Breakdown of Ba zan karanta saƙon ba har sai na sa tabarau na.
ba … ba
not
karanta
to read
saƙo
the message
na
my
Questions & Answers about Ba zan karanta saƙon ba har sai na sa tabarau na.
Why are there two bas in Ba zan karanta saƙon ba?
This is a very common Hausa negation pattern: ba ... ba.
In this sentence, it wraps around the main clause:
- Ba zan karanta saƙon ba = I will not read the message
The first ba starts the negation, and the second ba closes it.
A useful thing to notice here is that the second ba comes before har sai na sa tabarau na. That is because only the main clause is being negated. The har sai part is an added time clause: until I put on my glasses.
What exactly is zan?
Zan is the normal Hausa form for I will / I am going to.
It is built from the future marker za plus the 1st person singular subject. For learning purposes, it is best to treat zan as a single unit meaning I will.
So:
- zan karanta = I will read
- ba zan karanta ba = I will not read
You will see similar future forms with other subjects too, such as zaka, zai, za mu, and so on.
What does har sai mean here?