ga

Pointing Something Out

Level 1

Ga presents an item; optional nan and can locate it here or there.

How It Works

Presentative ga shows something to someone or points out a person or thing. It remains unchanged with masculine, feminine, and plural referents. Follow it with an expressed noun phrase or direct-object pronoun. An understood item alone does not license bare ga.

Nan ‘here’ and can ‘there’ often follow the object, but neither is compulsory. A specific location can also follow. Pronoun objects include masculine shi, feminine ta, and plural su. Compare Akwai littattafai a nan ‘There are books here’ with Ga littattafai ‘Here are books’: the first establishes presence; the second draws attention to the books. The locative preposition also spelled ga has a separate grammatical role.

Examples (3)

  1. Ga littafi.

    Here is a book.

    An expressed noun is sufficient without nan or can.

  2. Ga Amina can.

    There is Amina over there.

    Can locates the person being pointed out.

  3. Ga ta nan.

    Here she is.

    The feminine object is expressed with direct-object ta.

How It Connects

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gaLevel 1Pointing Something Out

Learn This First

Contrast an existence claim with attention directed to an expressed referent; ga requires its object and introduces its own pronoun choices.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

ganancânta