When to use it
Use it when you must write to a French-speaking office and ask the proper format.
“How do you write a formal letter in French?” — The sentence in English
In “How do you write a formal letter in French?” generic ‘you’ and ‘do’ are needed.
- 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
- write
- verbwrite · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "do you"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- formal
- adjectiveadjective
- letter
- nounnoun
- in
- prepositionpreposition
- French
- nounnoun; the name of the language, always capitalised
“Ta yaya ake rubuta wasiƙa ta hukuma da Faransanci?” — The sentence in Hausa
In “Ta yaya ake rubuta wasiƙa ta hukuma da Faransanci?” ‘formal’ is ‘ta hukuma’ (of authority), with feminine ‘ta’ because ‘wasiƙa’ (letter) is feminine. Language names end in ‘-nci’: Faransanci (French).
- Ta
- prepositionta yaya = how
- yaya
- adverb'how'
- ake
- pronounimpersonal 'one does'
- rubuta
- verbrubuta · form: base · 'write'
- wasiƙa
- noun'letter', feminine
- ta
- preposition'of', feminine for wasiƙa
- hukuma
- noun'authority'; formal letter
- da
- preposition'in, with (a language)'
- Faransanci
- proper noun'French', the language
English × Hausa: What changes from one language to the other
English uses the adjective ‘formal’ and ‘in’; Hausa says ‘of authority’ and ‘with French’.
Example conversation
— Ta yaya ake rubuta wasiƙa ta hukuma da Faransanci?
— How do you write a formal letter in French?
— Fara da “Madame, Monsieur” ka taƙaita.
— Start with “Madame, Monsieur” and keep it short.