za + subject pronoun

Future Plans

Level 1

Common forms are zan, za ka, za ki, zai, za ta, za mu, za ku, za su.

How It Works

A named subject precedes the future frame: Musa zai rufe ƙofa. Zan and zai are first-singular and third-masculine-singular contractions. The verb follows its normal object-conditioned pattern; future marking alone does not call for a verbal noun.

Compare Muna aiki “We are working” with Za mu yi aiki “We will work”. Outside continuative, yi supplies the verb for the action noun.

Future negation uses paired ba: Ba zan karanta jarida ba. The za future also occurs in fronted questions and relative clauses without a separate relative-future paradigm.

A past reference time can yield “was going to” or “was about to”. The indefinite-future paradigm has different distribution and meaning. In a grouped sequence of future actions, later verbs can take subjunctive subject forms.

Examples (4)

  1. Zan karanta jarida gobe.

    I will read a newspaper tomorrow.

    Contracted first-person future.

  2. Za ki kawo jaka?

    Will you bring a bag?

    One female listener.

  3. Musa zai rufe ƙofa.

    Musa will close the door.

    Named subject before contracted zai.

  4. Za mu yi aiki da safe.

    We will work in the morning.

    Finite yi supplies the action verb.

How It Connects

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

za + subject pronounLevel 1Future Plans

Learn This First

Identify participant reference before combining za with subject forms, including the familiar contractions.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

zazai