Reading Hausa Words

Level 1

Boko uses Roman letters to write Hausa. Nigerian spelling distinguishes ɓ, ɗ, ƙ, 'y from b, d, k, y.

How It Works

This entry follows standard Kano Hausa and Nigerian Boko. The five vowel letters a, e, i, o, u represent short and long vowels without normally distinguishing them. Tone accents, macrons and doubled vowels used for length belong to labelled pronunciation notation.

The hooked consonants are separate letters. The sequence 'y represents a laryngealized semivowel. An apostrophe also marks a word-medial glottal stop; ordinary spelling does not insert one before every vowel-initial word. C represents an affricate comparable to English ch in church. Sh and ts are consonant digraphs.

Doubled consonants indicate gemination in ordinary writing. This differs from pronunciation-only doubled vowels. The examples are noun-phrase fragments: their hooks and apostrophes belong to the spelling, and they need no added tone or length marks.

Examples (4)

  1. ɗan Musa

    Musa's son

    Noun-phrase fragment preserving ɗ.

  2. 'yar Maryam

    Maryam's daughter

    Noun-phrase fragment preserving 'y.

  3. ƙofar makaranta

    the school's entrance

    Noun-phrase fragment preserving ƙ.

  4. ɓangaren gida

    a part of the house

    Noun-phrase fragment preserving ɓ.

How It Connects

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

Reading Hausa WordsLevel 1

Words in This Pattern

ɓƁɗƊƙƘʼyʼY