Hausa

The Body

 

English:

Hausa:

 

Notice how, in Hausa, some body parts are incorporated into the names of other body parts.

  • Toe (yatsun kafa) = finger of the foot
  • Ankle (idon kafa) = eye of the foot
  • Elbow (gwiwan hannu) = knee of the hand
  • Wrist (wuyan hannu) = neck of the hand

Talking about the body

To talk about your own body use the following formula:

(body part) + na = my (body part)

To talk about someone else’s body use the following formula:

(body part) + (suffix “n”) + pronoun = your/her/his (body part)

Examples

My eye = ido na

Your eye = idon  ki (feminine)

Your eye = idon ka (masculine)

Her eye = idon ta

His eye = idon shi

Practice using the formula above with each of the body parts listed.

 

 

 

 

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Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages Copyright © by University of Wisconsin-Madison Students in African 671 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.