“Where is the nearest ATM?” in Hausa

When to use it

Use it when you need cash, for a motorbike taxi or a stall that takes no cards.

The sentence in English (“Where is the nearest ATM?”)

In “Where is the nearest ATM?” the abbreviation follows ‘the nearest’ and ‘is’ sits in the middle.

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

nearest

adjectivesuperlative of "near"

ATM

nounnoun; short for automated teller machine, a cash machine

The sentence in Hausa (“Ina ATM mafi kusa?”)

In “Ina ATM mafi kusa?” the sentence is very short: no verb and no article. ‘ATM’ is kept as in English and ‘mafi kusa’ (nearest) follows it.

Ina

adverb'where'; the sentence has no verb

ATM

noun'ATM', kept as in English

mafi

adverb'most'

kusa

adjectivemafi kusa after the noun

What changes from one language to the other (English × Hausa)

English needs five words; Hausa four, with no ‘is’ and no ‘the’.

Example conversation