Ni zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.

I will call you later by phone.

Breakdown of Ni zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.

• ni: I
• waya: the phone
• kira: to call
• ki: you (feminine)
• ta: by
• daga baya: later

Questions & Answers about Ni zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.

Why do we need both Ni and zan? Don’t they both mean “I”?

Both relate to “I”, but they don’t do the same job.

• Ni is the independent pronoun “I / me”. It’s used mainly for emphasis, contrast, or clarity.
• zan is actually the future marker + subject (“I will”), so it already tells you the subject is “I”.

So:

• Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.
  = I’ll call you later by phone. (normal, neutral)

• Ni zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.
  = I will call you later by phone. (emphasising I, e.g. “I (not someone else) will call you …”)

In everyday speech, you often drop the initial Ni unless you want emphasis.

What exactly does zan mean? Is it like English “will”?

zan is the future tense marker for the first person singular (“I”) in Hausa. It corresponds roughly to English “will” or “am going to”.

It comes historically from za + ni (“will + I”), often written together as zan.

Other forms are:

• za ka – you (m.sg) will
• za ki – you (f.sg) will
• za shi – he will
• za ta – she will
• za mu – we will
• za ku – you (pl) will
• za su – they will

So your sentence has:

• zan = I will
• kira = call
  → zan kira = I will call

What does ki mean here, and why is it ki and not something else?

ki is the object pronoun “you” (feminine singular).

So:

• kira ki = call you (speaking to one woman)

Other object pronouns are:

• ka – you (masc. singular)
• ki – you (fem. singular)
• ku – you (plural, any mix of genders)

So if you are talking to:

• a man:
  Ni zan kira ka daga baya ta waya.
• a woman:
  Ni zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.
• several people:
  Ni zan kira ku daga baya ta waya.

Where does ki go in the sentence? Can I move it somewhere else?

In simple sentences like this, the object pronoun (here ki) normally comes right after the verb:

• zan kira ki – I will call you.

You shouldn’t move ki to the beginning or the very end on its own. These are not correct:

• ✗ ~ki zan kira daga baya ta waya~
• ✗ ~zan kira daga baya ta waya ki~

In fluent speech, the verb and the pronoun often stick together in pronunciation:

• zan kiraki daga baya ta waya (sounds like one word: kiraki)

But in learner-friendly writing, you’ll commonly see it as kira ki.

Could I drop Ni and just say Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya?

Yes, and that’s actually the more typical everyday version.

• Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.
  = I’ll call you later by phone. (perfectly natural)

Adding Ni at the start (Ni zan kira ki…) adds emphasis: I will be the one who calls you.

What does daga baya literally mean, and is it always “later”?

Literally:

• daga = from
• baya = back / behind

So daga baya is like “from behind / from the back”, which idiomatically means “later / afterwards”.

You can use daga baya broadly for “later”:

• Zan zo daga baya. – I’ll come later.
• Za mu gani daga baya. – We’ll see later.

In your sentence:

• daga baya = later (at some time after now)

Its position is usually after the verb phrase, as in your sentence, but before extra details like place or instrument can also be fine:

• Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.
• Zan kira ki ta waya daga baya.

Both are understandable; the original is a bit more common.

What does ta mean in ta waya?

Here ta is a preposition meaning roughly “by / via / through”.

• ta waya = by phone / via the phone

So the structure is:

• kira – call
• ta waya – by phone
  → call by phone

You’ll also hear:

• a waya – on the phone
• da waya – with the phone (regional / stylistic)

All can be used in real speech, but ta waya and a waya are very common for “on/by phone”.

Is ta in ta waya the same as “she” in Hausa?

No, in this sentence it’s not the pronoun “she”.

Hausa has:

• ta (pronoun) = she / her (subject in some contexts)
• ta (preposition) = by / via / through

In ta waya, it’s clearly the preposition:

• ta waya – by phone, via phone

It doesn’t refer to a feminine person here; it’s just a grammatical preposition.

Could I just say Zan kira ki daga baya and leave out ta waya?

Yes. Zan kira ki daga baya already means “I’ll call you later”.

Adding ta waya only makes it explicit that you mean “by phone”:

• Zan kira ki daga baya.
  = I’ll call you later. (how? context decides)
• Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.
  = I’ll call you later by phone.

In many real situations, people will just say Zan kira ki daga baya, and it’s understood that this is a phone call.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Ni zan kira ki ta waya daga baya?

Hausa word order is fairly flexible at the end of the sentence, especially for adverbial phrases like daga baya (“later”) and ta waya (“by phone”).

These are all understandable:

1. Ni zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.
2. Ni zan kira ki ta waya daga baya.

Both mean the same thing. The first feels slightly more natural, but the difference is small.

What you shouldn’t change is the core order:

• Subject / future marker → verb → object pronoun

So keep:

• (Ni) zan kira ki …
  not:
• ✗ ~(Ni) ki zan kira …~

Is there any politeness difference if I say ku instead of ki?

Yes, using ku changes the meaning:

• ki = you (one female)
• ku = you (plural)

Hausa doesn’t usually use plural ku as a formal “you” the way some languages do. It really means more than one person.

So:

• Speaking to one woman:
  Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya. – I’ll call you (one woman) later by phone.
• Speaking to several people:
  Zan kira ku daga baya ta waya. – I’ll call you (all of you) later by phone.

Both are neutral in politeness; the choice is about number, not politeness level.

How would I say this if I’m talking to a man or to more than one person?

Just change the object pronoun:

• To one man:
  Zan kira ka daga baya ta waya.
  (I’ll call you (m.sg) later by phone.)

• To one woman:
  Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya.

• To several people:
  Zan kira ku daga baya ta waya.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in Hausa?

It’s neutral, suitable for:

• friends and family
• colleagues
• most everyday situations

To make it softer / more polite, Hausa speakers sometimes add things like:

• in shaa Allah – God willing
  Zan kira ki daga baya ta waya, in shaa Allah.

But the base sentence itself is not rude; it’s a normal, friendly way to say “I’ll call you later (on the phone).”