Hausa/Lesson 3

Lesson 3 – Gender thumb|Kano Pronouncing.wav Kanṑ, one of the most important Hausa-speaking cities, is a feminine noun. Gender assignment Like in many other languages, nouns in Hausa can be either masculine or feminine. While gender assignment is somewhat arbitrary, there are a few patterns: The grammatical gender of nouns always corresponds to natural sex. For example, mùtûm ("man") is masculine, while màcè ("woman") is feminine. Nouns ending in -a are often - but not always - feminine. Ruwā ("water") is an example of a masculine noun ending in -a. The names of countries, rivers and towns are tipically feminine. Some nouns may be either masculine or feminine. For example: kā̀kā ("grandfather" or "grandmother"). Plural nouns are not marked for gender. Forming the feminine from a masculine noun The feminine form of most masculine nouns referring to people or animals is derived as follows: A final -ō or -ū is replaced with -uwā. tsuntsū ("male bird") → tsuntsuwā ("female bird") A final -ē or -ī is replaced with -ìyā. Bàhaushḕ ("Hausa man") → Bàhaushìyā ("Hausa woman") In some cases, -ī is replaced with -ā instead of -ìyā. jā̀kī ("male donkey") → jā̀kā ("female donkey")