“Can I pay in cash or only by card?” in Hausa: “Zan iya biya da tsabar kuɗi, ko da kati kawai?”

When to use it

Use it before paying in a shop or café, when you are unsure cash is taken.

“Can I pay in cash or only by card?” — The sentence in English

In “Can I pay in cash or only by card?” two prepositions are used, ‘in’ and ‘by’, and ‘only’ comes before ‘by’.

Can

auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question

I

pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter

pay

verbpay · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"

in

prepositionpreposition

cash

noununcountable noun; money in notes and coins

or

coordinating conjunctioncoordinating conjunction

only

adverbadverb

by

prepositionpreposition

card

nounnoun; a bank card

“Zan iya biya da tsabar kuɗi, ko da kati kawai?” — The sentence in Hausa

In “Zan iya biya da tsabar kuɗi, ko da kati kawai?” one preposition, ‘da’ (with), serves both ‘in cash’ and ‘by card’. ‘tsabar kuɗi’ (pure money) is cash, and ‘kawai’ (only) goes last.

Zan

auxiliary verbza · person: 1st singular · tense: future · zan iya biya = can I pay

iya

verbiya · form: base · 'be able'

biya

verbbiya · form: base · 'pay'

da

preposition'with'; in cash

tsabar

nountsaba 'pure' + -r; tsabar kuɗi = cash

kuɗi

noun'money'

ko

coordinating conjunction'or'

da

preposition'with', by card

kati

noun'card'

kawai

adverb'only'

English × Hausa: What changes from one language to the other

English uses ‘in’ and ‘by’; Hausa ‘da’ twice, with ‘only’ at the end.

Example conversation