a

An Unspecified Agent

Level 3

Choose the action frame: completive an, subjunctive a or habitual akan.

How It Works

Impersonal clauses can correspond to English ‘one’, unspecified ‘people’, or an agentless passive. Completive an reports a completed event, subjunctive a gives procedural instructions, and habitual akan describes recurring actions. Negative continuative ba a expresses general negative ongoing or habitual actions. Bare a is therefore not the form for every action frame.

Compare Musa ya gina makaranta ‘Musa built a school’ with An gina makaranta ‘A school was built’. The second leaves the builder unspecified while keeping the school as the object. Grade 7 instead presents an affected subject or potential result.

Subject a differs from locative a ‘in, at’. Both can occur in one clause: the preverbal subject form leaves the performer unspecified, while the locative expression introduces a place. An English passive translation does not require a Hausa passive suffix.

Examples (3)

  1. An gina makaranta a ƙauyen.

    A school was built in the village.

    An leaves the builder unspecified; later a introduces location.

  2. A zuba gishiri kaɗan.

    Add a little salt.

    Subjunctive a gives an impersonal instruction.

  3. Akan rufe shago da yamma.

    A shop is usually closed in the evening.

    Akan supplies habitual impersonal marking.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

aLevel 3An Unspecified Agent

Learn This First

Recognize inherited completed reports, subjunctive instructions, habitual formation and negative action-continuative marking before impersonal a constructions.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

an