When to use it
Use it in a town when you want to get around by bike.
The sentence in English — “Where can I rent a bicycle in the city?”
In “Where can I rent a bicycle in the city?” ‘rent’ is a verb and ‘in the city’ closes the sentence.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- rent
- verbrent · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- bicycle
- nounnoun; often shortened to "bike"
- in
- prepositionpreposition
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- city
- nounnoun
The sentence in Hausa — “A ina zan iya yin hayar keke a cikin gari?”
In “A ina zan iya yin hayar keke a cikin gari?” ‘rent’ is ‘yin haya’ (doing rent), and ‘a cikin gari’ (at the inside of town) is in the city.
- A
- prepositiona ina = where
- ina
- adverb'where'
- zan
- auxiliary verbza · person: 1st singular · tense: future · zan iya = I can, before yin
- iya
- verbiya · form: base · 'be able'
- yin
- verbyi · form: verbal noun + -n · 'doing'; yin haya = renting
- hayar
- nounhaya 'rent, hire' + linker -r
- keke
- noun'bicycle'
- a
- prepositionpart of a cikin 'in'
- cikin
- preposition'inside'
- gari
- noun'town, city'
English × Hausa — What changes from one language to the other
English has the verb ‘rent’; Hausa says ‘do rent’, and ‘in the’ is ‘a cikin’.
Example conversation
— A ina zan iya yin hayar keke a cikin gari?
— Where can I rent a bicycle in the city?
— Akwai shago kusa da kasuwa.
— There's a shop near the market.