Questions & Answers about Ba amsa daidai ba ce.
Word by word:
- ba – negative particle, like not
- amsa – answer, reply (a noun, feminine)
- daidai – correct, right, exact, exactly
- ba – a second negative particle (used in this kind of sentence)
- ce – copula particle meaning roughly is, used with feminine singular nouns
So a very literal gloss is:
ba amsa daidai ba ce
not answer correct not is (fem.)
Natural English: It is not the correct answer / This is not a correct answer (depending on context).
In Hausa, one common way to negate an “X is Y” type sentence is to wrap the predicate inside ba … ba … ne/ce.
Pattern (simplified):
- Affirmative: X Y ne/ce → X is Y
- Negative: Ba Y ba ne/ce (often with X understood or mentioned before) → X is not Y
In your sentence, the predicate is amsa daidai (“a correct answer”), so:
- Affirmative: Amsa daidai ce. – It is the correct answer.
- Negative: Ba amsa daidai ba ce. – It is not the correct answer.
The two ba’s don’t translate separately into English; they mark the scope of the negation around the predicate. In careful / textbook Hausa you normally keep both.
ce and ne are copula particles. They do a job similar to English “is / am / are”, but they also show agreement.
Very simplified rule:
- ce – used when the focused/last noun phrase is feminine singular
- ne – used when the focused/last noun phrase is masculine singular or plural
Since amsa (answer) is a feminine noun, the copula must be ce:
- Amsa daidai ce. – It is the correct answer.
If the noun were masculine, you’d use ne:
- Sako daidai ne. – It is the correct message. ( sako is masculine)
So in Ba amsa daidai ba ce, ce is the feminine singular “is” that agrees with amsa.
There is no separate verb like English “is”. Hausa normally uses particles instead of a full verb for equational sentences.
In Ba amsa daidai ba ce:
- ce is the copula particle that does the work of “is”.
- The negative ba … ba structure makes it “is not”.
So the “is (not)” meaning is spread across the combination ba … ba ce rather than a single verb.
amsa is feminine in Hausa.
This matters because:
- Feminine singular nouns normally take ce in this kind of sentence.
- Masculine (and plurals) normally take ne.
So:
- Amsa daidai ce. – It is the correct answer. (feminine → ce)
- Ba amsa daidai ba ce. – It is not the correct answer. (still feminine → ce)
If the key noun were masculine, you’d see ne instead:
- Amsa (fem): Amsa ce. – It is an answer.
- Sako (masc): Sako ne. – It is a message.
Drop the negation and keep the same structure:
- Amsa daidai ce.
Breakdown:
- amsa – answer
- daidai – correct
- ce – is (feminine singular)
So Amsa daidai ce means “It is the correct answer / This is a correct answer.”
(Which one you choose in English depends on context, because Hausa has no articles.)
No, not in normal speech. That would sound wrong or at least very odd.
Key points:
- In Hausa, the usual order is noun + adjective:
- amsa daidai – a correct answer
- mutum mai hankali – a sensible person
- So the predicate here is amsa daidai, and the negation wraps around that phrase:
- Ba [amsa daidai] ba ce.
Putting daidai before amsa (Ba daidai amsa ba ce) breaks the normal noun–adjective order and is not the standard way to say it.
For a learner, stick with:
- Ba amsa daidai ba ce. – It is not a correct / the correct answer.
- Amsa daidai ce. – It is the correct answer.
No. daidai is a very flexible word. Common meanings include:
correct / right
- amsa daidai – a correct answer
- Maganarka daidai ce. – Your statement is correct.
equal / the same
- Farashin su daidai ne. – Their prices are the same.
exact(ly), precise(ly)
- Da karfe goma daidai. – At exactly ten o’clock.
fair / moderate / balanced (in some contexts)
In Ba amsa daidai ba ce, it clearly means “correct / right.”
Hausa does not use articles like a / the, so amsa daidai by itself can mean:
- a correct answer
- the correct answer
The exact English translation depends on context.
To make “the” feel stronger or more specific, Hausa often adds demonstratives:
- Wannan ba amsa daidai ba ce. – This is not the correct answer.
- Waccan ba ita ba ce amsa daidai. – That is not the correct answer.
Without words like wannan / waccan, Ba amsa daidai ba ce is neutral: “not (the/a) correct answer.”
Add a demonstrative to point to the specific thing:
- Wancan ba amsa daidai ba ce. – That (over there) is not the correct answer.
- Wannan ba amsa daidai ba ce. – This is not the correct answer.
Structure:
- Wannan / Wancan – this / that
- ba amsa daidai ba ce – is not the correct answer (feminine)
So you just put the demonstrative first, then the same negative structure.
You need a plural demonstrative and the plural of amsa:
- Wadannan ba amsoshi daidai ba ne.
Breakdown:
- Wadannan – these
- amsoshi – answers (plural of amsa)
- daidai – correct
- ba … ba ne – are not (negative + copula, now with ne because it’s plural)
So Wadannan ba amsoshi daidai ba ne ≈ “These are not the correct answers.”
Yes. In many texts and in everyday writing you will see both spellings:
- ba ce
- bace
They represent the same spoken form: the negative ba plus the feminine copula ce. Because they are usually pronounced together, some writers join them in spelling.
Similarly, you may see:
- ba ne / bane (negative + masculine/plural copula)
For a learner, it’s enough to know that ba ce and bace mean the same thing; follow whichever convention your teacher or textbook uses.
Very roughly (English-style spelling):
- Ba – bah (short, like the ba in bachelor)
- amsa – AHM-sah (the m and s are in the same syllable: ahm-sa)
- daidai – DAI-DAI (each dai like English die)
- ba – again bah
- ce – cheh (like che in cheddar)
So the whole sentence:
- Ba amsa daidai ba ce. ≈ bah AHM-sah DAI-DAI bah cheh
Hausa also has tones (high / low), but they’re not written in the ordinary spelling, and most beginner materials leave them out.