When to use it
Use it when someone explained too quickly, such as how a ticket machine works.
The sentence in English (“I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?”)
In “I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?” ‘didn't’ negates the past and ‘-s’ marks the plural.
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- didn't
- contractiondo · tense: past · contraction of "did not"; makes the negative in the past
- understand
- verbunderstand · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "didn't" the verb stays in its base form
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- instructions
- nounplural noun
- can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun
- repeat
- verbrepeat · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"
The sentence in Hausa (“Ban fahimci umarnin ba, za ku iya maimaitawa?”)
In “Ban fahimci umarnin ba, za ku iya maimaitawa?” the negation ‘Ban… ba’ wraps the verb and its object. The ‘-n’ on ‘umarnin’ means ‘the’, and plural ‘ku’ (you) is polite.
- Ban
- pronoun'I', negative completive
- fahimci
- verbfahimta · aspect: completive, negative · 'understand'
- umarnin
- nounumarni 'instructions' + definite -n
- ba
- particlesecond ba closes the negation
- za
- auxiliary verbza · tense: future · za ku iya = could you
- ku
- pronounplural 'you', polite
- iya
- verbiya · form: base · 'be able'
- maimaitawa
- verbmaimaita · form: verbal noun · 'repeating'
What changes from one language to the other (English × Hausa)
English negates before the verb with ‘didn't’; Hausa wraps the clause in ‘ba… ba’.
Example conversation
— Ban fahimci umarnin ba, za ku iya maimaitawa?
— I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?
— Tabbas, zan yi magana a hankali.
— Of course, I'll go slowly.