Describing a Noun

Level 1

Noun + adjective is possible; adjective + linker + noun is more common.

How It Works

Compare farin gida and gida fari, both “a white house”. The following-adjective order can highlight WHITE rather than another color. No linker connects gida and fari in that order.

The adjective still takes its appropriate form. The examples show masculine fari, feminine fara, and plural dogwaye and jajaye. They are descriptive phrase fragments. To assert a property, a copular sentence is available: Hula fara ce means “The cap is white”.

Agreement forms depend on the adjective's actual paradigm; no single ending generates them all. Many English qualities correspond to Hausa nouns rather than adjectives. Such modifiers often require mai for singular or masu for plural, followed by the quality noun. Following position therefore does not license any quality word directly after any noun.

Examples (4)

  1. gida fari

    a white house

    Masculine descriptive phrase fragment.

  2. hula fara

    a white cap

    Feminine descriptive phrase fragment.

  3. ɗalibai dogwaye

    tall students

    Plural descriptive phrase fragment.

  4. jakunkuna jajaye

    red bags

    Plural descriptive phrase fragment.

How It Connects

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Describing a NounLevel 1

Learn This First

Recognize noun gender before choosing an attested descriptive adjective form after the noun.

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Patterns that build on this one.