Learn Hardcore Hausa: Jami'a tana kudu da birni. - The university is south of the city.

Jami'a tana kudu da birni.

The university is south of the city.

Breakdown of Jami'a tana kudu da birni.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Hausa grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Hausa now

Questions & Answers about Jami'a tana kudu da birni.

What does Jami'a mean exactly, and why is it capitalized?

Jami'a means “university”.

It’s capitalized here because in English we tend to think of “the University” as a specific place, like a proper noun, so it’s written with a capital in the example. In Hausa spelling, you’ll usually see jami'a with a lowercase j unless it’s part of an official name (e.g. Jami'ar Bayero – Bayero University). Hausa does not use a separate word for “the”, so jami'a can mean “a university” or “the university” depending on context.

Why is it tana and not yana or ce/ne?

Hausa verbs and some “copula-like” forms agree with grammatical gender.

jami'a is grammatically feminine,
so you use the feminine 3rd person singular: ta.
In the locative/progressive form, this becomes tana (“she/it (fem.) is (located / doing)”).

You use ce/ne when simply identifying or equating things, e.g.

Wannan jami'a ce. – This is a university.

In Jami'a tana kudu da birni, the idea is “The university is located south of the city”, so you use tana, not ce/ne.

What exactly does tana mean here? Is it like “is” or “is being”?

In this sentence, tana functions as “is (located)”.

The form (ta)na often marks:

progressive actions: Tana tafiya – She is walking.
or states/locations: Tana gida – She is at home / She is home.

So Jami'a tana kudu da birni is best understood as:

“The university is (located) south of the city.”

What does kudu da mean, and why is da there?

kudu means “south”. When you say kudu da X, it usually means “south of X”.

The word da has many uses (and very often means “and/with”), but in expressions like kudu da birni, it works as a kind of relational marker that gives you a meaning similar to “of” in English:

kudu da birni ≈ “south of the city”
arewa da birni ≈ “north of the city”

So kudu da here is a set pattern meaning “south of”.

Could I also say Jami'a tana a kudu da birni? Is there a difference?

Yes, Jami'a tana a kudu da birni is possible and understandable.

tana kudu da birni – very common; literally “is south of the city”.
tana a kudu da birni – literally “is at south of the city”; the a is a locative preposition “in/at”.

In everyday speech, people often omit a in this kind of “cardinal direction + da” construction, so tana kudu da birni sounds very natural and is slightly shorter.

What is the word order here compared to English?

The structure is:

Subject – Locative/“be” form – Direction phrase – Reference point
Jami'a – tana – kudu da – birni

English: The university – is – south of – the city.

So both languages are basically Subject – “be” – direction – of – landmark, but Hausa uses kudu da birni where English uses south of the city.

Why is jami'a considered feminine? How would the sentence change if it were masculine?

In Hausa, many nouns are grammatically feminine or masculine by convention, not because the thing is male or female in reality. jami'a belongs to the feminine class, so you must use tana.

If jami'a were masculine (it is not), you would see:

Jami'i yana kudu da birni. – The officer is south of the city.

Here, jami'i (“officer”) is masculine, so we use yana. In your sentence, tana directly reflects the feminine gender of jami'a.

What’s the difference between birni and gari for “city/town”?

Both can be translated as “town/city”, but there is a nuance:

birni often suggests a large city / urban center, sometimes the “big city”.
gari is more general: “town”, “settlement”, “place”, and can be used widely.

So kudu da birni feels like “south of the city (bigger urban center)”, not just any village or town.

How would I say “The university is in the south of the city” instead of “south of the city”?

A natural way is to use the adjectival/possessive form of kudu:

Jami'a tana a kudancin birni.

Here:

kudanci = “southern part / the south (as a region)”
kudancin birni = “the south of the city / the southern part of the city”

So: Jami'a tana a kudancin birni ≈ The university is in the south of the city.

Could I omit da birni and just say Jami'a tana kudu? What would that mean?

Yes, you can say Jami'a tana kudu, but the meaning changes.

Jami'a tana kudu – “The university is in the south / in the southern area (without saying ‘of what’).”

When you add da birni:

Jami'a tana kudu da birni – “The university is south of the city,” with the city as a reference point.

So da birni specifies what it is south of.

Is there any difference in meaning between kudu da birni and kudancin birni?

Yes, a subtle one:

kudu da birni – “south of the city” (usually outside the city, or relative to the city as a point).
kudancin birni – “the south of the city / the southern part of the city” (typically inside the city boundaries).

So:

Jami'a tana kudu da birni – the university is located to the south, beyond the city.
Jami'a tana a kudancin birni – the university is in the southern part of the city.

How do you pronounce Jami'a? What does the apostrophe represent?

Jami'a is roughly pronounced: [ja-mee-ah], with three syllables.

The ' marks a glottal stop (like the little break in the middle of “uh-oh”). So:

ja – like “ja” in “jar” (without the r)
mi – like “mee”
short break (glottal stop)
a – like “a” in “father”

So: ja-mee-(ʔ)-a.

Is there any word in the sentence that corresponds directly to English “of”?

Not as a separate “of” word. The closest element is da in kudu da birni, which together with kudu gives us the meaning “south of the city”.

Hausa often uses constructions like:

kudu da birni – south of the city
gabas da gari – east of the town

So instead of saying “south of X” with a separate “of”, Hausa typically uses direction word + da + X.