When to use it
Use it to suggest an outing to the park with friends or family.
The sentence in English: “Shall we go to the park tomorrow?”
In “Shall we go to the park tomorrow?” ‘Shall we’ is a polite suggestion and ‘go’ needs ‘to the’.
- Shall
- auxiliary verbshall · tense: present · modal verb; "Shall we…?" makes a suggestion
- we
- pronounpersonal pronoun, first person plural
- go
- verbgo · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "shall"
- to
- prepositionpreposition of direction
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- park
- nounnoun
- tomorrow
- adverbadverb of time
The sentence in Hausa: “Mu je wurin shakatawa gobe?”
In “Mu je wurin shakatawa gobe?” the suggestion is the subjunctive ‘mu je’ (let's go). There is no ‘to’: ‘je’ takes the place directly, and ‘wurin shakatawa’ (place of recreation) is a park.
- Mu
- pronoun'we', subjunctive: mu je = let's go
- je
- verbje · form: subjunctive · 'go'; mu je = a joint suggestion
- wurin
- nounwuri 'place' + linker -n
- shakatawa
- noun'recreation'; wurin shakatawa = park
- gobe
- adverb'tomorrow'
What changes from one language to the other: English × Hausa
English opens with ‘Shall’ and needs ‘to the’; Hausa opens with ‘Mu je’ and needs neither.
Example conversation
— Mu je wurin shakatawa gobe?
— Shall we go to the park tomorrow?
— To, idan ba a yi ruwa ba.
— Yes, if it doesn't rain.