Alƙalin wasan ya busa sau biyu.

two

Breakdown of Alƙalin wasan ya busa sau biyu.

• sau: the time
• ya: he/it
• alƙalin wasa: the referee

Questions & Answers about Alƙalin wasan ya busa sau biyu.

What is the structure of Alƙalin wasan?

It is a noun phrase made of two nouns:

• alƙali = referee, judge
• wasa = game, match

When alƙali is followed by another noun, it takes a linker -n, giving alƙalin. So alƙalin wasan means something like the referee of the game or the match referee.

Why are there two -n endings in Alƙalin wasan?

They look the same, but here they do different jobs:

• alƙali-n: the -n links alƙali to the following noun
• wasa-n: this -n marks wasa as definite, so wasan = the game/match

So the first -n is a connector, while the second one is part of making the second noun definite.

What does ya mean in this sentence?

Ya is the 3rd-person masculine singular subject marker used with the perfective/completed action form.

So in this sentence, it tells you that the subject is:

• he
• singular
• masculine
• doing a completed action

Because alƙali is treated as masculine singular, ya is the form you expect here.