When to use it
Use it on arrival in a new town, when you don't know how taxis are found there.
The sentence in English — “How do you get a taxi here?”
In “How do you get a taxi here?” ‘you’ is generic and ‘do’ is required.
- How
- adverbquestion word asking about the way or manner
- do
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: present · auxiliary that makes the question
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun used for people in general
- get
- verbget · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · here it means "take" or "find"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- taxi
- nounnoun
- here
- adverbadverb of place
The sentence in Hausa — “Ta yaya ake samun tasi a nan?”
In “Ta yaya ake samun tasi a nan?” the impersonal ‘ake’ (one does) asks the usual local way: hailing one in the street or calling by phone.
- Ta
- prepositionta yaya = how
- yaya
- adverb'how'
- ake
- pronounimpersonal 'one does', continuous
- samun
- verbsamu · form: verbal noun + -n · 'getting'
- tasi
- noun'taxi'
- a
- preposition'at'
- nan
- adverb'here, this town'
English × Hausa — What changes from one language to the other
English uses generic ‘you’ and needs ‘do’; Hausa uses the impersonal ‘ake’, which names no one.
Example conversation
— Ta yaya ake samun tasi a nan?
— How do you get a taxi here?
— Yawancin mutane suna amfani da manhaja a waya.
— Most people use a phone app.