sukan / yakan
Habitual Actions
Short subject forms combine with kan: sukan for they, yakan for masculine singular reference.
How It Works
Habitual forms combine a short High-tone subject form with Low-tone kan. Sukan marks third-person plural reference; yakan marks masculine singular reference. A named subject still accompanies this marking. The verb takes its finite object-conditioned form.
Present habits usually translate with English simple present or usually. Past context, including initial da, permits used to or would. Compare Musa yakan karanta jarida da safe., Musa usually reads a newspaper in the morning, with Musa yana karanta jarida yanzu., Musa is reading a newspaper now.
The continuative can also express habits, and dialects differ in habitual-form usage. Negative habits use negative continuative grammar: Yara ba sa shan kofi., The children do not drink coffee. Subsequent actions in a habitual sequence use subjunctive subjects: sukan shiga su zauna, they regularly enter and sit down.
Examples (3)
- Yara sukan yi wasa bayan makaranta.
The children usually play after school.
Sukan accompanies the plural subject.
- Musa yakan karanta jarida da safe.
Musa usually reads a newspaper in the morning.
Yakan accompanies masculine singular Musa.
- Da sukan kawo ruwa daga rijiya.
They used to bring water from the well.
Initial da establishes past habitual context.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Recognize negative continuation and subsequent subjunctive actions before affirmative habitual formation and sequences of habitual activities. In bayan makaranta, after school, temporal bayan takes the following nominal expression rather than a finite clause with its own subject-TAM marker.
- Negating an Ongoing Action
Recognize negative continuation and subsequent subjunctive actions before affirmative habitual formation and sequences of habitual activities. In bayan makaranta, after school, temporal bayan takes the following nominal expression rather than a finite clause with its own subject-TAM marker.
Level 3 - Intended and Directed Actions
Recognize negative continuation and subsequent subjunctive actions before affirmative habitual formation and sequences of habitual activities. In bayan makaranta, after school, temporal bayan takes the following nominal expression rather than a finite clause with its own subject-TAM marker.
Level 3
Related Patterns
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Patterns that build on this one.
Words in This Pattern
Practice sukan / yakan in Bubblegum
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