wannan / waɗannan

This and These

Level 1

Singular wannan serves masculine and feminine reference; waɗannan is plural.

How It Works

The same singular form appears in Wannan fensir ne “This is a pencil” and Wannan kujera ce “This is a chair”. The demonstrative stays unchanged while the copula reflects the noun's gender. Basic plural identification takes ne.

A demonstrative can precede a noun in a larger subject: Waɗannan ɗalibai suna aiki means “These students are working”. The subject phrase retains appropriate action marking.

A demonstrative can also be an object. In Na sayi wannan “I bought this”, wannan counts as a noun-type object, rather than a short direct-object pronoun, when selecting the verb form.

Learn waɗannan as a complete plural form. Proximal reference can concern physical proximity or an item currently under discussion. Speaker perspective contributes to interpretation. Distal wancan/waɗancan provides a related contrast.

Examples (4)

  1. Wannan fensir ne.

    This is a pencil.

    Masculine singular identification.

  2. Wannan kujera ce.

    This is a chair.

    Feminine singular identification.

  3. Waɗannan ɗalibai suna aiki.

    These students are working.

    Plural demonstrative inside a subject phrase.

  4. Na sayi wannan.

    I bought this.

    Wannan selects the noun-object verb form.

How It Connects

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

wannan / waɗannanLevel 1This and These

Learn This First

Recognize identification, plural ongoing subjects and completed events before applying demonstratives to people and objects in those established clause frames.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

wannanwannanwaɗannanwaɗannan