Alƙalin wasan ya hukunta ɗan wasan.

he/it

Breakdown of Alƙalin wasan ya hukunta ɗan wasan.

• ɗan wasa: the player
• alƙalin wasa: the referee
• hukunta: to punish; judge

Questions & Answers about Alƙalin wasan ya hukunta ɗan wasan.

Why is Alƙali translated as referee here? Doesn’t it usually mean judge?

Yes—alƙali often means judge, but in sports contexts it is also used for referee. So Alƙalin wasan is literally the judge/referee of the game, which is the natural way to say the referee.

Why does Alƙali become Alƙalin?

The -n on Alƙalin links it to the next noun. Hausa often connects two nouns this way to express an of relationship.

So:

Alƙali = referee/judge
Alƙalin wasan = referee of the game

A good beginner way to think about it is that this -n often does the job that English of does.

Why is it wasan and not just wasa?

Here wasan means the game. The ending -n is marking definiteness here.

So in this sentence:

• Alƙalin wasan = the referee of the game
• ɗan wasan = the player of the game

One thing that confuses learners is that -n can show up for more than one reason in Hausa. In Alƙalin, it is linking nouns. In wasan, it is helping mark definiteness.