When to use it
Use it in Kano or Abuja when you need a bus and ask a passer-by for the stop.
The sentence in English — “Where is the bus stop?”
In “Where is the bus stop?” the question word leads, then ‘is’, then the subject with ‘the’.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- is
- verbbe · tense: present · person: third · number: singular · form of "to be"; here it says where something is
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- bus
- nounnoun; it says what kind of stop
- stop
- nounnoun; the main word of "bus stop"
The sentence in Hausa — “Ina tashar bas take?”
In “Ina tashar bas take?” the question word ‘Ina’ (where) also comes first. ‘take’ means ‘she is (there)’: it is feminine because ‘tasha’ (station) is a feminine noun, and the linker ‘-r’ joins ‘tashar’ to ‘bas’.
- Ina
- adverbquestion word 'where', at the start
- tashar
- nountasha 'station' + linker -r
- bas
- noun'bus', from English
- take
- verbke · person: 3rd, feminine · aspect: continuous · ta (she, since tasha is feminine) + ke: is located
English × Hausa — What changes from one language to the other
English nouns have no gender; in Hausa the verb agrees with the noun's gender. English says ‘bus stop’, Hausa ‘tashar bas’ (stop of bus).
Example conversation
— Ina tashar bas take?
— Where is the bus stop?
— Tana kusa da kasuwa, a hannun hagu.
— It's near the market, on the left.