A Lesson in Hausa. – June 16, 2011

Ok, so for all of you Farm Basket folks, I have learned to say something in Hausa that you might be able to use… ready? Alright.

Ku zo ku ci abinci.

Any guesses on what it means? Ok, ok. I’ll tell you. It means “Come eat food” when speaking to more than one person.

In addition to that, we learned quite a bit during day 1 of our Hausa language crash course. I know a bunch of different greetings, pronouns, a few basic verbs and nouns, as well as a song in Hausa (don’t ask me to sing it). I also learned that the Hausa language does not contain the letters p, q, x, or v.

Here are some phrases I thought might be fun to share:

Sannu means Hello (to respond, you would say “Yauwa sannu”)

Ina kwana? Means Good morning or literally “how did you spend the night?” (to respond you would say “Lafiya” which means “well/fine/good”; you would say this whether or not your night was actually good)

Yaya aiki? Means How is work? (to respond, you would say “da godiya” which means “work is fine”)

Sai an jima means See you later

Sai gobe means See you tomorrow

Ban iya Hausa ba. means I don’t speak Hausa.

Menene wannan? Means What is this?

Ok, well that’s all for now. Be sure to practice up :)*