When to use it
Use it when your child missed school and you ask another parent about the homework.
“Did the teacher explain the homework?” · The sentence in English
In “Did the teacher explain the homework?” ‘Did’ carries the past, so ‘explain’ stays in base form.
- Did
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: past · auxiliary that makes a question in the past
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- teacher
- nounnoun
- explain
- verbexplain · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "did" the verb stays in its base form
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- homework
- noununcountable noun; it has no plural
“Shin malamin ya yi bayanin aikin gida?” · The sentence in Hausa
In “Shin malamin ya yi bayanin aikin gida?” ‘Shin’ marks the question, and the past sits in the completive ‘ya’ (he did). ‘yi bayani’ (do explanation) is explain, and ‘-n’ on ‘malamin’ means ‘the’.
- Shin
- particle'shin' at the start marks a question
- malamin
- nounmalami 'teacher' + definite -n
- ya
- pronoun'he', completive aspect
- yi
- verbyi · aspect: completive · 'do'; yi bayani = explain
- bayanin
- nounbayani 'explanation' + linker -n
- aikin
- nounaiki 'work' + linker -n
- gida
- noun'home'; aikin gida = homework
What changes from one language to the other · English × Hausa
English puts the past in ‘did’; Hausa in the pronoun ‘ya’, with verb plus noun for ‘explain’.
Example conversation
— Shin malamin ya yi bayanin aikin gida?
— Did the teacher explain the homework?
— Eh, yana shafi na goma sha biyu.
— Yes, it's on page twelve.