Lokacin da ban gane kalma ba, ina duba ƙamus in fassara ta.

to be

Breakdown of Lokacin da ban gane kalma ba, ina duba ƙamus in fassara ta.

• ba … ba: not
• kalma: the word
• lokacin da: when

Questions & Answers about Lokacin da ban gane kalma ba, ina duba ƙamus in fassara ta.

What does Lokacin da literally mean, and how is it used?

Lokacin da is literally the time that / when.

• lokaci = time
• -n = the (genitive/possessive linker, here attached to lokaci)
• da = that / which / when (a clause linker)

So Lokacin da ban gane kalma ba... = The time when I don’t understand a word..., which in natural English is When I don’t understand a word...

You use lokacin da to introduce a “when(ever)” clause:

• Lokacin da na gaji, na tafi barci.
  When I got tired, I went to sleep.

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Why is it ban gane kalma ba and not something like ba na gane kalma?

Hausa has a special negative frame with ba … ba around the verb, and the subject pronoun is fused into the first ba in this tense/aspect.

Affirmative (perfective / general fact):

• Na gane kalma. = I understood / I understand the word.

Negative:

• Ba ni gane kalma ba.
  This is normally contracted in writing to:
  Ban gane kalma ba.

So:

• ban = ba + ni (negative + I)
• gane = understand
• kalma = a word
• final ba closes the negative frame

You use this ba + subject + verb + ba pattern for many simple negative statements in Hausa.

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Where is the word “I” in ban gane kalma ba?