/ce in sentences like this.
• Leaving it out can make the sentence sound incomplete or less emphatic.

So for learners and in most “correct” written use, Gashi na gajere ne is the safer and more natural form.

Why is there no separate word like “is” in the middle, as in “My hair is short”?

Hausa does not use a separate verb “to be” in the present tense the way English does.

Instead, it typically uses:

• ne / ce placed after the description or predicate, or
• nothing at all, depending on the structure

So instead of:

• Subject + is + adjective

Hausa often has:

• Subject + adjective + ne/ce

That’s why you don’t see an extra word between gashi na and gajere; ne at the end is doing the job of “is.”

What is the basic word order in this kind of Hausa sentence?

For sentences with a noun and an adjective (or noun describing another noun), Hausa commonly follows this pattern:

1. Subject (noun phrase)
2. Description (adjective or noun complement)
3. Copula (ne/ce), if used

In Gashi na gajere ne:

1. Gashi na – my hair (subject)
2. gajere – short (description)
3. ne – copula (is)

So the underlying pattern is:

[My hair] [short] [is].

This is different from English, which puts “is” before the adjective.

Is gashi singular or plural? I’ve also heard gashi used like “here it is” – is that the same word?

1. As “hair”:

• Gashi is usually treated as a (collective) singular masculine noun meaning “hair”, especially head hair.
• So grammatically it behaves like a masculine singular noun, which is why we get gajere (masc) and ne (masc).

2. As “here it is / here he is”:

• There is also another gashi used in everyday speech meaning “here it is / here he is / look at it”.
• That form historically comes from ga (“see / look / here is”) + shi (“him/it”).

In your sentence, context makes it clear we are talking about hair, not “here it is”:

• It is followed by na gajere ne (“my, short, is”), which fits naturally with hair as a noun.

How would I say “Your hair is short” or “Her hair is short” using the same pattern?

You keep the same structure, but change the possessive pronoun:

• Gashi na gajere ne. – My hair is short.
• Gashinka gajere ne. – Your hair is short. (to a man)
• Gashinki gajere ne. – Your hair is short. (to a woman)
• Gashinsa gajere ne. – His hair is short.
• Gashinta gajere ne. – Her hair is short.

You may also see these written with a space (gashi ka, gashi ta, etc.), but spoken they behave like one unit with the pronoun attached to gashi.