Hausa nouns gender and plurals
Gender of Nouns
Every Hausa noun is either masculine or feminine.
- Feminine nouns usually end in -a, e.g. yarinya ‘girl’, hula ‘cap’.
- Masculine nouns usually end in sounds other than -a, e.g. yaro ‘boy’, zobe ‘ring’.
but there are exceptions. For example, mace ‘woman’ is feminine and suna ‘name’ is masculine. The best way to verify the gender of a noun is by words that must agree in gender with the nouns they go with. Here are some examples.
- Showing gender by agreement
- Feminine forms of nouns
| Feminine noun: kyanwa ‘cat’ | Masculine noun: kare ‘dog |
| ce ‘it is (f)’
Kyanwa ce. ‘It’s a cat’ |
ne ‘it is (m)’
Kare ne. ‘It’s a dog.’ |
| Feminine pronouns: ita, ta
Wannan, ita ce kyanwa. ‘This, itis a cat.’ Ta gudu. ‘She ran.’ |
Masculine pronouns: shi, ya
Wannan, shi ne kare. ‘This, it is a dog.’ Ya tsaya. ‘He stood.’ |
Plurals of Nouns
Most Hausa nouns have a plural form. Unfortunately for those learning Hausa, there are no simple rules for knowing what the plural of a noun will be. Here are some commonly used nouns and their plurals.
| Singular | Plural | |
| mutum | mutane | ‘person; people’ |
| yaro | yara | ‘boy; boys or children’ |
| yarinya | ‘yan mata | ‘girl; girls |
| mace | mata | ‘woman; wome or wives’ |
| namiji | maza | ‘man; men or husbands’ |