When to use it
Use it at an airport to ask staff to help you find your boarding gate.
The sentence in English: “Can you help me find my gate?”
In “Can you help me find my gate?” ‘help me find’ drops ‘to’, and ‘my’ precedes the noun.
- Can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission; it opens the question
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun
- help
- verbhelp · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"
- me
- pronounobject pronoun
- find
- verbfind · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after a modal or after "help me"
- my
- determinerpossessive determiner
- gate
- nounnoun; the boarding gate at an airport
The sentence in Hausa: “Za ku iya taimaka min in nemo ƙofar shiga jirgina?”
In “Za ku iya taimaka min in nemo ƙofar shiga jirgina?” the plural ‘ku’ (you) is polite and gender-neutral. ‘my’ is the suffix ‘-na’ on ‘jirgi’ (plane): ‘ƙofar shiga jirgina’ (the gate for entering my plane) is the boarding gate.
- Za
- auxiliary verbza · tense: future · za ku iya = could you, a polite request
- ku
- pronounplural 'you', used for politeness and gender-neutral
- iya
- verbiya · form: base · 'be able'
- taimaka
- verbtaimaka · form: base · 'help'
- min
- pronoun'me'
- in
- pronoun'that I'
- nemo
- verbnemo · form: subjunctive · 'find, seek out'
- ƙofar
- nounƙofa 'door, gate' + linker -r
- shiga
- verbshiga · form: base · 'enter'; ƙofar shiga jirgi = boarding gate
- jirgina
- nounjirgi 'plane' + -na 'my'
What changes from one language to the other: English × Hausa
English ‘you’ fits everyone; Hausa chooses plural ‘ku’ for respect, and attaches ‘my’ to the noun.
Example conversation
— Za ku iya taimaka min in nemo ƙofar shiga jirgina?
— Can you help me find my gate?
— Tabbas, ku nuna min takardar shiga jirgi.
— Sure, may I see your boarding pass?